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Effect of Accounting Practice Sets on Students’ Ability to Complete the Accounting Cycle in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

Accounting Practice Sets are structured learning activities that present students with a series of related business transactions and accounting information requiring them to apply accounting procedures from the initial recording of transactions to the preparation of financial statements. The ability to complete the accounting cycle is fundamental to accounting education because students are expected to understand how individual accounting procedures connect to produce complete and accurate accounting records. However, students may experience difficulties linking the different stages of the accounting cycle when practical exposure is inadequate. This study therefore examines the effect of Accounting Practice Sets on students’ ability to complete the accounting cycle in Nigerian universities. Accounting Practice Sets provide students with opportunities to work through comprehensive accounting problems involving source documents, journal entries, ledger posting, trial balance preparation, adjustments, and financial statement preparation. By working through a complete set of transactions, students can observe the relationship between different accounting procedures and understand how information flows from one stage of the accounting process to another. Regular practice with such activities may also enable students to identify errors, correct accounting records, and develop familiarity with the sequence of procedures involved in completing the accounting cycle. Students’ ability to complete the accounting cycle refers to their capacity to correctly perform the interconnected accounting procedures required to process business transactions and prepare financial information. This includes recording transactions in appropriate journals, posting entries to ledger accounts, preparing trial balances, making necessary adjustments, and preparing relevant financial statements. Accounting Practice Sets may improve this ability by giving students repeated opportunities to integrate individual accounting skills into a complete accounting process rather than learning each procedure in isolation. The study will adopt a survey research design. The population will comprise Accounting Education students in selected Nigerian universities. Data will be collected using a structured questionnaire designed to obtain information on Accounting Practice Sets and students’ ability to complete the accounting cycle. The instrument will be subjected to appropriate validation and reliability procedures before administration. Data collected will be analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, while the hypothesis will be tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The study is expected to establish that Accounting Practice Sets have a significant positive effect on students’ ability to complete the accounting cycle. Students who regularly engage in comprehensive practice sets may demonstrate greater ability to connect accounting procedures, process business transactions systematically, identify errors, and prepare complete accounting records. The findings are expected to have implications for the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in universities. Lecturers may need to provide students with comprehensive accounting activities that integrate several stages of the accounting cycle rather than teaching individual procedures without sufficient connection between them. Transaction-based practice sets, simulated business activities, guided accounting projects, and complete accounting-cycle exercises may provide students with meaningful opportunities to develop integrated accounting skills. The study will be beneficial to Accounting Education students, lecturers, university administrators, curriculum planners, and other stakeholders in accounting education. Students may develop stronger practical accounting competence and a better understanding of how different accounting procedures are connected, while lecturers may gain insight into the value of comprehensive practice activities. University administrators and curriculum planners may also use the findings to strengthen practical components of Financial Accounting programmes. The study recommends that Nigerian universities should integrate comprehensive Accounting Practice Sets into Financial Accounting instruction and provide students with regular opportunities to process complete accounting cycles. Lecturers should use realistic business transactions, guided practice, error-correction activities, and feedback to help students connect the different stages of accounting procedures. The study concludes that effective use of Accounting Practice Sets can improve students’ ability to complete the accounting cycle and contribute to stronger practical competence in accounting education.

Keywords: Accounting Practice Sets, Accounting Cycle, Financial Accounting, Accounting Education, Journal Entries, Ledger Posting, Trial Balance, Adjusting Entries, Financial Statements, Bookkeeping Skills, Transaction Processing, Accounting Procedures, Practical Accounting, Accounting Competence, Accounting Skills