A Practical Guide to Collaborative Writing Assignments in Financial Accounting Courses.

Abstract The accounting profession has recently stressed the importance of including formal writing assignments in the accounting curriculum. Since most accounting educators do not have training in the design, execution and evaluation of writing assignments, implementing such changes has proven difficult. Furthermore, the accounting literature provides few detailed examples of continually relevant projects that instructors can easily adopt. This paper highlights the role that a collaborative writing assignment can play in accounting education and provides instructors with practical guidance in the use of such an assignment. The group writing exercise described here: (1) familiarizes students with the conceptual and practical aspects of the financial accounting standard-selling process, (2) emphasizes the importance of written communication skills to accountants, (3) provides students with the opportunity to practice their analytical and critical thinking skills using a writing-to-learn approach, and (4) requires students to organize and synthesize their communications for a particular audience.