Accounting is an academic discipline that usually does not strongly pursue writing for its own sake in the way that disciplines such as English and history do; therefore, if an instructor assigns an accounting term paper, he or she will probably provide specific instructions regarding its topic, research, and execution.
One possibility for an accounting term paper is that the student will research and write on a certain area of the law or of economics that applies directly to one's finances, such as a type of tax credit or deduction, different types of bankruptcy, or secured and unsecured debt. The instructor who assigns an accounting term paper of this nature intends the student to grow in knowledge that will be useful in professional endeavors.
A second possibility is that the student will report on a semester project, such as experimenting with the accuracy and user-friendliness of various types of accounting software or using various accounting methods on a given set of data for a specific purpose. In any case, the term paper would only be as good as the project upon which it reported.
Whatever their topics, accounting term papers will have a few special concerns. First, if the student performs any research, he or she must use the most current research available. For example, the student must not use an outdated tax code. Second, the student will probably need to include some tables, charts, and graphs to handle the data necessary for the paper; depending on the instructor's wishes, the student may present these within the body of the text or may relegate them to appendices. Third, students must solidly base their accounting term papers in fact. Unlike other disciplines in which term papers argue a point, accounting term papers seek factual veracity; they will explain how to do something, not why, and that "how" must be completely accurate. Finally, in the editing stage, the student must make sure that any figures included in the paper are correct. An accounting instructor will be able to spot any mathematical error.
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