economic model. As state owned firms began to be privatized, they started adopting market oriented accounting models. The big firms were the first to make the changes, as they needed financial statements based either on IFRS or GAAP in order to convince foreign investors to invest in their companies. Russian universities sometimes offered accounting courses, but when they did, it was as part of the economics faculty. There were no departments specifically devoted just to accounting at many universities, although some universities did offer accounting within a special accounting department. That is changing. Universities that never offered accounting before are now offering whole accounting programs. Some universities offer four-year programs and others offer five- year programs. Universities are trying to meet the demand for accounting by offering more courses. One constraint on offering courses to meet the demand is the difficulty of finding people to teach the courses. This problem is being solved by hiring practitioners to teach some of the courses. The Institute of Professional Accountants also runs courses to train professors in the new rules, which helps to upgrade the skills of existing professors and also increase the pool of qualified accounting professors. Another problem Russian universities face is inertia. Most of the top professors who teach accounting are experts in the old Soviet accounting system. They have accumulated a vast knowledge of the old system and have long ago memorized the Soviet chart of accounts that all enterprises had to use to keep their books. But they need to teach the new accounting and many of them have not had any experience actually working as accountants in the new system. Moscow State University, perhaps the best university in Russia, has very few accounting professors who are under 45 years old. The head of the accounting department is in his 70s. Perhaps these professors know the new accounting rules and methods, but if they do, it is because they learned by reading on their own and by consulting. They cannot merely parrot what they learned when they attended the university 20 or 50 years ago because the material they need to teach students today was not taught when they were students. The interviews brought out some other interesting tid bits about university accounting education. While the professors and university administrators that were interviewed thought that the professors at their universities and in Russia in general were well qualified and up to date on the new accounting rules, the practitioners who took their courses felt differently. They felt that
19
professors were not sufficiently trained in IAS and that there were not enough professors to teach accounting in the universities. The interviews also revealed that not all universities are restructuring their accounting course offerings at the same rate of speed. The universities that do the best job of teaching the new accounting are the entrepreneurial universities. There are some universities in Russia that make every effort to offer the courses demanded by the market, even though they are government institutions. As government financial support for university education is cut back, some universities are bridging the financial gap by offering a range of accounting courses and charging for them. These are the universities that offer the best programs, while other, more traditional universities are content to implement changes to their curriculum at a much slower speed. Some of the professors who were interviewed revealed that university accounting courses are still based on RAS rather than international standards. Courses offered on the international standards explain only general concepts. One professor made the suggestion that the international standards should become the base for the entire accounting curriculum. The course materials that Russian university students have leave something to be desired. According to one professor, there are only two books available on IAS in Russian, and neither of them is of high quality. Many Western textbooks have been translated into Russian, but some of the translations are not good and most of the books are at least one, and perhaps as many as three editions behind their English language counterparts. For example, the Russian language text may be the fourth edition, with a 1994 copyright date, whereas the same book is now available in the seventh edition in English with a 2003 copyright date. Another problem Russian students face is the ability to get their hands on actual textbooks. Many Russian students cannot afford to buy their own copy, so they must use library copies. In some cases, this problem is alleviated by subsidizing the cost of printing the texts, but occasional subsidies are not sufficient to place books in the hands of every Russian accounting student. One of the accounting professors interviewed pointed out that the professors give students a sufficient number of handouts during class to make up for the lack of textbooks, and that these handouts are the main source of materials for exams. So perhaps the lack of textbooks is not such a big problem, assuming that the materials the professors distribute in class are of the same or higher quality than the textbooks. The quality of accounting education is higher in Moscow and St. Petersburg than in other Russian cities for several reasons. For one, most professors outside of these two cities do not have much opportunity to practice. They just read books. Having practical experience is considered to enhance their classroom skills. Another reason for the higher quality of education in Moscow and St. Petersburg is because the universities in the regions cannot afford to subsidize the textbook purchases of their students and their libraries cannot afford to buy a sufficient number of texts. Also, the demand for accounting professionals is less outside of the two big Russian cities, so fewer resources are used to train accounting experts. The attitude toward the accounting profession is also different in the regions. The demand for high quality is mostly in the big cities. Where the demand for high quality is low, the quality of service provided will also likely be low. Accounting education in Russia is also being provided by several different private groups. The large international accounting firms give regular training to their staffs and also give training and seminars to their clients. Russian accounting firms also provide training to their staffs, and sometimes to their clients, but the interviews revealed that that quality of the
20
