The Role of Accounting Education in Sustainable Entrepreneurship

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1 International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences 2013 Available online at ISSN X / Vol, 6 (7): Science Explorer Publications The Role of Accounting Education in Sustainable Entrepreneurship Fatemeh Sarraf 1, Maryam Sarraf 2*, Zahra Amin Afshar 3 1. PHD. Student of Accounting, Faculty of Accounting, AllameTabatabaee University, Tehran, Iran. 2. Master of Psychology,Faculty ofpsychology,allameqazviniuniversity, Qazvin, Iran. 3. MS. Student of Industrial Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran *Corresponding Author m_sarraf50@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: This study aimed at investigating how accounting education influences successful sustainable entrepreneurship on three dimensions; Environmental, Social and Economical? The statistical population of this study is the chief executive officers of companies, and accounting lectures. To achieve this purpose, research questions were raised and a review of extant literature was made. In order to gather the necessary data for the study, a well-structured questionnaire was administered on the chief executive officers of companies, and accounting lectures.for statistical analysis of data chi-square test were used. Our findings revealed that accounting education promotes successful sustainable entrepreneurship. Key words: accounting education, sustainable entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, economical entrepreneurship, environmental entrepreneurship. INTRODUCTION The concept of continuity (sustainability) is derived of the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). The Commission was challenged with the question whether there is a possibility that produce 5 billion people's needs, without the rest, fall in risk (Gray & Balmer, 2004). Creating new aggressive activities not only helps economic development, also provide new opportunities for future entrepreneurs by providing knowledge and information for future jobs. In 2007 in United State, around new businesses have been created, and between more than a third of all new created jobs, were aggressive (Fairlie, 2009). Tietenberg, believes that sustainable entrepreneurship is entrepreneurial culture that in addition to the economic success of the entrepreneur also measures the long and short term effects on the social (Tietenberg, 2010). Accounting education has significant impact on entrepreneurs performance and efforts in different parts such like economical, environmental and social reactions. Damitio and Schmidgall, reported that pressure of economic competition is caused that managers, accountant and entrepreneurs all work with each other. In this way, accountant, reports information that entrepreneurs use those for choosing the best decision and solutions (Damitio & Schmidgall, 2007). By accounting educations, entrepreneurs, can get the basic skills of accounting. Findings suggest that accounting education plays an important and significant role in sustainable entrepreneurship. Continuity or sustainability is a kind of lifestyle it provides continuity of live for everyone. Sustainability means a way of life in which a whole set can provide the best conditions for all and respond future generations needs. In Iran entrepreneurship education is a long term process. That involves plans in country's educational system, especially universities and institutions of higher education. Based on this, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran, attempts to perform entrepreneurship development project in universities and setup entrepreneurship center as operating units in subsidiary units of universities (Zahiri, 2005). Literature Review Shompiter, was the first that introduced entrepreneurship as creative destruction process. He believes entrepreneurship as the engine of economic growth and development of economic. Peter Draker(1985), introduced entrepreneurship the concept of a constant search for changes and react against it and exploit it as an opportunity (Hezarjaribi, 2005). Entrepreneur is a person who has new ideas which by those introduces establish process of

