Junkyard Planet: Using Stories to Teach Managerial Accounting with a Sustainability Theme
Grimm S.D.
2021
Issues in Accounting Education
2
10.2308/ISSUES-19-063
Theme-based learning suggests a relatable theme can make course content more applicable, engaging, and memorable. This article discusses how sustainability was integrated into an accounting class using Adam Minter’s (2013) book Junkyard Planet, and smaller stories including cases and discussion boards. The stories introduce students to the role businesses have in influencing sustainable development. The stories allow for the consideration of managerial accounting concepts including direct material costs, the tradeoffs between fixed automation costs and variable labor costs, as well as the exploration of ethics, sustainability and the common good. The assignments reflect the principles of liberal learning, which strive to prepare students for work and life through an integrated curriculum. Survey results document students’ interest in sustainability and their perceptions of their understanding of accounting concepts increased following the course. This suggests integrated learning activities can enhance both comprehension of accounting content and students’ appreciation for sustainability. © 2021, American Accounting Association. All rights reserved.
Globalization; Liberal learning; Managerial accounting; Sustainable development; Theme-based courses
Amaral L., Martins N., Gouveia J. B., Quest for a sustainable university: A review, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 16, 2, pp. 155-172, (2015); Anctil R., Grimm S. D., Maloney M., Atlas managerial accounting case: Examining joint products in the international scrap metal recycling industry, Journal of Accounting Education, 51, pp. 1-15, (2020); Angelo B., Ayres D., Stanfield J., Power from the ground up: Using data analytics in capital budgeting, Journal of Accounting Education, 42, pp. 27-39, (2018); Apostolou B., Dorminey J. W., Hassell J. M., Rebele J. E., Accounting education literature review (2013–2014), Journal of Accounting Education, 33, 2, pp. 69-127, (2015); Apostolou B., Dorminey J. W., Hassell J. M., Rebele J. E., Accounting education literature review (2015), Journal of Accounting Education, 35, pp. 20-55, (2016); Apostolou B., Dorminey J. W., Hassell J. M., Rebele J. E., Accounting education literature review (2016), Journal of Accounting Education, 39, pp. 1-31, (2017); Apostolou B., Dorminey J. W., Hassell J. M., Rebele J. E., Accounting education literature review (2017), Journal of Accounting Education, 43, pp. 1-23, (2018); Apostolou B. J., Dorminey J. W., Hassell J. M., Watson S. F., Accounting education literature review (2010–2012), Journal of Accounting Education, 31, 2, pp. 107-161, (2013); What liberal education looks like: What it is, who it’s for & where it happens, (2020); AICPA pre-certification core competency framework, (2018); Ethics education in business schools, (2004); Audebrand L., Sustainability in strategic management education: The quest for new root metaphors, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9, 3, pp. 413-428, (2010); Bebbington J., Larrinaga C., Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 39, 6, pp. 395-413, (2014); Bebbington J., Unerman J., Advancing research into accounting and the UN sustainable development goals, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 33, 7, pp. 1657-1670, (2020); Booth W. C., The Rhetoric of Fiction, (1983); Boulianne E., Keddie S. L., Where is sustainability within the Canadian CPA education program?, Sustainability Accounting: Education, Regulation, Reporting, and Stakeholders, pp. 71-112, (2018); Bouten L., Hoozee S., Challenges in sustainability and integrated reporting, Issues in Accounting Education, 30, 4, pp. 373-381, (2015); Boyce G., Narayanan V., Greer S., Blair B., Taking the pulse of accounting education reform: Liberal education, sociological perspectives, and exploring ways forward, Accounting Education, 28, 3, pp. 274-303, (2019); Brown J., Dillard J., Sustainability is the New Critical? The Routledge Companion to Critical Accounting, (2017); Brown V., Kohlbeck M. J., Providing assurance for sustainability reports: An instructional case, Issues in Accounting Education, 32, 3, pp. 95-102, (2017); Brundtland G., Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our common future, (1987); Calder W., Dautremont-Smith J., Higher education: More and more laboratories for inventing a sustainable future, Agenda for a Sustainable America, pp. 93-107, (2009); Colby A., Ehrlich T., Sullivan W. M., Dolle J. R., Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession, (2011); Contrafatto M., ‘Utopia’ and ‘passion’: A commentary on ‘Sustainability and accounting education: The elephant in the classroom, Accounting Education, 22, 4, pp. 336-339, (2013); Deering C. G., Using literature to teach crisis intervention, Psychology Learning & Teaching, 17, 1, pp. 73-83, (2018); Detzen T. S., Wersborg G., Zu