education the smaller Russian firms provide is not at the same quality level as that provided by the big international firms. One reason for the qualitative difference is because the large international firms have more resources to draw on than do the smaller Russian firms. The large international firms have been training their staffs and clients in international standards, modern auditing techniques and procedures for a much longer time and their various offices all over the world have developed and fine tuned their educational materials. A firm in New York or Sydney might very well develop a course or manual that can be adapted for use in Russia. The large firms have a large pool of case studies to choose from, whereas the smaller Russian accounting firms have to develop their case studies and other materials from scratch. Another advantage the large international firms have over the smaller Russian accounting firms is that the large firms are not limited to using Russian language course materials. In fact, most of the materials they use are in English. They can use such materials because their employees know how to read English. Materials that are used to educate their non-English speaking clients can be translated into Russian as demand warrants. The Russian firms, on the other hand, are more or less limited to using available Russian language materials. The quality of these materials may be lower than what is available in English. As was previously mentioned, the 1998 Russian translation of IAS is not at the same standard as the English language original, and the Russian accounting firms tend to use the Russian version, or educational materials that are spun off of the Russian version, in their seminars and classes. The amount and variety of the accounting training the large international accounting firms provide to their employees and clients is also larger than what most Russian firms provide. One of the Big-Four firms interviewed provides at least 40 hours a year of training for their employees, and in many cases much more than that. It gives five days of training per year just on international standards and another 6 to 12 days on various technical accounting topics, which might include international standards. It also publishes a newsletter, which is available for both employees and clients, which contains articles on recent developments. All of their employees are also involved in some kind of international certification training. An interview with a Russian accountant who works for one of the Big-Four accounting firms revealed that the quality of international standards education in the smaller firms is of a distinctly lower quality. Each firm makes its own course materials. In smaller firms, it is often the interpretation of the instructor that is taught rather than international standards. The instructor’s interpretation may be much different than reality. Most instructors do not have access to real IAS materials. They must rely on translations, many of which leave something to be desired. One Russian firm teaches a course on the IAS Chart of Accounts, which is really amusing to those who are knowledgeable about IAS, since IAS has no chart of accounts. This problem will be solved with time, as more English speaking Russian professors write their ow
economic model. As state owned firms began to be privatized, they started adopting market oriented accounting models. The big firms were the first to make the changes, as they needed financial statements based either on IFRS or GAAP in order to convince foreign investors to invest in their companies. Russian universities sometimes offered accounting courses, but when they did, it was as part of the economics faculty. There were no departments specifically devoted just to accounting at many universities, although some universities did offer accounting within a special accounting department. That is changing. Universities that never offered accounting before are now offering whole accounting programs. Some universities offer four-year programs and others offer five- year programs. Universities are trying to meet the demand for accounting by offering more courses. One constraint on offering courses to meet the demand is the difficulty of finding people to teach the courses. This problem is being solved by hiring practitioners to teach some of the courses. The Institute of Professional Accountants also runs courses to train professors in the new rules, which helps to upgrade the skills of existing professors and also increase the pool of qualified accounting professors. Another problem Russian universities face is inertia. Most of the top professors who teach accounting are experts in the old Soviet accounting system. They have accumulated a vast knowledge of the old system and have long ago memorized the Soviet chart of accounts that all enterprises had to use to keep their books. But they need to teach the new accounting and many of them have not had any experience actually working as accountants in the new system. Moscow State University, perhaps the best university in Russia, has very few accounting professors who are under 45 years old. The head of the accounting department is in his 70s. Perhaps these professors know the new accounting rules and methods, but if they do, it is because they learned by reading on their own and by consulting. They cannot merely parrot what they learned when they attended the university 20 or 50 years ago because the material they need to teach students today was not taught when they were students. The interviews brought out some other interesting tid bits about university accounting education. While the professors and university administrators that were interviewed thought that the professors at their universities and in Russia in general were well qualified and up to date on the new accounting rules, the practitioners who took their courses felt differently. They felt that19professors were not sufficiently trained in IAS and that there were not enough professors to teach accounting in the universities. The interviews also revealed that not all universities are restructuring their accounting course offerings at the same rate of speed. The universities that do the best job of teaching the new accounting are the entrepreneurial universities. There are some universities in Russia that make every effort to offer the courses demanded by the market, even though they are government institutions. As government financial support for university education is cut back, some universities are bridging the financial gap by offering a range of accounting courses and charging for them. These