2 new business and acceptance of risk, production or new services to his/her society (Ahmadpourdariany, 2003). Based on social networks vision, entrepreneurship is a process that has been located in center of social relations and these relations can facilitate the entrepreneur relations with limited resource or opportunities (Ahmadpourdariany 2005). Sustainable entrepreneurship is defined as process of discovery, development and exploration of the economic opportunities that will exist in the future market (Tietenborg, 2010: Dean & Mcmullen, 2007). Cohen and Winn ) 7002( introduced, sustainable entrepreneurship as, examination of how to build and alive opportunities for a better future and more services. These opportunities are used by individuals who know consequences of psychological, economical, social and environmental. According to Katsiks & Kyrgidon (2009), theory sustainable entrepreneurship is technological process and a driver for achieving sustainable development. This focus is done by evaluation, use of the opportunities and creating values, and economical success, social cohesion and environmental protection will follow. The concept of sustainable entrepreneurship at multiple levels of meaning and its relation to the technological goals is shown in figure 1. Sustainable entrepreneurship Environmental dimension Economical dimension Social dimension Environmentalintegrity Economic success Social Cohesion Figure1. Dimensions ofsustainable entrepreneurship (Source: Katslkls and Kyrgidon, 2009) Social entrepreneurship: social entrepreneurship, focus on process of which certain behaviors are formed to pursue social goals. Although the profitability as well as an objective for social entrepreneur, but its not the only, benefits are reinvested in line with the main purpose (Boschee & Mcclurg, 2002). Economical entrepreneurship: will be lead to improve quality of life at an acceptable level. It will be done by produce capacity of organizations and people in society (Holiday, et. al., 2002). Environmental entrepreneurship: human activities can negatively impacts on the natural environment. If the natural environment reduces, essential resources for human life as air, water and food will be affected by these cuts (Katsikis & Kyrgidon, 2009). Accounting and entrepreneurship education: entrepreneurship requires special training to acquire knowledge and skills. According to Obadans idea even if the immovable property be given to entrepreneur, to use it, he/she must has sufficient knowledge and skills. Davidson showed that entrepreneurship capacity for starting a business, highly correlated with the experience and training (Ladzani and Vanvuuren, 2002). According to Obadan (2001), accounting education is the process of teaching and learning in institutions is used to improve the knowledge and skills of accounting. Quality of accounting skills, improve sustainable entrepreneurship. A review of available literature in the field of accounting, reveal that some basic skills for a successful entrepreneur are necessary, such as basic accounting, tax accounting, cost control, inventory pricing method and breakeven point analysis, budgeting, accounting management, liquidity review analysis, financial ratios, income statement and balance sheet, financial planning and information processing. Obadan, (2001) and Hertz & Theuri, (2008) claim that acquire accounting necessary skills, enables entrepreneurs to get a thorough knowledge to evaluate activities that have inappropriate effects on environment and it will be a sign of lacking similar sustained activities. This enables entrepreneurs to pay more attention to environment. Obadan ) 7001( refers when the entrepreneur have knowledge of accounting, will take opportunities for access to economic opportunity, environmental protection and social cohesion. METHODOLOGY This paper is a descriptive study that was conducted with the pilot practices. In terms of target, practical, and in terms of data collection, was field. To analyze the data collected, from sampling frequency comparisons 984

3 based on X 2 test, was used. In order to collect the necessary data for the study, we used professor of accounting, auditing and accountin. For collecting the data we used a questionnaire with 71 questions. The reliability of the questionnaire in the study (0/85) has been reported. Questionnaires were evaluated by Likert s five-item scale. Research Findings To test theformulated hypotheses, thex Abbreviations and symbols: V.A= very high H= high L=low V.L= very low N= Neutral S.S= size ofthe square X 2 2 test was usedandtheresultswereas follows: D.F= Degrees of freedom S.L = Significant level C.A= completely agree C.D= completely disagree A= agree D= disagree Table 1. the results of testx 2 for investigating the role ofaccountingeducation in success socialentrepreneursfrom the sight of accountingprofessors Accounting professors S.S 6/444 V.L 6 4/5 1/5 D.F 3 H 8 4/5 3/5 S.L 0/003 L 3 4/5-1/5 V.L 1 4/5-3/5 Total 18 Table 2. the results of test X 2 for investigating the role ofaccountingeducation in success socialentrepreneursfrom the sight of Top executive managers Top executive manager S.S 26/151 V.H 17 10/6 8/4 D.F 3 H 22 10/6 9/4 S.L 0/000 L 9 10/6-3/6 V 4 10/6-5/6 N 1 10/6-8/6 Total 53 Table 3. the results of testx 2 for investigating the role ofaccountingeducation in success socialentrepreneursfrom the sight of Top executive managers Accounting professors who are top manager Frequency Frequency Remain S.S 19/556 V.H 13 7/2 5/8 D.F 4 H 14 7/2 6/8 S.L 0/001 L 5 7/2-2/2 V.L 3 7/2-4/2 N 1 7/2-6/2 Total 36 Table 4. the results of testx 2 for investigating the role ofaccountingeducation in success economical entrepreneursfrom the sight of accounting professors Accounting professors S.S 4/000 V.H 8 6/0 2/0 D.F 2 H 8 6/0 2/0 S.L 0/135 L 2 6/0-4/0 V.L Total

4 Table 5. the results of testx 2 for investigating the role ofaccountingeducation in success economical entrepreneursfrom the sight of top executive manager Topexecutive manager S.S 19/679 V.H 23 13/3 9/8 D.F 3 H 19 13/3 5/8 S.L 0/000 L 8 13/3 5/3 V.L 3 13/3-10/3 Total 53 Table 6. the results of test X 2 for investigating the role of accounting education in success economical entrepreneurs from the sight of accounting who are top manager Accounting professors who are top manager S.S 2/889 V.H 7 4/5 2/5 D.F 3 H 4 4/5-0/5 S.L 0/409 L 5 4/5 0/5 V.L 2 4/5-2/5 Total 18 Table 7. the results of testx 2 for investigating the role of accounting education in environmental success of entrepreneurs from the sight of accounting professors Accounting professors Frequency frequency Remain S.S 15/000 N 16 9/3 6/8 D.F 3 C.D 14 9/3 4/8 S.L 0/002 D 5 9/3-4/3 A 2 9/3-7/3 C.A Total 37 Table 8. the results of test X 2 for investigating the role of accounting education in environmental success of entrepreneurs from the sight of top executive manager. Topexecutive manager Frequency frequency Remain S.S 29/170 N 17 10/6 6/4 D.F 3 C.D 22 10/6 11/4 S.L 0/163 D 9 10/6-1/6 A 4 10/6-6/6 C.A 1 10/6-9/6 Total 53 Table 9. the results of test X 2 for investigating the role of accounting education in environmental success of entrepreneurs from the sight of accounting professors who are top manager. Accounting professors who are top manager Frequency Frequency Remain S.S 15/667 N 12 7/2 4/8 D.F 4 C.D 13 7/2 5/8 S.L 0/4 D 7 7/2-0/2 A 3 7/2-4/2 C.A 1 7/2-6/2 Total

