The Current State of Accounting Education and Research in China: A Survey of Involved Overseas Chinese Accounting Professors

This study aims to further the development of an informed understanding of current Chinese accounting education and research as an aid to focusing the efforts of accounting scholars from both within China and abroad. Survey responses were obtained from 21 overseas Chinese accounting professors with recent involvement in China. These involved (and presumably interested) academics shared their assessment that the strengths of Chinese accounting education are the quality and motivation of its students, and the practical and local/domestic orientation of its curriculum. They considered the practice and local/domestic orientation of current Chinese accounting research to be its particular strength. The respondents also identified numerous areas in need of improvement. Foremost among these are the training and qualifications of the faculty, the procedural (as opposed to conceptual) nature of the curriculum and research, and the lack of infrastructure and support. These findings can be useful in prompting a re‐examination of programmes and processes by Chinese accounting educators. They also can be used by accounting academics from outside of China as a starting point for exploring how they may best contribute to the development of Chinese accounting education and research, and in the development and separation of duties in joint projects with their Chinese colleagues.