are the universities that offer the best programs, while other, more traditional universities are content to implement changes to their curriculum at a much slower speed. Some of the professors who were interviewed revealed that university accounting courses are still based on RAS rather than international standards. Courses offered on the international standards explain only general concepts. One professor made the suggestion that the international standards should become the base for the entire accounting curriculum. The course materials that Russian university students have leave something to be desired. According to one professor, there are only two books available on IAS in Russian, and neither of them is of high quality. Many Western textbooks have been translated into Russian, but some of the translations are not good and most of the books are at least one, and perhaps as many as three editions behind their English language counterparts. For example, the Russian language text may be the fourth edition, with a 1994 copyright date, whereas the same book is now available in the seventh edition in English with a 2003 copyright date. Another problem Russian students face is the ability to get their hands on actual textbooks. Many Russian students cannot afford to buy their own copy, so they must use library copies. In some cases, this problem is alleviated by subsidizing the cost of printing the texts, but occasional subsidies are not sufficient to place books in the hands of every Russian accounting student. One of the accounting professors interviewed pointed out that the professors give students a sufficient number of handouts during class to make up for the lack of textbooks, and that these handouts are the main source of materials for exams. So perhaps the lack of textbooks is not such a big problem, assuming that the materials the professors distribute in class are of the same or higher quality than the textbooks. The quality of accounting education is higher in Moscow and St. Petersburg than in other Russian cities for several reasons. For one, most professors outside of these two cities do not have much opportunity to practice. They just read books. Having practical experience is considered to enhance their classroom skills. Another reason for the higher quality of education in Moscow and St. Petersburg is because the universities in the regions cannot afford to subsidize the textbook purchases of their students and their libraries cannot afford to buy a sufficient number of texts. Also, the demand for accounting professionals is less outside of the two big Russian cities, so fewer resources are used to train accounting experts. The attitude toward the accounting profession is also different in the regions. The demand for high quality is mostly in the big cities. Where the demand for high quality is low, the quality of service provided will also likely be low. Accounting education in Russia is also being provided by several different private groups. The large international accounting firms give regular training to their staffs and also give training and seminars to their clients. Russian accounting firms also provide training to their staffs, and sometimes to their clients, but the interviews revealed that that quality of the20
education the smaller Russian firms provide is not at the same quality level as that provided by the big international firms. One reason for the qualitative difference is because the large international firms have more resources to draw on than do the smaller Russian firms. The large international firms have been training their staffs and clients in international standards, modern auditing techniques and procedures for a much longer time and their various offices all over the world have developed and fine tuned their educational materials. A firm in New York or Sydney might very well develop a course or manual that can be adapted for use in Russia. The large firms have a large pool of case studies to choose from, whereas the smaller Russian accounting firms have to develop their case studies and other materials from scratch. Another advantage the large international firms have over the smaller Russian accounting firms is that the large firms are not limited to using Russian language course materials. In fact, most of the materials they use are in English. They can use such materials because their employees know how to read English. Materials that are used to educate their non-English speaking clients can be translated into Russian as demand warrants. The Russian firms, on the other hand, are more or less limited to using available Russian language materials. The quality of these materials may be lower than what is available in English. As was previously mentioned, the 1998 Russian translation of IAS is not at the same standard as the English language original, and the Russian accounting firms tend to use the Russian version, or educational materials that are spun off of the Russian version, in their seminars and classes. The amount and variety of the accounting training the large international accounting firms provide to their employees and clients is also larger than what most Russian firms provide. One of the Big-Four firms interviewed provides at least 40 hours a year of training for their employees, and in many cases much more than that. It gives five days of training per year just on international standards and another 6 to 12 days on various technical accounting topics, which might include international standards. It also publishes a newsletter, which is available for both employees and clients, which contains articles on recent developments. All of their employees are also involved in some kind of international certification training. An interview with a Russian accountant who works for one of the Big-Four accounting firms revealed that the quality of international standards education in the smaller firms is of a distinctly lower quality. Each firm makes its own course materials. In smaller firms, it is often the interpretation of the instructor that is taught rather than international standards. The instructor’s interpretation may be much different than reality. Most instructors do not have access to real IAS materials. They must rely on translations, many of which leave something to be desired. One Russian firm teaches a course on the IAS Chart of Accounts, which is really amusing to those who are knowledgeable about IAS, since IAS has no chart of accounts. This problem will be solved with time, as more English speaking Russian professors write their ow
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