Free Textbook Initiative: Making accounting textbooks available for free

Lay summary by Femi Oladele

Hammond and her team propose a The Free Textbook Initiative (FTI) which would allow students access to accounting textbooks free of charge. The proposed initiative would involve a collective effort by governments, faculty, public accounting firms and professional bodies like the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. It is obviously desirable, especially given a significant increase in the cost of textbooks which represents a large portion of the cost of higher education in accounting.

In the US, recent statistics show that total student loan debt, estimated at a trillion dollars, eclipsed total credit card debt. This was coupled with an evident increase in the need for instructional and learning materials, given the 150-hour academic requirement for a CPA qualification in most states. In addition, professors recommend textbooks which often require students to acquire the latest editions. However, studies show that some revisions have no significant change in content and value. However, revisions often have negative financial implications for the students who buy the books. Furthermore, most book reviews shy away from considering how the cost of newer editions impact students’ educational cost.

Given the issues above, Hammond and her team identified that the cost of textbooks is a significant contributor to the concern being raised about the increasing cost of higher education, and might be in-part attributable to the frequency of revisions in accounting textbooks. The authors ask: are revisions necessary and how often?

The authors used three approaches. First, they examined revision frequency of 69 textbooks that have been revised from 1988 to date, finding that there has been a steady decline in the interval of accounting book revisions from an average of about 4.2 years to about 2.4 years in the 28-year period. Secondly, they used a survey to understand accounting faculty perceptions of textbook revisions. In general, accounting faculty feel that textbook revisions are too frequent. They found that differences in opinion relate to gender, experience, and courses taught. Moreover, they found that faculty who have authored books were more disposed to frequent revisions. Finally, they looked at book reviews as published by the Issues in Accounting Education and found that none considered the financial cost implication of the books that had revisions as most dealt more on changes in content, pedagogy and social demands.

Hammond and her colleagues believe that rising textbook costs could potentially increase the cost of acquiring higher education. This negatively impacts students’ living standards. However, accounting faculty may have the ability to reasonably reduce the cost of acquiring an accounting education in an attempt to meet the growing demand for accountants in the near future. Hammond and her colleagues hope to see a interest in their Free Textbook Initiative.

For further information

Read the Journal of Accounting Education original research article which this summary is based on U.S. accounting professors’ perspectives on textbook revisions (April 2015).

Visit the profile of the research ambassador, Femi Oladele, who wrote this summary.

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