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Effect of Manufacturing Account Activities on Students’ Production Costing Skills among Accounting Education Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Manufacturing account activities are an important component of cost accounting education because they enable students to understand how production costs are accumulated, classified, analysed, and presented in manufacturing organizations. Production costing skills are essential for Accounting Education students because they provide the foundation for determining the cost of raw materials consumed, direct labour, factory overheads, work-in-progress, cost of production, and other manufacturing costs required for effective cost control and financial reporting. However, Accounting Education students in Nigeria may experience difficulties developing adequate production costing skills when manufacturing accounts are taught mainly through theoretical explanations and routine calculations without sufficient opportunities to analyse realistic manufacturing operations. Manufacturing Account Activities provide students with practical opportunities to classify manufacturing costs, prepare manufacturing accounts, calculate prime cost, factory cost, cost of production, work-in-progress adjustments, and analyse the relationship between different elements of production expenditure. Such activities may strengthen students' computational accuracy, cost-analysis ability, problem-solving skills, and application of manufacturing accounting principles. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of Manufacturing Account Activities on students' production costing skills among Accounting Education students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on Experiential Learning Theory, Constructivist Learning Theory, and Cognitive Learning Theory. Experiential Learning Theory emphasizes learning through concrete experience, reflection, conceptualization, and active experimentation. Constructivist Learning Theory emphasizes the active construction of knowledge through prior knowledge, interaction with learning materials, practical activities, and problem-solving experiences. Cognitive Learning Theory focuses on how learners process, organize, classify, calculate, interpret, and apply cost information when determining production costs. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how Manufacturing Account Activities may influence students' production costing skills. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental research design. The study population will comprise Accounting Education students enrolled in selected public and private universities and polytechnics across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, institutions, departments, levels of study, classes, and eligible Accounting Education students. Manufacturing Account Activities will be assessed using indicators such as identification of manufacturing costs, classification of manufacturing costs, raw-material cost analysis, direct-material costing, indirect-material costing, direct-labour costing, indirect-labour costing, factory-overhead analysis, factory rent, factory power, factory insurance, factory depreciation, repairs and maintenance, production supervision costs, factory consumables, carriage inward, opening raw-material inventory, closing raw-material inventory, raw-material purchases, raw-material returns, materials consumed, prime-cost calculation, factory-cost calculation, work-in-progress analysis, opening work-in-progress, closing work-in-progress, factory overhead absorption, cost of production, cost of goods manufactured, manufacturing profit where applicable, production-cost reconciliation, manufacturing account preparation, cost-sheet preparation, production-cost worksheets, manufacturing cost statements, production budgeting, cost classification exercises, cost allocation activities, cost apportionment activities, overhead allocation exercises, production-volume scenarios, manufacturing case studies, simulated manufacturing operations, practical costing exercises, individual activities, group activities, lecturer demonstrations, guided practice, independent practice, spreadsheet-based costing activities, accounting software exercises, error-identification activities, corrective feedback, repeated production-costing exercises, reflection, and opportunities to apply manufacturing accounting principles to realistic production situations. Students' production costing skills will be assessed using indicators such as accurate identification of manufacturing costs, correct classification of direct and indirect costs, accurate calculation of raw materials consumed, correct treatment of opening and closing inventories, accurate calculation of direct labour, correct determination of prime cost, accurate classification and calculation of factory overheads, correct allocation of manufacturing overheads, accurate treatment of factory expenses, correct calculation of opening and closing work-in-progress, accurate determination of factory cost, correct calculation of cost of production, accurate preparation of manufacturing accounts, correct preparation of cost sheets, accurate calculation of cost of goods manufactured, appropriate treatment of production losses where applicable, accurate production-cost reconciliation, correct interpretation of production-cost information, ability to distinguish manufacturing costs from non-manufacturing costs, ability to identify relevant production costs, accurate cost allocation and apportionment, accurate overhead absorption, correct treatment of abnormal production costs, ability to analyse changes in production costs, identification of cost variances, interpretation of production-cost movements, detection and correction of costing errors, ability to solve unfamiliar manufacturing-costing problems, numerical accuracy, computational fluency, analytical reasoning, cost-analysis ability, problem-solving ability, and ability to explain the basis of production-cost calculations. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized manufacturing-account tests, practical production-costing exercises, manufacturing-account preparation tasks, cost-sheet exercises, simulated production records, case studies, scenario-based questions, spreadsheet-based activities, accounting software exercises, observation checklists, competency-based assessment rubrics, and pre-test and post-test assessments. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize students' demographic and academic characteristics, exposure to Manufacturing Account Activities, learning experiences, and levels of production costing skills. Inferential statistical techniques, including paired and independent t-tests, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of Manufacturing Account Activities on students' production costing skills. