Service learning: An auditing project study

Abstract

There is a growing demand in higher education for universities to introduce teaching methods that achieve the learning outcomes of vocational education. The need for vocational educational outcomes was met in this study involving a service learning activity designed to provide basic professional auditing competencies. The details of the design and implementation of the auditing project are explained. The methodology employed in this study is qualitative in nature. Analysis was based on a survey designed to elicit feedback regarding the experience gained from participating in the audit project. The analysis indicates that the students perceived the audit project to be beneficial to their learning and development of accounting, communication and teamwork skills. Due to the limited number of participants and the qualitative methodology the results are not geralizabable. However, the results do provide support for the use of service learning activities to provide experiential learning and an awareness of community service consistent with the existing literature.