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Impact of Receipts and Payments Account Exercises on Non-Profit Accounting Skills among Accounting Education Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Receipts and payments accounting is an important area of accounting education because non-profit organizations such as clubs, societies, associations, charities, religious organizations, and community-based organizations require accurate records of their cash receipts and payments. Accounting education students need practical skills to distinguish capital and revenue receipts, classify payments, prepare receipts and payments accounts, determine relevant balances, and apply appropriate accounting procedures to non-profit organizations. However, conventional approaches to teaching non-profit accounting may emphasize theoretical explanations and routine calculations without providing sufficient opportunities for students to practise accounting procedures using realistic non-profit organization transactions. Receipts and Payments Account Exercises provide students with structured opportunities to record cash transactions, classify receipts and payments, identify capital and revenue items, reconcile balances, and prepare appropriate non-profit accounting records. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of receipts and payments account exercises on non-profit 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 receipts and payments 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 receipts and payments account exercises may influence students' non-profit 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. Receipts and payments account exercises will be assessed using indicators such as frequency of practical exercises, recording of cash receipts, recording of cash payments, classification of capital receipts, classification of revenue receipts, classification of capital payments, classification of revenue payments, treatment of opening and closing cash balances, preparation of receipts and payments accounts, treatment of subscriptions, donations, entrance fees, membership fees, fundraising proceeds, grants, purchase of assets, operating expenses, case-based exercises, spreadsheet-based activities, accounting software, lecturer guidance, feedback, and opportunities for repeated practice. Students' non-profit accounting skills will be assessed using indicators such as accurate recording of receipts and payments, classification of capital and revenue items, preparation of receipts and payments accounts, determination of opening and closing balances, treatment of subscriptions and donations, identification of capital expenditure, treatment of revenue expenditure, interpretation of non-profit financial information, preparation of relevant accounting entries, identification and correction of errors, application of accounting principles to non-profit organizations, numerical accuracy, and ability to solve unfamiliar non-profit accounting problems. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized non-profit accounting skills tests, practical receipts and payments account tasks, non-profit organization 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, receipts and payments learning experiences, practical exercise exposure, and levels of non-profit 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 impact of receipts and payments account exercises on students' non-profit accounting skills. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, non-profit accounting skill scores before and after exposure to receipts and payments account 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 receipts and payments account exercises have a significant positive impact on non-profit accounting skills among accounting education students in Nigeria. Students who regularly engage in structured receipts and payments account exercises are expected to demonstrate stronger abilities to record cash transactions, classify receipts and payments, distinguish capital from revenue items, prepare receipts and payments accounts, determine balances, and apply accounting principles to non-profit organizations than students exposed primarily to conventional lecture-based instruction. Practical exercises may help students understand the distinctive accounting requirements of non-profit organizations and the importance of accurately classifying financial transactions. Exposure to realistic cases involving subscriptions, donations, grants, fundraising activities, asset purchases, and operating expenses may strengthen students' ability to apply accounting principles to unfamiliar non-profit situations. Repeated practice and corrective feedback may improve students' numerical accuracy, analytical reasoning, attention to detail, and confidence in preparing non-profit accounting records. Spreadsheet-based and computerized accounting activities may further strengthen students' digital accounting competence and ability to process non-profit financial information efficiently. However, inadequate access to realistic non-profit accounting records, limited accounting technology, large class sizes, insufficient instructional time, limited lecturer training, and inadequate opportunities for practical activities may reduce the effectiveness of receipts and payments account exercises. The study therefore expects structured, practical, progressively challenging, and technology-supported receipts and payments account exercises to contribute significantly to improved non-profit accounting skills among accounting education students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on receipts and payments account exercises, non-profit accounting skills, accounting education, non-profit organization accounting, financial accounting education, practical accounting competence, experiential learning, constructivist learning, mastery learning, accounting pedagogy, 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 non-profit accounting education. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for increasing practical receipts and payments account activities, developing realistic Nigerian non-profit organization accounting cases, strengthening students' training in the classification of capital and revenue receipts and payments, integrating spreadsheets and accounting software into non-profit accounting exercises, training accounting educators in practical non-profit accounting instruction, using competency-based non-profit accounting assessments, providing continuous corrective feedback, and creating opportunities for accounting education students to develop the practical non-profit accounting skills required for effective accounting practice in Nigeria.

Keywords: Receipts and payments account exercises, non-profit accounting skills, accounting education students, non-profit organizations, capital receipts, revenue receipts, practical accounting competence, experiential learning, mastery learning, accounting pedagogy, Nigerian universities, Nigeria.