Flipping the Managerial Accounting Principles Course : Effects on Student Performance, Evaluation, and Attendance

Considerable research and attention has been focused lately on the concept of “flipping the classroom”. Certain business disciplines (such as accounting) are particularly appealing targets given the practical/applied nature of many of the topics covered. This study examines a simplified flipping approach (without videos), using a within-participants experimental design, in a managerial accounting principles course. The results of the study show significant improvement in student performance under a flipped approach (as compared to a traditional approach), controlling for individual student differences. Quantile regression suggests that those performance improvements were driven by lower-performing students. No overall effect on student evaluations of the course is found, although the data suggests a possibility of lower evaluations of the instructor under the flipped approach. We find no evidence of an overall effect on student attendance, but attendance rates on the initial class days when the instructional format was manipulated was actually worse for the flipped approach. These results suggest a need to consider further the increased use of a flipped classroom in business and accounting education; in application-oriented courses like managerial accounting principles, and in particular for more remedial course sections, the flipped classroom could be especially effective