A three-disciplined approach to the development of a financial learning management system (FinLMS)

This paper describes the creation of an interactive online learning management tool for the accounting and IS professions. The financial learning management system (FinLMS) will be used by accounting practitioners and learners to create and understand how financial statements work together and to explore the relationships between the primary financial statements being: income statements, statement of cash flow and balance sheet statements for decision-making. It has been pilot-tested in a third-level university delivering accounting and finance courses to two undergraduate programmes. The FinLMS will allow learners to enter data into financial statements, and to manipulate the results using sensitivity analysis and stress testing of key financial ratios. This is achieved through a tutorial-driven, stepped approach to active-learning. Learners will be able to test their understanding of financial theory and educators will be able to track student progress. Practitioner user requirements were specified by an industrial partner and best practices for methodological approaches in managing accounting, finance and IS (AFIS) knowledge were provided by the FinLMS development group consisting of AFIS educators. This consortium of practitioners and educators collaborated extensively to devise a FinLMS that merges best practices in online education with specific interdisciplinary curriculum training requirements for the accounting and IS professions.