Factors contributing toward student performance in a distance education accounting degree

Abstract

Acknowledgments:The authors would like to thank the University of South Africa for permission to use student data as well as the financial assistance provided in order to assist in completion of the research paper. ABSTRACT PurposeThe objective of this paper is to examine the effects of five determinates of performance in students (N = 677) who completed three years of financial accounting to obtain a Bachelor of Accounting Science (BCompt) degree by distance education through the University of South Africa. Design/methodology/approachRegression analysis is used on three yearly measures of performance with five independent variables (age, gender, prior accounting knowledge, mathematics background and academic aptitude). FindingsResults show that mathematics background and academic aptitude are both significantly associated with 2 student performance, throughout the financial accounting subjects. Prior accounting knowledge is also important in the first year of study but not thereafter. Practical implicationsThe results of this study have important implications for instructors, students and career advisers, particularly as research linking various factors with performance in accounting subjects over the length of a degree is limited. Research limitations/implicationsPrior research has found that other factors may influence student performance, and future studies which include these variables will add to these findings. Originality/valueThe current study considers the determinants of student performance over three financial accounting years (rather than one year or one subject) and from a distance education perspective. As distance education becomes a more important delivery method of study in the future, these results have important implications.

Lecture attendance versus academic performance and prior knowledge of accounting students: An exploratory study at a South African university

“…In conclusion the mean obtained in the final marks for students who had Accounting prior to university (M=60.5) was higher than the students' mean with no prior Accounting (M=50.7). The outcomes of this study confirm with the outcomes of Papageorgiou and Halabi (2014) and Rankin et al (2003) that prior accounting knowledge was found to be significantly associated with first-year Accounting students' performance. Furthermore correlation between repeated measured was tested between students with and without prior accounting knowledge and marks obtained in three tests (April, June and September) and the November exam.…”

“…Furthermore, this study also emphasises the importance of accounting that could be added to the list as a pre-requisite for the admission requirements to an accounting degree. Previous research confirmed that students' pass rate with no prior accounting knowledge was improved by attending lectures (Baard et al 2010, 142) while other studies confirmed a significant association between students with prior accounting knowledge and students' marks (Rohde and Kavanagh 1996; Farley and Ramsay 1988;Papageorgiou and Halabi 2014;Eskew and Faley 1988). The studies of Uyar andGüngörmüş (2011), Van Rensburg et al (1998) and Rowlands (1988) confirmed that prior Accounting exposure tends to improve student performance.…”

“…Doran, Bouillon, and Smith (1991) used a multivariate predictive model and confirmed that students with secondary school accounting tend to perform better at university level than students with no prior knowledge of accounting at school level. However, in a recent study, Papageorgiou and Halabi (2014) used regression analysis, on three yearly measures of performance with five independent variables with prior accounting knowledge as one of the variable in a distance education accounting degree of 677 students at a South African university. Their study confirmed that prior accounting knowledge concluded to be significantly associated with student performance in their first year of study but not thereafter.…”

“…The multivariate analysis of variances permits the modelling of the different variables' impact across the different categories of lecture attendance. While previous studies employ multiple regression analysis to determine the association between the number of lectures students attend and academic performance(Papageorgiou and Halabi 2014;Rankin et al 2003), Andrietti (2014) used proxy variables regression and Andrietti and Veleasco (2015) used different empirical approaches to address the endogeneity of lecture attendance. Data of this study was further exploited to include fixed effects regression models to determine the attendance-performance relationships and whether students with prior accounting knowledge differentially benefit from lecture attendance.…”

Prior accounting knowledge of first-year students at two South African universities: Contributing factor to academic performance or not?

“…Factors that influence the academic performance of students, that may prevent students from graduating or extend their degree with a year or longer, have attracted the attention of many researchers; factors such as students' age, gender, attitude, extended curriculum, personality, diversity, transition from secondary to tertiary education and prior academic achievement (Duff 2004;Bergin 2001;Chansarkar and Michaeloudis 2001;Lubbe 2017;Papageorgiou and Halabi 2014;Van Rensburg, Penn and Haiden 1998;Woollacott, Snell and Laher 2013;Duff and Mladenovic 2015;Papageorgiou 2017;Papageorgiou and Callaghan 2018;Steenkamp, Baard and Frick 2009). For some students who enter higher education, career and educational ambitions, individual benefits and quality of learning are the main drivers (Samsuddin, Khairani, Wahid and Sata 2015;Biggs 2003) to academic success.…”