An accountancy lecturer teaches college-level courses in various topics that are considered essential for a higher education degree in this field. Classes in accounting can focus on finance, tax preparation, and bookkeeping for students interested in becoming public accountants. An accountancy lecturer is also frequently responsible for teaching managerial accounting and auditing procedures. University lecturers who teach accounting often assign students a range of projects, such as creating spreadsheets and ledgers from scratch. Many lecturers also instruct students in the use of specialized accounting software that they are likely to use in the workplace after graduation.
Accounting professionals interested in an academic career usually need to complete a masters degree at minimum, and many universities prefer to hire new lecturers with doctorate degrees in a specific area of accounting. An accountancy lecturer with non-academic work experience is also considered a strong candidate for a lecturer position. A new accounting teacher at the university level often starts out with teaching the basic undergraduate courses that all accounting majors are required to complete.
One of the first courses that an accountancy lecturer often teaches is introductory financial accounting. Topics covered in this course often include how to interpret income statements and balance sheets. A college lecturer also typically devotes part of this course to instructing students how to correctly prepare and update these fundamental accounting documents. An effective accountancy lecturer in this type of course teaches concepts that students need to grasp to be successful in more advanced accounting courses, including accounting activity and performance measurement.
Accounting lecturers with a few years of academic experience often teach courses in accounting practices for businesses and government agencies. Their students frequently learn the process of tracking, recording, and reporting the income and expenses for a company that has multiple departments. An accountancy teacher will also usually teach the concepts of auditing and outline scenarios where the auditing process is usually applied. Many university accounting teachers assign group projects designed to simulate a working business accounting department.
Since computer software usually replaces traditional handwritten accounting ledgers, accountancy lecturers with proficiency in these programs are often in demand. These types of software applications are often known as accounting information technology (AIS). Some university accounting teachers may add relevant AIS applications to their financial and managerial accounting curriculum. Others may teach higher education courses exclusively in the use of AIS software.