5 The results of calculating X 2 were summarized as follow: Table Results Table10. 1: X 2 calculated is significant in less than 0/05 level. So, hypothesis of accountingeducationhasa positive effecton thesuccess of socialentrepreneursin terms ofaccountingprofessors, be accepted. 2: X 2 calculated is significant inless than0/05 level. So, hypothesis of accountingeducationhasa positive effecton thesuccess of socialentrepreneursin terms oftop executive managers, be accepted. 3: X 2 calculatedis significant atthe95% confidence. Accountingeducation iseffective In thesuccess of socialentrepreneursin terms ofaccounting professors who are top manager. 4: X 2 calculated isn t significant inless than0/05 level. Hypothesis of accountingeducationhasn ta positive effecton thesuccess of socialentrepreneursin terms oftop executive managers, and not be accepted. 5: X 2 calculated is significant in less than 0/05 level. Hypothesis of accounting education has a positive effect on the economical success of entrepreneurs in terms of Top executive managers, be accepted. 6: X 2 calculatedis significant atthe95% confidence. Accountingeducation iseffective in thesuccess of socialentrepreneursin terms ofaccounting professors who are top manager. 7: X 2 calculated isn t significant inless than0/05 level. Accountingeducationhasn ta positive effecton thesuccess of socialentrepreneursin terms ofaccounting professors, and not be accepted. 8: X 2 calculated isn t significant inless than0/05 level. Hypothesis of positive correlation between entrepreneurs education in the environmental success in the sight of top executive manager is rejected. 9: X 2 calculated isn t significant inless than0/05 level. Hypothesis of positive correlation between entrepreneurs education in the environmental success from the sight of accounting professors who are top manager, is rejected. RESULT AND CONCLUSION The results show that sustainable and successful Entrepreneurship can be enhanced through the acquisition of accounting skills. Also, it is clear that accounting education improves success in social and economical entrepreneurship. These findings are consistent with Obadan (2001); Theuri and Hertz (2008) results. Their findings suggest that the acquisition of skills related to accounting can improve sustainability in entrepreneurship culture. In addition, studies showed that successful entrepreneurs can improve through accounting education. For increasing sustainable entrepreneurship, knowing cost control, pricing, accounting, tax, financial planning, evaluating different projects and etc. are essential for entrepreneurs. Because accounting provides these information to choose the best solutions and decisions, to entrepreneurs. It should be noted that the efficiency is influenced by several factors. Obadan, believed, some factors are Barrier for effect efficiency of accounting education in access to goals. Herbert (2006) identifies factors which are against the accounting returns. He notes, there is no worry about accounting education. But the main problem is particular implementation of instruction environment, educational assistance facilities and computer network which usually are absent in group educations. Developed countries accounting models are not entirely suitable for our country (Iran). These models are designed to satisfy needs of those countries and most of these models have considered some factors that are irrelevant with accounting systems of our entrepreneurs. REFERENCES Ahmadporedariani M Entrepreneurship and its role on national economy, Proceedings ofentrepreneurship. Ahmadporedariani M Entrepreneurship, Definitions, theories, models. Pardis Publications 57.Tehran. Boschee J, McClurg J Towards a better understanding of social entrepreneurship: Some important distinctions. Columbus, Ohio: Social Enterprise Alliance. Cohen B, Winn M Market imperfections, Opportunity and Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Journal of Business Venturing 22: Damitio James W, Raymond S Schmidgall, What Accounting Skills do Managers Value?, Strategic Finance, Vo. 84, No. 4, pp Druker P The Disipline of Innovation, Harvard Business Review, May PP: Fairlie WR Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity , Kauffman Foundation. Gray ER, Balmer JMT.2004".The Sustainable Entrepreneur" The Working Paper Series. Herbert WE Accounting Education in a Democratic Nigeria; Journal of Banking and investment; Vol, 1; No. 2; pp 8-9. Hezarjaribi J Entrepreneurship,First edition. Tehran:Instituteof Economic Affairs. 987

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