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, students' production costing scores before and after exposure to Manufacturing Account Activities may be compared with those of a control group receiving conventional cost 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 Manufacturing Account Activities have a significant positive effect on students' production costing skills among Accounting Education students in Nigeria. Students exposed to structured and practically oriented Manufacturing Account Activities are expected to demonstrate greater accuracy and competence in identifying, classifying, accumulating, allocating, and calculating production costs than students receiving conventional instruction. Manufacturing-cost identification activities may help students distinguish costs directly associated with production from non-manufacturing expenses. Raw-material activities may strengthen students' ability to calculate materials consumed using opening inventory, purchases, returns, and closing inventory. Direct-material costing exercises may help students understand the contribution of materials to total production cost, while indirect-material activities may strengthen their ability to classify factory consumables and other indirect production materials. Direct-labour exercises may enable students to determine labour costs directly attributable to production, while indirect-labour activities may help students recognize factory supervision and other indirect labour costs. Factory-overhead activities may strengthen students' ability to identify, classify, allocate, and absorb indirect production expenses. Exercises involving factory rent, power, insurance, depreciation, repairs, maintenance, and consumables may provide opportunities to understand how different overhead items contribute to production costs. Prime-cost activities may help students integrate direct materials, direct labour, and other direct expenses. Factory-cost exercises may strengthen students' ability to combine prime cost with appropriate factory overheads and work-in-progress adjustments. Work-in-progress activities may help students understand the effect of incomplete production on the cost of goods manufactured. Manufacturing-account preparation may enable students to integrate individual cost elements into a comprehensive statement of production costs. Cost-sheet activities may help students present production-cost information systematically and identify relationships among different cost components. Cost-allocation and apportionment activities may strengthen students' ability to assign indirect costs appropriately to production departments or cost centres. Overhead-absorption exercises may help students understand how factory overheads are incorporated into production costs. Production-volume scenarios may enable students to examine how changes in output levels affect production costs. Practical manufacturing cases may provide opportunities for students to apply costing procedures to realistic production situations. Simulated production records may help students work with information resembling actual manufacturing data. Spreadsheet-based costing activities may strengthen students' ability to organize production data, perform calculations, and analyse cost movements efficiently. Accounting software activities may expose students to computerized production-costing procedures. Individual practical exercises may strengthen students' computational accuracy and independent problem-solving, while group activities may promote discussion of alternative costing approaches. Lecturer demonstrations may provide appropriate models for solving complex production-costing problems, while guided practice may support students during initial learning. Repeated production-costing exercises may improve speed, accuracy, and confidence. Error-identification activities may help students recognize incorrect cost classifications, inventory treatments, overhead allocations, and calculations. Corrective feedback may enable students to understand the causes of costing errors and improve subsequent performance. Reflection activities may encourage students to explain the reasoning behind production-cost calculations. However, weak prior knowledge of cost accounting, difficulty distinguishing manufacturing from non-manufacturing costs, inadequate exposure to realistic production records, poorly designed costing activities, insufficient practical resources, large class sizes, limited instructional time, inadequate lecturer guidance, and excessive reliance on simplified textbook examples may reduce the effectiveness of Manufacturing Account Activities. The study therefore expects structured, realistic, practical, and integrated Manufacturing Account Activities to contribute significantly to improved production costing skills among Accounting Education students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on Manufacturing Account Activities, production costing skills, Experiential Learning Theory, Constructivist Learning Theory, Cognitive Learning Theory, manufacturing accounting, production cost analysis, cost classification, cost allocation, overhead absorption, work-in-progress, cost of production, cost-sheet preparation, cost accounting education, practical accounting education, accounting pedagogy, computational skills, analytical reasoning, competency-based education, Accounting Education students, and accounting education in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the National Board for Technical Education, National Universities Commission, universities, polytechnics, accounting education departments, accounting educators, curriculum developers, professional accounting bodies, and policymakers regarding strategies for strengthening students' production-costing competencies. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating practical Manufacturing Account Activities into Accounting Education programmes, using realistic manufacturing records and Nigerian production scenarios, strengthening raw-material and labour-cost exercises, incorporating factory-overhead classification and allocation activities, improving students' understanding of work-in-progress adjustments, providing repeated opportunities to prepare manufacturing accounts and cost sheets, incorporating production-cost analysis and reconciliation exercises, using spreadsheets and accounting software for production costing, strengthening lecturer demonstrations and feedback, developing competency-based assessments of production costing skills, improving practical cost-accounting resources, and aligning Accounting Education programmes with the numerical, analytical, practical, technological, and professional competencies required in contemporary accounting practice in Nigeria.

Keywords: Manufacturing Account Activities, production costing skills, Accounting Education students, manufacturing accounting, production cost analysis, cost classification, cost allocation, overhead absorption, work-in-progress, cost of production, cost-sheet preparation, Experiential Learning Theory, Constructivist Learning Theory, Cognitive Learning Theory, practical accounting education, cost accounting education, Nigerian institutions, Nigeria.