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Effect of Hire Purchase Accounting Exercises on Hire Purchase Accounting Skills among Accounting Education Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Hire purchase accounting is an important area of accounting education that enables students to understand the accounting treatment of transactions involving the acquisition of assets through instalment payments. Accounting education students require practical skills to analyse hire purchase agreements, distinguish between cash price and instalment price, determine interest components, calculate outstanding balances, prepare relevant accounts, and record hire purchase transactions accurately. However, conventional approaches to teaching hire purchase accounting may emphasize theoretical explanations and routine calculations without providing sufficient opportunities for students to apply accounting principles to realistic hire purchase situations. Hire Purchase Accounting Exercises provide students with structured opportunities to analyse hire purchase agreements, calculate cash prices and interest, prepare relevant accounting records, and solve practical hire purchase accounting problems. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of hire purchase accounting exercises on hire purchase accounting skills among accounting education students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on Experiential Learning Theory, Constructivist Learning Theory, and Mastery Learning Theory. Experiential Learning Theory emphasizes learning through concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation, providing a suitable framework for students' engagement with practical hire purchase accounting activities. Constructivist Learning Theory emphasizes active participation, problem-solving, prior knowledge, and the construction of knowledge through meaningful learning experiences. Mastery Learning Theory emphasizes repeated practice, formative assessment, corrective feedback, and opportunities for learners to achieve clearly defined competencies. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how hire purchase accounting exercises may influence students' hire purchase accounting skills. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise undergraduate accounting education students enrolled in selected public and private universities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, universities, faculties or departments, levels of study, and eligible accounting education students. Hire purchase accounting exercises will be assessed using indicators such as frequency of practical exercises, interpretation of hire purchase agreements, cash price determination, instalment price calculation, interest calculation, allocation of interest among instalments, outstanding balance determination, down-payment treatment, instalment recording, asset acquisition, depreciation treatment where applicable, repossession, default and termination of agreements, preparation of hire purchase accounts, vendor and purchaser accounting procedures, journal entries, ledger accounts, case-based exercises, spreadsheet-based activities, accounting software, lecturer guidance, feedback, and opportunities for repeated practice. Students' hire purchase accounting skills will be assessed using indicators such as accurate interpretation of hire purchase agreements, determination of cash price, calculation and allocation of interest, determination of outstanding instalments, preparation of relevant journal entries and ledger accounts, recording of asset acquisition, treatment of instalment payments, calculation of depreciation where applicable, accounting for repossession and termination, preparation of hire purchase accounts, identification and correction of accounting errors, interpretation of hire purchase information, numerical accuracy, and ability to solve unfamiliar hire purchase accounting problems. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized hire purchase accounting skills tests, practical hire purchase accounting tasks, agreement-based scenarios, case studies, spreadsheet exercises, competency-based assessment rubrics, observation checklists, and pre-test and post-test assessments where a quasi-experimental design is adopted. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize students' demographic and academic characteristics, hire purchase accounting learning experiences, practical exercise exposure, and levels of hire purchase accounting skills. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, paired and independent t-tests, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of hire purchase accounting exercises on students' hire purchase accounting skills. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, hire purchase accounting skill scores before and after exposure to hire purchase accounting exercises may be compared with those of a comparison group receiving conventional accounting instruction to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that hire purchase accounting exercises have a significant positive effect on hire purchase accounting skills among accounting education students in Nigeria. Students who regularly engage in structured hire purchase accounting exercises are expected to demonstrate stronger abilities to interpret hire purchase agreements, determine cash prices, calculate and allocate interest, prepare hire purchase accounts, record instalment transactions, and account for repossession and termination than students exposed primarily to conventional lecture-based instruction. Practical exercises may help students understand the relationship between cash price, instalment price, interest, outstanding balances, and asset values. Exposure to progressively complex hire purchase scenarios may strengthen students' numerical accuracy, analytical reasoning, problem-solving abilities, and confidence in applying accounting principles to unfamiliar transactions. Case-based exercises involving different instalment arrangements and agreement conditions may further improve students' ability to interpret contractual information and determine the appropriate accounting treatment. Spreadsheet-based and computerized accounting activities may strengthen students' digital accounting competence and ability to process hire purchase information efficiently. However, inadequate access to realistic hire purchase agreements, limited practical accounting resources, large class sizes, insufficient instructional time, limited lecturer training, and students' difficulty in understanding interest allocation procedures may reduce the effectiveness of hire purchase accounting exercises. The study therefore expects structured, practical, progressively challenging, and technology-supported hire purchase accounting exercises to contribute significantly to improved hire purchase accounting skills among accounting education students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on hire purchase accounting exercises, hire purchase accounting skills, accounting education, financial accounting education, practical accounting competence, experiential learning, constructivist learning, mastery learning, accounting pedagogy, instalment accounting, and higher education in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the National Universities Commission, universities, accounting education departments, accounting educators, professional accounting bodies, accounting firms, employers, curriculum developers, and policymakers regarding strategies for strengthening practical financial accounting education. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for increasing practical hire purchase accounting activities, developing realistic Nigerian hire purchase cases and agreement scenarios, incorporating spreadsheets and accounting software into hire purchase exercises, strengthening students' understanding of cash price, interest allocation, instalment payments, and repossession, training accounting educators in practical hire purchase accounting instruction, using competency-based hire purchase accounting assessments, providing continuous corrective feedback, and creating opportunities for accounting education students to develop the practical hire purchase accounting skills required for effective accounting practice in Nigeria.

Keywords: Hire purchase accounting exercises, hire purchase accounting skills, accounting education students, financial accounting education, cash price, instalment accounting, interest allocation, practical accounting competence, experiential learning, Nigerian universities, Nigeria.