Rethinking MBA accounting module teaching, assessment and curriculum design

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate Master of Business Administration (MBA) students' performance in handling alternative types of accounting questions in order to generate some insights for future MBA accounting module teaching and assessment design. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs two approaches: first, statistical analysis is used on a large sample of MBA students' accounting modules results on two different types of questions. Second, common problems are identified from the assessments and summarized for analysis. Findings – There is a statistically significant difference in performance between two types of assessment methods. The difference can be logically explained from analyzing the common problems identified in MBA students' accounting assessment scripts. Research limitations/implications – This paper provides only preliminary findings for the purpose of “rethinking” of future MBA accounting module design. Further work is required to investigate the impacts of MBA students' personal characteristics, e.g. year of working experience, first degree discipline, etc. on their accounting module performance. Practical implications – This paper provides some important practical insights that suggest that the current MBA accounting module design “may be” incorrect in terms of topic coverage, delivery schedule and expectation. Originality/value – The paper will initiate a new debate on how future MBA accounting modules should be, and how to teach and assess it.