Teaching IFRS: evidence from course experience and approaches to learning in China

Purpose - The introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has brought about renewed calls for the learning environment to foster a deep approach to learning by students. Given this, the purpose of this paper is to determine what aspects of the learning environment, as measured by the Course Experiences Questionnaire, created in two semester-long financial accounting classes, influence students’ approaches to learning, as perceived by Chinese accounting students. Design/methodology/approach - A logistic regression model based on responses from 497 accounting students across two universities in China is used to address this issue. Findings - The findings provide original empirical evidence of the Chinese accounting students’ expectations of deep learning. The main results showed that teaching quality and clear goals and standards were significantly associated with a deep approach to learning. Research limitations/implications - As two universities are included in the study, the findings are not necessarily generalisable to all accounting degree courses across China. There are practical implications for the teaching of IFRS in the financial accounting unit in China, and particularly for the two universities. Specifically, instructors need to foster students’ learning environment and inspire an enhanced approach to deep learning by focusing more on communicating their expected academic standards and improving their quality of teaching to reverse the passive approach taken by the vast majority of Chinese accounting students. Originality/value - As one of the few studies from a Chinese accounting classroom context with respect to the learning approaches to teaching IFRS, this study will contribute to extend the existing knowledge of the learning environment of Chinese universities.