Accounting Faculty Teaching Ratings: Are They Lower Because Accounting Classes Are More Difficult?

Abstract

This study examines two important issues; first, whether accounting professors earn lower ratings than professors in other disciplines and second, whether those lower ratings are related to students’ perceptions of how easy those professors and classes are. The results of the statistical analyses indicate that accounting students perceive their professors to be significantly more difficult than students in nonaccounting disciplines and this perception is related to lower teaching evaluations. The results should be of interest to any accounting professor who is preparing performance review or promotion and tenure applications and is required to include student generated faculty evaluations in their applications.