An investigation into how students determine the double entry of a financial transaction

ABSTRACT

This study addresses students’ approaches to learning the double entry of a financial transaction. A phenomenographic approach was used to collect and analyse qualitative empirical data. By focusing on an under-researched topic, the study contributes to accounting education literature and identifies a set of four hierarchical categories that qualitatively describe more complex ways of experiencing double entry bookkeeping. The findings reveal that some of these categories are more desirable than others and provide a lens through which accounting educators can view the quality of double entry learning. These findings support calls to reconceptualise the teaching of double entry bookkeeping and prompt calls for additional qualitative research into introductory accounting, and double entry bookkeeping in particular.

KEYWORDS:

• Double entry bookkeeping
• introductory accounting
• students’ approaches to learning
• qualitative research
• phenomenography

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the students who contributed to this research. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and Editors of Accounting Education for their detailed, considered and insightful comments and encouragement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In this article, when we refer to how students determine the double entry of a financial transaction, we are aligned with Zhou and Lamberton’s (2021) view that mastery of double entry bookkeeping requires students to understand the meaning and differences between each of five account categories (asset, liability, equity, revenue and expense); debit and credit recording conventions; and the logical flow of each transaction through the accounting process. Throughout this article we use the terms double entry and double entry bookkeeping interchangeably to refer to the entire process.