E-business in Accounting Education: A Review of Undergraduate Accounting Degrees in the UK and Ireland

Despite the rapidly growing importance of e-business and its impact on every aspect of the business world, including accounting practice and the accounting profession, little attention has been given to the e-business education provided to accounting students. This paper reports the results of a study into e-business education in undergraduate university accounting degree programmes in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. An analysis of 119 syllabi, representing e-business, information systems and auditing modules, was undertaken to investigate the scope of and content of e-business teaching within accounting degrees. It was found that e-business is, at best, only briefly covered in the typical accounting degree. Results of the study suggest that the UK and Ireland are lagging considerably behind the USA with regard to e-business education. They may also provide accounting educators, professional bodies, and researchers with insights into the teaching of e-business in order to better prepare accounting graduates for the Internet-based marketplace.E-business, information technology, accounting curricula, e-business education,