Introductory Accounting, with Matrices, at the Southern Federal University, Russia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the context of the globalization of the practice and profession of accounting, it is increasingly important that accounting faculty and students are aware of the international accounting environment. In addition, the continued growth in the cross-national flows of students increases the need for accounting faculty to be aware of international differences in the teaching and learning of accounting. This paper contributes to this arena by looking at the context, structure, and content of a successful introductory accounting course at a major university in the Russian Federation that uses matrix accounting theory in its introductory accounting course. By doing so, the paper provides accounting educators with a range of insights into the diversity of the international context of the teaching of accounting, and provides awareness of the theory of matrix accounting and how and why this mathematical approach to the teaching of introductory accounting has been adopted. In addition, as part of the important \contextual background, the paper provides a rich description of the course, which could be used for comparison with other introductory accounting courses. By looking at introductory accounting from a different perspective, the paper has the potential to help and encourage accounting faculty to think afresh about our discipline by questioning some of the taken-for-granted assumptions that underlie the approaches used in teaching accounting.