Online Accounting Courses - A Brief Review

There is a variety of options available for people these days who want to improve their skills, start a new career, gain personal knowledge, or finish a degree. More and more, people are delaying college, going to classes part time, and often combining family responsibilities, earning a living, and continuing education. Although the internet has been widely available for over a decade, the popularity, accessibility, and perceived legitimacy of online education has exploded in recent years. While initially seen as inferior institutions dishing out low-quality degrees with a high price tag, online educational programs are increasingly being viewed as valid options for degree attainment.

Many reasons factor into an individual's decision to pursue an educational objective via an online medium. Flexibility of hours and relocation concerns are often two of the most prominent issues that lead people to choose online, as opposed to place-based, instruction.

Reputation of Online Programs

Even prominent institutions, such as Johns Hopkins University, offer some degrees online, increasing the perceived legitimacy of online programs in general. Certain disciplines lend themselves better to online education than others. For example, areas that are based in the technical processing of information, as opposed to social interaction, can be very effectively delivered online. Accounting is one area that fits into this description.

Online accounting courses deliver the same material, demand the same competencies, and result in the same skill levels as in-person courses. There is little in the way of interactive requirements for a person to be a skilled accountant. Accountants do not need to give speeches or conduct complex interpersonal procedures. Acquisition of technical knowledge and the relating skill-based competencies are the main tenets of the discipline of accounting. Therefore, the online medium for both imparting instruction as well as evaluating abilities is both adequate and valid.

Online accounting courses can be found in the curriculum of hundreds of institutions. Some degrees are offered completely online, while others provide an online option for some classes while requiring in-person attendance for others. Exams that are administered for online classes are often time-sensitive and proctored in a variety of creative ways. Nevertheless, as in any discipline, the main objective is the ability to use knowledge gained in order to fulfill a function or need.

With online accounting courses, often the way of assessing the internalization of knowledge, as opposed to a person who simply uses a book to answer questions, is the speed at which questions can be answered. When there is no required time frame for a test, it gives students the ability to cheat by spending lots of time pouring over books or text material to answer each question. In comparison, a timed test requires the rapid demonstration of knowledge, which impedes students from having enough time to look through book chapters to find answers or material to answer questions.