Understanding SAK EMKM Through Teachers’ Lived Experiences: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

This study aims to understand the meaning of vocational high school accounting teachers lived experiences in learning, interpreting, and implementing the Financial Accounting Standards for Micro, Small, and Medium Entities (SAK EMKM) in accounting education. A qualitative approach with a transcendental phenomenological design guided by Moustakas was employed to explore the meaning and essence of teachers’ experiences. Five vocational high school accounting teachers with relevant experience in teaching and implementing SAK EMKM participated as informants. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation and analyzed using epoche, horizontalization, clustering of meaning units, textural and structural descriptions, and synthesis of the essence. The findings reveal five central themes: (1) SAK EMKM as new professional knowledge that broadens teachers’ perspectives; (2) SAK EMKM as an accounting standard relevant to the realities and needs of MSMEs; (3) SAK EMKM as a reinforcement of accounting curriculum and teaching practices; (4) teacher competence as a professional responsibility to prepare students for workplace readiness; and (5) teacher competence as a process of continuous professional development. The essence of the experience indicates that teachers’ competence is not a static attribute but an ongoing process of professional transformation shaped by professional learning, reflection, contextual understanding of MSMEs, pedagogical translation, and attention to students’ future work needs. The study contributes a contextual understanding of how vocational accounting teachers experience and translate SAK EMKM into meaningful accounting learning practices rather than measuring competency improvement as a quantitative outcome