Cost Flow Diagrams as an Alternative Method of External Problem Representation - A Diagrammatic Approach to Teaching Cost Accounting and Evidence of Its Effectiveness

Undergraduate accounting students can have a difficult time conceptualizing manufacturing processes, the associated physical inventory flows, and the accompanying accounting cost flows. Traditional methods of teaching this material within managerial and cost accounting classes heavily stress the transactional and reporting requirements. Such approaches can leave students unclear as to the underlying nature and inter-relatedness of the issues and processes involved. This paper introduces and provides statistical evidence regarding a new visually-based diagrammatic approach that utilizes cost flow diagrams as an alternative method of external problem representation. As concrete examples of the technique, the paper includes diagrammatic solutions to three different traditional cost accounting problems. We hypothesize that the use of diagrams aids students in developing an innate understanding of inventory and cost flows across multiple cost accounting topics. Our approach is consistent with previous findings in the cognitive science literature that the use of diagrams allows students to process relationships and complex data in chunks, thereby processing more effectively. To study the effectiveness of a diagrammatic approach in teaching cost accounting, historical student final exam assessment data, segmented by course learning objectives, was collected and analyzed. The paper presents statistical and graphical evidence that indicates a significant improvement in student performance when a diagrammatic approach is utilized. Possibilities for generalization of visually-based diagrammatic techniques to other areas of accounting pedagogy are discussed and presented for consideration