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A Nationwide alarm over the general deterioration of American higher education (Association of American Colleges 1985; Bok 1986; National Institute of Education 1984) has fueled a movement for change in accounting education. The agents for change--accounting educators, practitioners and students--agree that accounting education has become excessively procedure-and knowledge-oriented. All three groups call for new instructional approaches in which students become active participants in the learning process.(1) A recurring theme is that accounting students should be introduced to the uses of accounting information because professional accountants are becoming increasingly involved in financial decisions (Jensen and Arrington 1983; Perspectives on Education: Capabilities for Success in the Accounting Profession 1989; AECC 1990). This user approach is especially important for nonaccounting students in introductory accounting courses (AECC 1992).
Two effective teaching methods for accomplishing increased student interaction are cases (Campbell and Lewis 1991; Knechel 1992b) and simulation games Knechel 1989). The purpose of this paper is to describe a simulation game for use in financial accounting that will increase students' awareness of the ultimate use for the financial accounting information that they prepare.
SIMULATION GAMES
A game is a contest with specified goals and rules (Livingston and Stoll 1973). Basketball, checkers, tic-tac-toe, Boggle(R), and Monopoly are examples of games. According to Heyman (1975, 11), a simulation is "an activity whose rules tend to generate in the total behavior of the participants a model of some real world process." In other words, it simplifies reality. Examples of simulations are pilot training devices, toy cars with human drivers, and accounting practice sets. A simulation game "imitates some part of reality and is a contest" (Heyman 1975, 11). An example of a simulation game is Knechel's (1989) use of Monopoly to generate transactions for an accounting exercise in which accounts are maintained and summary financial statements prepared.
Simulation games offer several advantages (Heyman 1975; Heitzmann 1983; Taylor and Walford 1972). First, simulation games motivate many students to participate in educational activities to a greater degree than they would in a traditional setting. Second, simulation games enhance cognitive growth. They increase the ability to recall factual knowledge, and they appear to improve problem-solving skills. They also enhance students' ability to apply concepts and principles. Third, simulation games enhance affective learning. Students participating in...