FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE POOR PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS IN ACCOUNTING EXAMINATIONS IN THE UNIVERSITY

CHAPETR ONE

INTRODUCTION 

1.1        Background of the study

1.2        Statement of problem

1.3        Objective of the study

1.4        Research Hypotheses

1.5        Significance of the study

1.6        Scope and limitation of the study

1.7       Definition of terms

1.8       Organization of the study

CHAPETR TWO

2.0   LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPETR THREE

3.0        Research methodology

3.1    sources of data collection

3.3        Population of the study

3.4        Sampling and sampling distribution

3.5        Validation of research instrument

3.6        Method of data analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Introductions

4.2 Data analysis

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Summary

5.3 Conclusion

5.4 Recommendation

Appendix

Abstract

Several factors are responsible for poor performance of business education student in accounting examinations in the university. This study is aims to measure and study these factors using theories on academic performance. This research work will use a survey method. Questionnaires will be distributed to accounting students in business education in Federal universities.  Recommendations will be made to provide possible ways to improve the academic performance of accounting.  This study investigated the factors affecting performance of Business education students in Nigerian Universities. The main objective is to examine the factors responsible for the poor performance of Business education students in accounting examination. Survey research design was used in this study to gather the necessary data; the data were collected from primary and secondary sources. A sample of 133 students drawn from the 200 population was used in the study which was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square statistics.

CHAPTER ONE

                                        INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Nation building depends largely on the productive capacities of youth as an engine room for development. A literate youth is an asset of any nation as it is evident that from the available literature (Gideon, 2012 ; Manan & Mohammad, 2003), students significantly contributes to the development of nations economies through creativities and innovative breakthroughs that results in growth and development. According to Norhidayah (2009), university students are responsible for social and economic development of any country as students of business education alone has helped in developing the necessary administrative and management tools which enables individual occupy managerial positions in government and private sector establishments like banks and other financial institutions in the country (Afemikhe, 2005). However, performance of business management students in Nigerian Universities is not only a matter of concern for educationists but also an important issue for both government and private sector organizations in the labour markets as empirical evidence show that employers in the Nigerian business sector today, emphasizes on the importance of good academic performance for various job positions. As a result of the competitive nature of the Nigerian business environment, most business organizations (public and privately owned) are becoming under intense pressure to adopt strategies that will enable them employ best graduates from the labour market to help in using their productive capacities to manage their organizations more effectively and efficiently (Akpan, 2003). This emphasizes on the need to investigate those factors affecting the academic performance of business education students in Nigerian universities in accounting examination. Universities in Nigeria just like other institutions of higher learning across the country are facing problems of poor performances of students in most of the undergraduate programs which is retarding growth and development of the nation. The business management program is one of the programs confronted with such problems of poor performances which affected the quality of business graduates in the country. Therefore, this study tried to investigate the impact of some important factors which affect the performance of business management students in Nigeria. Even though Previous researches have investigated the impact of factors such as age, gender, class standing, and entry requirements on general students’ performance (Arbaugh, 2000; Schwartz & Hanson, 2006). However, there are limited research studies focusing on the factors affecting the performance of business management students in Nigerian universities which this study is designed to accomplish. In addition, there is insufficient study on the factors responsible for poor performance of business management students in quantitative courses in Nigeria. The study will be of immense benefit to educationists and policy makers which will help in redefining policies and procedures for gaining better performance from business education graduates in the country

Many students in business Education today do not have secondary school background in Accounting unlike Mathematics, Economics, “English, Government and the likes, and therefore they tend to have a negative attitude at the very beginning of the course at the university and assume that accounting is a very difficult course. Atieh (1997) shows that the Nigerian students have a negative attitude toward accounting, considering it a difficult subject. This is usually manifested by their poor performance and high rate of failure in Principles of accounting. Supporting the above, Osoghe (2010) reported that non-accounting students of Business Administration in Al-Labal University wrote to the university administration to exclude accounting courses from their curriculum. This further demonstrates high level of hatred the students have for accounting.
Since Accounting Education has come to stay for a variety of majors in Nigerian universities, determining the factors that affect students’ performance in the course becomes a necessity. This is because students’ achievement in higher institutions is a concern for employers, who seek for quality manpower among the university graduates, and therefore higher institutions that produce better employees for the labour market are highly respected and they draw public patronage. It must be understood that the academic achievement of students in any discipline of that matter is a function of many factors. According to Weinstein (1999), some of these factors are students’-related, some are teacher-related, and some are institutional-related. Previous research work on students’ success factors in accounting, such as Tailab (2013), Uyor and Gungornus (2011) and Adeleke, Binyuomote and Adoyinka (2013), examined the two extreme factors (students-related and teachers-related) with little or no consideration given to the factor that brings the symbolism between teachers and students (institutional factors). More so, although the high rate of students’ failure in Accounting Education in Nigerian higher institutions is clearly observable, to the best of our knowledge, there are scanty empirical studies in Nigerian that have examined factors responsible for this poor students’ achievement. In order to close these existing gaps, this study is therefore aimed at investigating the institutional factors and the effect on academic performance of students in Accounting Education in Nigerian higher institutions of learning.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Apparently certain influences lead to differential performance of business education students in accounting examination in higher institutions. The results of performance of business education students in accounting examination shows that students business education student have phobia for accounting as a course. The task of this study is to ascertain factors that causes poor performance of business education students in accounting examinations, and to establish the extent to which such factors affect student’s performance in examinations accounting in course.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to examine the factors contributing to the poor performance of business education students in accounting examinations in university, but to aid the completion of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following specific objectives;

1. i) To examine the causes of poor performance of business education student in accounting
2. ii) To ascertain if there is any significant relationship between management of business education and students performance in accounting examination

iii) To examine the effect of poor performance in accounting examination on the academic performance of business education student

1. iv) To proffer suggested solution to tackle the incessant rate of failure in accounting examination.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions were formulated by the researcher to aid the completion of the study;

1. i) Are they factors that causes of poor performance of business education student in accounting?
2. ii) Is there any significant relationship between management of business education and students performance in accounting examination?

iii) Is there any effect of poor performance in accounting examination on the academic performance of business education student?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher to aid the completion of the study;

H₀: There is no significant relationship between business education and students performance in accounting examination

H₁: There is a significant relationship between business education and students performance in accounting examination

H₀: poor performance in accounting examination does not have any effect on the academic performance of business education student

H₂: poor performance in accounting examination does have an effect on the academic performance of business education student.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of great importance to the management of business education student as the study seek to proffer solutions to the contributing factors to poor performance of business education student in accounting examinations in universities, the study will also be of importance to business education student as the study seek to explore avenues to ameliorate the incessant failure in accounting examinations, the study will also be of importance to researchers who intend to embark on a study in a similar topic as the study will serve as a reference point to further study. Finally, the study will be of importance to researchers, academia, student teachers and the general public

1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers factors contributing to the poor performance of business education students in accounting examination in the universities. In the cause of the study, there are some factors that limit the scope of the study;

1. a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
2. b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
3. c) Organizational privacy: Limited Access to the selected student makes it difficult to get all the necessary and required information concerning the activities

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Business education

Business education is a branch of education that involves teaching the skills and operations of the business industry. This field of education occurs at multiple levels, including secondary and higher education institutes

Accounting

Accounting or accountancy is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non-financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations.

Examination

A test or examination is an assessment intended to measure a test-taker’s knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics.

1.9 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows

Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study

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