Graduates planning to work in specialist areas of accountancy require specific competencies. They must developsound subject-specialist knowledge, professional skills, values, ethics and attitudes during theirstudies.
This often cannot be achieved through one-way, didactic teaching methods, which consist only of traditional lectures, seminars, and modes of assessment.
The project aimed to address this gap in Higher Education by creating an internationally-orientedlearning platform in accountancy that facilitates this essential hard and soft skill development for early careerprofessionals.
ֱ led eleven other European Universities in the three-year, Erasmus+ funded project, which came to an end in December 2021.
The approach
The project designed, developed and delivered four integrated accountancy case studies with contemporary content and innovative methods for wider dissemination in Higher Education.
The case studies and the supplementary materials are designed to address all the competencies that are needed for emerging accountancy professionals – such as subject-specific knowledge, problem solving ability, interdisciplinary thinking, soft skills and the ability to recognise ethical issues in accountancy.
While adaptable to short courses (e.g. ISPs or CPD), taken in their entirety, each case provides the scaffolding, content and assessment for 20-credit modules.
The cases and their supplemental learning materials, tasks and pedagogical innovations will be freely available through the European Union repository.
The case studies
IO1 - International Taxation
IO2 – modelling for the changing requirements in accounting for financial instruments
IO3 - Digitalization in Auditing
IO4 - Corporate Social Responsibility and Tax Avoidance
Solutions tothe case studies and additional teaching materials are available to Higher EducationInstitutions for free.
Please request the solutions by contactingDr Phyllis Alexander
Intensive study programmes
The cases were first tested in a week-longIntensive Study Programme (ISP) at ֱin September 2019.
Around 100 students from 12 universities across Europe, as well as Southern Connecticut University in the USA, came together to work on the case studies.
Subsequent Intensive Study Programmes were planned to be delivered in Innsbruck and Budapest in 2020 and 2021but, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these were delivered via hybrid events that students could participate in remotely.
Students provided feedback and evaluation which facilitated and focused improvements to the learning platform.
The intensive study programmes also gave students opportunity to network with each other and with professionals and policymakers in accountancy.
![Dr Phyllis Alexander Dr Phyllis Alexander](/sites/default/files/styles/bournemouth_-_1_1__square_xlarge/public/assets/images/phyllis-alexander-thumbnail.jpg?itok=A6zD9qjn)
Dr Phyllis Alexander
Principal Investigator for the DIPCAT project
“We’re constantly in touch with our professional networks to make sure that we’re producing students that are going to be career ready and that have honed those all-important employability skills like communication and teamwork.”
Dissemination and impact
The final output of the project is a unique, innovative and comprehensive learning platform which has already been integrated into the curricula of many accounting units. It has the potential to have significant impact at a regional, national and European level.
The finished International Tax and CSR cases were showcased at thein September 2021 and have already been adopted at other Higher Education Institutions. The IFRS and Auditing cases were showcased at an International Accounting Conference in Budapest in November 2021.
The outcomes of the project will further enhance the quality of education at Higher Education Institutions using the platform. Participating students develop competencies required in international accountancy practice, enhancing their employability for SMEs as well as multi-national organisations.
The future
While DIPCAT has now come to an end, the partners continue to collaborate in research, professional practice and education, as they have done for over 25 years.
The consortium has another Erasmus+ project currently underway –Smart Teaching in Accounting – Meeting Place Online,with its first intensive study programme taking place in November 2021.