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ACCOUNTING EDUCATION AWARENESS LEVEL AMONG JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

Education has remained a global phenomenon of general interest, its conceptual expectation among scholars remains a mechanism for sufficient knowledge and skill but the actualization and factuality of the conceptual expectation remains questionable. Ab-initio, accounting profession has remained an ever-growingfield of knowledge, practice and application, which is highly dependent on the efficacy of the accountant either prospective or gradient. According to Okafor (2012), the primary challenge of a university is to develop quality human capital for every sector of the national economy. One of such areas of dire need is the production of graduate accountants who are adequately prepared to meet the accounting challenges of modern business as well as socio-political and economic needs of government. To meet the challenge of producing well educated graduate accountants, three complimenting competencies ought to be inculcated in the students’ namely; education, skills and attitude, the implication of the above assertion of this scholar is that the competency of education, skill and attitude are yardstick and prerequisite for training an accountant. The value and importance of the accountant in any nation remains high and in line with the observation and assertion of Ajayi (1997)  as cited in Okolie (2014) “Accounting profession has a very important role to play in the economic development of any nation, as a measurement and reporting information system. The profession can cover both Micro and Macroeconomic activities. It consist of various sub systems with related economic events and decisions. In line with the above statement, Balejo (1997) identified the following sub-system, Business accounting taxation, government accounting, social accounting, auditing etc. Recently, oil and Gas accounting as well as human resource accounting has been introduced as contemporary sub-systems. It suffices at this point to assert in my own words that these sub-systems as identified by Bolejo (1997) were the foundation on which the accounting educational curriculum was built.

Consequently, the traditional accounting system and objectives has expanded from financial reporting to an ICT incorporated professional reporting for both internal and external users of accounting information. This expansion and development has occasioned changes in the educational curriculum of accounting and has channeled the profession towards a road that will lead to meeting up with global recommendation, unionism and reorganization in-terms of a single reporting standard and system.

However, despite all these framework and developmental strides in the profession there exist dichotomy and doubt on the effect of accounting education on the performance of students. Both academic institutions and professional bodies that handle different demands of the profession anchor the training of accountants in Nigeria.

Okafor (2012) observed that the activities of both the institutions and professional bodies are dependent on each other for the production of qualified accountants. The institute of Charted Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) are recognized professional bodies while the universities in Nigeria are educational and academic institutions all charged with the responsibility of accounting education.

According to Anao (2009) as referenced by Okafor (2012), accounting education in a university incorporates a package of instructional programs designed to educate “would be” accountants, to make them versatile and adaptable to any of the numerous roles they may be called upon to play after graduation. Andersome (1985) opined that accounting education among other things seek to develop concepts, rules, skills, procedures, theories and general knowledge for solving accounting problems. In the words of Baker et-al (1995) it emphasizes the ability to differentiate and integrate alternative problems solving perspectives, the ability to identify accounting related information resources, the ability to structure solutions to problems and develop communication skills as well as the ability to analyze and interprets problem situations and figure out lasting solutions. The implication of accounting education is thus to give or indicate adequate knowledge and skill on students which will affect their performance. 

The universities in Nigeria that are approved by Nigeria University Commission NUC have their curriculum designed in such manner as to give the students opportunities to acquire the adequate and necessary skills and knowledge for efficiencies performance. It is in line with the uncertainly of the above that this study have decided to research on accounting education awareness level among junior secondary school students.

1.2 Statement of the Research Problem

Every research work has a problem it is expected to solve, a gap (identifiable) which it is expected to fill and validation or nullification of uncertainties. According to United States Pathways Commission on Accounting Higher Education (PCOAHE), a critical need for accounting education reformation stimulated this statement;

“Accounting practice is changing rapidly. Its geographic reach is global, and technology plays an increasing prominent role. A new generation of students have arrived who are more at home with technology and less patient with traditional teaching methods. All of this is occurring while many accounting programs and requirement have remained constant and accounting curricula have evolved with limited commitment or agreement about the core learning objectives. Vital programs, courses and approaches require systematic attention to curriculum, pedagogy and opportunities for renewal. Specific objectives to accomplish this recommendation include the following:-

Engage the accounting community to define the body of knowledge that is the foundation for accounting curricula of the future (and) implement curricular models for the future Behn et al (2012).

The observation and assertion of Lindstorm (2006) will stimulate and provoke such question as if accounting education curriculum as well as system is influential and effective on the students’ performance he asserts thus “that following the accounting scandals like Enron, worldcom and the recent Nigerian Cadbry plc cases that have painted the accounting profession black. It is however, disturbing to know that a profession guided by certain codes of ethics, regulated by standards, monitored by reorganised regulatory bodies could record a high rate and level of unethical behaviour in recent time. In my own conception, the above statement is an evidence of untrust, questionable effect and unreliability of the accounting education system and its effect on the students’ performance. The educational curriculum designed for accounting education by both academic institution and professional bodies are expected to be sufficient to inculcate the principles of practice and application of accounting. It is expected to encompass a general development on the character and approach of the prospective accountant with regard to ethical observance, principles of information confidentiality and professional reporting of financial events Oko (2012). But the incidences of irregularities, failures, gross incompetence as well as unreliability of accounting professional reports compels one to question the impact of accounting education on the performance of Nigeria students.

1.3   Objective of the Study

The main objective of this study is to ascertain the accounting education awareness level among junior secondary school students. Specifically objectives of this study consequently encompass the following;

i.  To ascertain the awareness level of accounting education among junior secondary school students.

ii. To evaluate the level of motivation to study accounting education among junior secondary school students.

iii.  To ascertain the level of readiness to study accounting education among junior secondary school students.

1.4    Research Questions

i.  What is the awareness level of accounting education among junior secondary school students?

ii.  What is the level of motivation to study accounting education among junior secondary school students?

iii.  What are the level of readiness to study accounting education among junior secondary school students?

1.5    Significance of the Study

Every research work is expected to be relevant to a set of people. Thus, this work will be very instrumental to:

.  The state and federal ministry of education since it will assure them of the impact accounting education has on Nigeria students’ performance and assure them of the need to allocate more resources for accounting education regarding the challenges identified in this work.

ii.  This work will be of relevance to the various educational institutions in Nigeria on the need to apply the academic curriculum and adopt global best practice in teaching accounting.

iii.  This work will also be of relevance to further researches who might further this study or identify a gap in this work.

1.6   SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This work is expected to encompass the awareness level of junior secondary school students with regard to accounting education however due to time and other limitations the scope of this work will be limited to selected junior secondary schools in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State.

1.7    Limitations to the Study

However due to the academic demand for which this work is carried out, the following were the limitations to this work;

Time; the time factor allocated for this work is considered very insufficient to enable and accommodate comparative analysis with other schools as well as attend to all necessary research.

Finance: one of the major challenges of this work is finance. This greatly limited the diversity and extent of the research and data gathering as only one school was used as a sample.

Other factors: other factors like academic schedule, human errors, confidentiality of certain information by respondents were part of the limitations of this study.

1.8    Definition of Terms

The following uncommon terminologies and diction were used in this work and the following definitions were adopted.

Accounting Education: This encompasses all designed activities of learning aimed at inculcating qualitative knowledge and skill on the ethics, principles and practice of accounting.

BEMAS: Benchmarks and Minimum Academic Standards

Curriculum: The set of courses, coursework, and their content, offered at a school or a university. (English Mini Dictionary)

Financial Accounting Concepts: these are assumptions on which the financial accounts of a business are prepared.

IFRS: International Financial Reporting standard

IPSAS: international Public Sector Accounting Standard

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