Quantifying the advantage of secondary mathematics study for accounting and finance undergraduates

Abstract

We examine the role that secondary mathematics plays in the performance of students in introductory business courses. Students who pass more advanced secondary mathematics subjects perform significantly better in introductory business courses. This 'mathematics effect' is significantly stronger than the effect of other business-related secondary subjects, such as economics or accounting. Our findings also confirm previous studies showing that secondary accounting is beneficial for studying first-year tertiary accounting. Interestingly though, we find that studying secondary economics can detract from a student's introductory tertiary results in some courses. Our findings have implications for educators and administrators as well as current secondary students. Copyright (c) The Authors. Journal compilation (c) 2008 AFAANZ.

The influence of self‐efficacy beliefs and prior learning on performance

“…Also, students who were repeating the course at the university did significantly less well than those taking it for the first time. This is consistent with prior literature, and through our analysis we show that prior exposure to the discipline at high school can explain some of performance at tertiary level (Rohde and Kavanagh, ; Duff, ; Alcock et al ., ).…”

“…Prior learning is often used to predict the chance of success (Farley and Ramsay, ; Keef and Hooper, ; Byrne and Flood, ). In accounting education, prior learning can be used as a predictor for academic success, as studies have shown that students who have previously studied accounting at high school do better than those that have no prior knowledge (Rohde and Kavanagh, ; Duff, ; Alcock et al ., ). In addition to prior learning, accounting education literature also shows that age and gender can have an influence on academic performance (Duff, ).…”

The impact of undergraduate personal finance education on individual financial literacy, attitudes and intentions

“…Smith et al ., ; Von Gaudecker, ). Student performance on secondary mathematics units has also been positively associated with student university performance in introductory finance units (Alcock et al ., ). The outperformance of commerce students in the advanced questions, however, highlights that strong mathematics skills does not necessarily extend to advanced financial concepts.…”

Why are first‐year accounting studies inclusive?

“…The theoretical framework classifies high school accounting knowledge as content knowledge and suggests that high school accounting will only be beneficial when it provides domain‐specific knowledge . American, Australian, Singaporean, New Zealand and UK studies (Swanson and Brooks, ; Mitchell, , ; Tan et al ., ; Keef and Hooper, and Rankin et al ., and Alcock et al ., ) document a positive effect of successfully studying secondary accounting and subsequent academic performance in introductory accounting courses. Introduction to Accounting at the University of Bath predominantly consists of financial accounting material, while the contents of UK GCE A‐Level (thereafter A‐Level) business studies and accounting have similar emphasis on financial accounting.…”