H., Bleak weather for sun-shine AG: A case study of impairment of assets, Issues in Accounting Education, 30, 2, pp. 113-126, (2015); Circular Economy Introduction, (2021); Findler F., Schonherr N., Lozano R., Reider D., Martinuzzi A., The impacts of higher education institutions on sustainable development, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 20, 1, pp. 23-38, (2019); Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability (ERS) in Business School Accreditation: Peer-Learning Perspectives, (2014); Gottschall J., The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, (2012); Gray R., Sustainability þ accounting education: The elephant in the classroom, Accounting Education, 22, 4, pp. 308-332, (2013); Grimm S. D., Learning logs: Incorporating writing-to-learn assignments into accounting courses, Issues in Accounting Education30, 2, pp. 79-104, (2015); Grimm S. D., Tech cycle case (B): Budget analysis for a social enterprise, (2021); Handal B., Bobis J., Teaching mathematics thematically: Teachers’ perspectives, Mathematics Education Research Journal, 16, 1, pp. 3-18, (2004); Hartman E. M., Can we teach character? An Aristotelian answer, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5, 1, pp. 68-81, (2006); Hazelton J., Haigh M., Incorporating sustainability into accounting curricula: Lessons learnt from an action research study, Accounting Education, 19, 1-2, pp. 159-178, (2010); Kennedy M. R., Pursuing purposeful profit, Sustainable Development: The UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, and the Common Good, (2014); Lawson R. A., Blocher E. J., Brewer P. C., Cokins G., Sorensen J. E., Stout D. E., Focusing accounting curricula on students’ long-run careers: Recommendations for an integrated competency-based framework for accounting education, Issues in Accounting Education, 29, 2, pp. 295-317, (2014); Lee W. E., Sustainability in action, (2020); Lee W. E., Birkey R. N., Patten D. M., Exposing students to environmental sustainability in accounting: An analysis of its impacts in a US setting, Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 37, 2, pp. 81-96, (2017); Lister R. J., A role for the compulsory study of literature in accounting education, Accounting Education, 19, 4, pp. 329-343, (2010); Matherly M., Burney L. L., Active learning activities to revitalize managerial accounting principles, Issues in Accounting Education, 28, 3, pp. 653-680, (2013); Michaelson C., A novel approach to business ethics education: Exploring how to live and work in the 21st century, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 15, 3, pp. 588-606, (2016); Miley F., The storytelling project: Innovating to engage students in their learning, Higher Education Research & Development, 28, 4, pp. 357-369, (2009); Minter A., Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade, (2013); Montiel I., Antolin-Lopez R., Gallo P. J., Emotions and sustainability: A literary genre-based framework for environmental sustainability management education, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 17, 2, pp. 155-183, (2018); Porter M. E., Kramer M. R., Creating shared value, Harvard Business Review, 89, 1, pp. 62-77, (2011); PRME’s Vision and Mission, (2021); Saravanamuthu K., Instilling a sustainability ethos in accounting education through the transformative learning pedagogy: A case-study, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, pp. 1-36, (2015); Shapiro B., Using traditional narratives and other narrative devices to enact humanizing business practices, Journal of Business Ethics, 139, 1, pp. 1-19, (2016); Shapiro B. P., Naughton M., Toward an integrated vision of undergraduate liberal and accounting education in the public interest: The holistic development of persons and institutions, Accounting and the Public Interest, 13, 1, pp. 14-38, (2013); Sleek S., Literary character: Researchers test fiction as a foundation for empathy and social skills, Observer, 27, (2014); Starik M., Rands G., Marcus A., Clark T., From the guest editors: In search of sustainability in management education, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9, 3, pp. 377-383, (2010); Tessier L., Tessier J., Theme-based courses foster student learning and promote comfort with learning new material, Journal for Learning through the Arts, 11, 1, (2015); Unerman J., Chapman C., Academic contributions to enhancing accounting for sustainable development, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 39, 6, pp. 385-394, (2014); Waddock S., Beyond corporate responsibility to the common good: The millennium development goals, UN global compact, and business enterprise, Sustainable Development: The UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, and the Common Good, (2014); Wyness L., Dalton F., The value of problem-based learning in learning for sustainability: Undergraduate accounting student perspectives, Journal of Accounting Education, 45, pp. 1-19, (2018)
American Accounting Association
Article
Scopus