Comparing A Scholarly Article To A Popular Article Purpose ✓ Solved

Comparing a Scholarly Article to a Popular Article The purpose of

The purpose of the two articles I chose is to persuade readers that something should be changed. Each of these articles, despite their different reporting styles, addresses a type of shortcoming in the course offerings for a degree in Accounting. Although both articles are proposing changes to the Accounting curriculum, the authors confront the issue in two entirely different ways—one author uses a formal approach while the other uses informality. Both of these dissimilar methods are used effectively to make their point. However, their goal is the same, as they both feel that something is lacking in the current Accounting programs that are offered.

The scholarly, peer-reviewed article I choose was published in the Journal of Accounting Education which is a publication that, as its title implies, publishes research on issues in accounting education designed to improve the quality of accounting courses wherever they may be offered. Thus, the article’s title, “A Conceptual Framework for Teaching Management Accounting,” lets the reader know that this article proposes a redefining of what is taught in Management Accounting (MA). MA is one of the fields that a student in the Accounting program might choose as a career path. This is a topic that might interest college and university department heads and instructors in addition to MA textbook authors who are involved with developing and presenting the curriculum for Accounting programs.

But it would also be important for anyone considering a career in MA. Thus the audience is fairly limited in scope. The author, Sajay Samuel, feels that this change is necessary as it will help develop “the appropriate level of theoretical abstraction needed for a profession to claim and maintain its distinctive identity” (33). So it appears that Samuel sees the MA syllabus as being too broad and needs to be brought down to specifics that better describe its purpose as a career goal. The study is written in the formal manner one would find in a scientific research project, with specifically labeled sections such as the Abstract, Introduction, Literature Review, Discussion, Summary, and References.

The Literature Review alone looks back several years to previous studies indicating the need to overhaul the MA curriculum thus supporting the author’s argument that current MA courses are lacking “a deep philosophical basis” (Sajay 25). Samuel goes on to point out how his research will classify MA procedures into a “conceptual framework” that will lend not only “intellectual coherence to the subject matter of management accounting but also permit its diverse topics to be arranged in a largely articulated manner” (25). Reclassifying MA procedures, he appears to be saying, will help the accountant who chooses this career path to better understand what his work will involve. As these quotes indicate, the language used in this article is the jargon of the accounting and business world.

Without a clear idea of what these terms mean or what an MA career includes, the article is apt to be meaningless to anyone outside the accounting field. The second article appears in a professional publication, Accounting Today, entitled “What They Don’t Teach Accountants in Colleges.” The articles in this magazine are in essay format and meant for a quick perusal on generalized topics in the accounting profession. The language used in the article chosen can be read and understood by anyone. The style is easily informal and mildly humorous. Thus the article tends to appeal to a wider and less specific audience.

If a reader has been wondering if his or her student loans were worth the cost of becoming an accountant, then the hook is “here’s what you paid, but are you getting what you paid for?” Even if one is not a recent student, still this topic is of interest. After all, if one is in the position of hiring accountants, the idea that colleges are not teaching a curriculum to prospective accountants that doesn’t match current expectations for that industry might be disturbing. The article appears to be based mostly on the opinion of the author, Hugh Duffy. There are no references except to his own personal experiences in the field of accounting. He raises a question about how well-versed graduating accountants are in starting their own business, if this is their goal.

That given the money spent on graduate and post-graduate classes, there is no emphasis on this practical side of the industry. Thus graduates ultimately drift to the Big Four accounting firms, or a smaller outfit, where none of that information is available either. He compares this with those who open a McDonald’s franchise. They attend “Hamburger U… where they teach you everything from A to Z on running a store” (Duffy 2018). Whereas, accounting graduates with even multiple degrees do not even get a hint of what it's like to set up their own firm.

And Duffy goes on to list the specific skills that are lacking: for example, entry strategies needed to start an accounting practice; how to determine what services to offer and which to avoid; and how to differentiate your practice from other firms. In fact, Mr. Duffy is not an accountant, but a marketing manager. However, while one may question his opinion, still his many years of personal experience in handling marketing for accounting firms cannot be dismissed. He is not interested in the philosophical aspects of this profession as much as return on income—or in this case, money spent for a very expensive education that leaves out the practical basics of private enterprise.

Mr. Duffy’s solution is development of a course in marketing and practice development; in other words, information from a seasoned professional who will be able to provide the practical aspects of how to start one’s own accounting firm. Thus, Duffy’s article is more an appeal to the pocket, while the Samuel research is an appeal to the process. The bottom line here is that they are both talking about the same thing—change is necessary to keep up with global requirements and the unpredictable future. Accounting may only be numbers to some people, but those numbers drive the economy.

Works Cited

• Duffy, Hugh. “What They Don’t Teach Accountants in College.” Accounting Today, 30 August 2018, . Accessed 11 October 2018.
• Sajay, Samuel. “A Conceptual Framework for Teaching Management Accounting.” Journal of Accounting Education, vol. 44, 2018, pp. 25-34. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2018.05.004