Abstract This article particularly deals with matters related to teaching of accounting. A growing proportion of the "art of teaching" is yielding to the "science of teaching." One reason for the change in emphasis is the growing use of the systems approach for studying and proposing solutions to a wide range of organizational and social problems, a distinctive feature of which is to search for and relate interdisciplinary theories and techniques. The educational process lends itself to systems analysis. Learning theory now encompasses elements of many disciplines and coordinates these to produce improved learning experience. So far the curriculum designing is concerned, the first step is the identification of objective. Traditionally these objectives have been expressed in descriptive or uncooperative terms. Objectives of this type are vague and ambiguous, allowing for many possible interpretations of ends and means. They have little value when they are used as the only guideposts to learning.

Abstract This article focuses on a study which analyzed the role of programmed instruction in accounting instruction. Higher education is the poorer for not requiring basic teacher-training and/or educational psychology as prerequisites for academic appointments. The assumption that the post-baccalaureate process per se produces "good" teachers may not be a valid one. For many accounting instructors who wish to experiment with these new methods for communicating accounting verbal and manual skills it means starting at the elementary level of learning theory. Knowledge of the over-all learning process is essential not only as an aid to introducing and testing programs, but also as a means for selecting from among competing programs the program that is best suited pedagogically to the specific learning experience. Educational psychology contains a wealth of concepts and theories relating to the learning process, e.g., learning efficiency, task-orientation, identification, concept recognition, concept association and transfer, motivational or readiness factors.

Abstract The accounting requirements of Medicare are more rigorous than appears obvious on the surface. Many of the providers, particularly in the nursing home sector, lack adequate accounting systems in the present circumstances--without the added requirements of Medicare. Many of these institutions will find it necessary to convert from their present cash method of accounting to an accrual basis that includes a costing, standard costing, and periodic reporting capability. The resources of the individual institutions, monetarily and technically, are insufficient to cope with the changes that are needed. The intermediaries recognized in Public Law 89-97 will be able to provide some of the assistance these institutions need to meet their new accounting requirements. But there is also an opportunity for the accounting profession to make a valuable contribution to sound accounting practice in this field of interest by sponsoring institutes, offering courses in institutional accounting, and establishing and maintaining the necessary accounting systems through consultation and the audit function.

Abstract Reviews the book "Accounting Essentials," by Neal Margolis and N. Paul Harmon.

Reviews the book "Accounting Series: Programmed Instruction," by Robert J. Lewis and Joseph W. Fedor.

Abstract The article focuses on the problems of methodology in accounting theory and principle. If a general methodology in accounting could be agreed upon, theories developed within this framework would stand a better chance of gaining widespread approval. As it is now, both the ends and the means are constantly in dispute. In accounting, there has been a long-standing belief that accounting is an art which does not lend itself to formalization. This attitude is being challenged increasingly. The effort towards formalization must face the issue of improving methodology, otherwise researchers in the field may be working at cross-purposes. Here the author discusses the difficulties which arise when accounting theory is developed without sufficient attention to the conceptual framework, and shows how theory formulation in accounting may progress by adherence to a more formal general methodology. He remarks that lack of methodology in accounting theory in the past has resulted in poor definition of terms.