Intermediate Accounting I – Intervention and Student Success

After completing Principles of Accounting I (financial accounting) and II (managerial accounting), most accounting majors enroll in Intermediate Accounting I. For most of these students it has been a year since they took Principles of Accounting I. For graduate students enrolling in Intermediate Accounting I, it could be quite a few years since they initially took Principles of Accounting I. At Cleveland State University, Intermediate Accounting I consists of the first 14 chapters of the Kieso et al. Intermediate Accounting text. For almost all students, the quantity and difficulty level of the material makes Intermediate Accounting I one of the most difficult courses they will take in their degree program. Compounding this difficulty level is the elapsed time since they took Principles of Accounting I. Without a thorough knowledge of Principles of Accounting I, especially the basics, many students are re-learning the material from Principles of Accounting I at the same time they are attempting to learn the new material from Intermediate Accounting I. Historically the class grade point average (GPA) for Intermediate Accounting I ranges from approximately 2.00 to 2.40 on 4.00 point scale (prior two year ranges). This GPA is after a significant number of students have dropped the class due to failing grades, and eliminating the grades of students who did not drop the class and did not take the final exam. For the prior two years, approximately 30% of the students who take the first exam drop the course. To help students succeed in the class we decided to offer assistance at the start of the semester to help them relearn the basics from Principles of Accounting I. Some of the material from Principles of Accounting I is contained in Chapter 3 of the Kieso et al. Intermediate Accounting text, but in-class time is limited (the Intermediate Accounting I course is for three credit-hours) in terms of how much time we can spend reviewing financial accounting principles material without diluting the coverage of the Intermediate Accounting I material. Up until three years ago, Intermediate Accounting I was a four credit-hour course and we had the “luxury” of spending more time reviewing the material from the Principles of Accounting I course.