The Determinants of Students’ Performance Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN 2306 367X) Volume 1 No 3 March 2013 183 www globalbizresearch com The Determinants of Students’ Performance in Introductory Accounting Courses Evidence from Kingdom of Bahrain Dr Gagan Kukreja Assistant Professor Department of Accounting Economics College of Business Finance, Ahlia University Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain E mail profgagan.
Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 The Determinants of Students’ Performance in Introductory Accounting Courses: Evidence from Kingdom of Bahrain Dr Gagan Kukreja Assistant Professor Department of Accounting & Economics College of Business & Finance, Ahlia University Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain E-mail: profgagan@yahoo.com Mariam Habib Al Aali Former Ahlia University Student Abstract The aim of this study is to determine and analyse factors affecting students' performance in first two introductory accounting courses at undergraduate level of Ahlia University, Bahrain A random sample of 286 students who took and finished these courses was obtained from deanship of students affairs Using correlation coefficient and multiple regression models to test, whether performance of students’ affected by students' gender, major, stream and cumulative grade of high school, GPA before ACCT 101, GPA before ACCT 201, credit hours before ACCT 101, credit hours before ACCT 201, and grade in ACCT 101 The study reveals that student’s GPA before ACCT 101 is the most significant determinant for performance in ACCT 101 While, ACCT 101 grade is the most influential determinant for ACCT 201 performance Accounting and finance major was found to be important indicator in both courses The research findings will help students, academicians, and universities to pay more attention on these determinants Key Words: Accounting Education, Academic Performance, Introductory Accounting Courses, GPA 183 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 Introduction Determining students' performance has received substantial attention from the academics, especially in recent years They have tried to determine which independent variable impact student performance in positive or negative way and to what extent This research subject has been researched by various academicians in various countries and in various fields of study (Kruck and Lending, 2003; Cheung and Kan, 2002; Borde, 1998; Mutchler, J.F et al 1987) Determining the factors that affect the student performance is very important for students, their parents, academicians, university administration, ministry of education, quality assurance agencies, accreditation bodies', and various other stakeholders In addition to these stakeholders, students’ performance in universities are also a concern of industry which are often said to be the “end user” in the supply chain of graduates for the labor market (Alfan and Othman, 2005) For achieving this goal, universities and academicians primarily have to find out ways to increase student performance, and to motivate students for better performance In order to this, first they need to determine which factors play significant role in student performance Therefore, improvement in student performance also means that universities will provide better potential employees to the industry The growing recognition of accountancy as profession and increase in number of students in business/commercial stream at schools increased the enrolments in accounting courses at universities across the globe which creates more pressure to the universities and academicians to produce good performing students, to cater the needs of the industry This pressure stems from the fact that these universities should take full advantage, in order to distinguish themselves from other universities Moreover, analysing these factors can be the first step toward a bigger objective in reducing drop or fail rates It needs time to reach the objective, but it is thought to begin with determinants of performance in order to implement informed decisions that will change the process of universities who are aiming to excel Given this, determining students' performance in these courses will supply universities with an input that can be of a major significance In addition, these factors will also aid academics to develop various teaching strategies and pedagogies that are conducive to the learning need of their students and to meet the expectation of the industry From students’ perspective, their performance in these courses acts as their strength and weaknesses in that subject and confirming or changing their major choice decision (Cohen and Hanno, 1993; Geiger and Ogilby, 2000) 184 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 1.1 Why introductory accounting courses selected? Introductory accounting courses are of relative importance for students majoring in accounting These courses will be a stepping stone to them in their path to excel in their major, because from these courses, they will gain fundamental knowledge of accounting concepts that will help them to understand advanced courses more smoothly and effectively However, it is equally important to those students whose major is not accounting since they will also acquire basic fundamental knowledge of accounting which will facilitate them to understand financial reports more quickly and understandable in future Justification of this argument was clearly mentioned in the statement position no in 1992 of Accounting Education Change Commission as “The course should help students perform financial analysis, derive information for personal or organizational decisions and understanding business, governmental and other organizational entities” Because of this reason, almost every university around the globe offers these courses as mandatory courses for all business major students at undergraduate level These courses build up students' first experience and interaction with accounting as a discipline whose importance is consistently growing with technological and economic change in globalisation era 1.2 Significance of the study Considerable number of studies has been conducted to examine the determinants of students' performance at undergraduate level in accounting and other subjects However, it is extremely important to note that the findings of various studies were showing different interferences Further, majority of these studies were conducted in the western and other developed countries, and the researchers find very less work done in the gulf region, so it is questionable whether similar factors applied in gulf countries or not This research study contributes to the ongoing development of higher education in Kingdom of Bahrain and will helps the graduating students to stand out in the increasing global professional market 1.3 Objectives of the study The objective of the study is to identify, analyse and critical examine different factors that affect students' performance in introductory accounting courses such as ACCT 101 and ACCT 201 at undergraduate level at Ahlia University (AU), first private university in Kingdom of Bahrain This study aims to provide three important contributions to the field of accounting education as follows: 1) Identification, examination and analysis of determinants of students' performance in the first two accounting courses at AU 185 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 2) Critically assess relative importance of the factors in determining students' performance in ACCT 101 and ACCT 201 and investigate whether these factors are helpful in explaining variations among students' performance 3) To contribute to the development of accounting education in Kingdom of Bahrain Review of literature Various studies have investigated many aspects of introductory accounting courses, focusing on the factors influencing and causing variation between students’ performance such as Grade Point Average ( GPA ) which has been widely used as indicator for performance at undergraduate level (Eckel and Johnson 1983; Hicks and Richardson 1984; Ingram and Peterson 1987; Eskew and Faley 1988; Doran et al 1991) In this regard, Hicks and Richardson, (1984) found that both overall GPA and principles of accounting's GPA are factors that influence prediction of students’ performance in intermediate accounting although the latter was found to be more significant predictor Dockweiler and Willis (1984) reached on conclusion that overall GPA at school was best predictor and can be used as single factor for screening process of the entrants to the undergraduate accounting curriculums Other factors such as grades in introductory courses can be of a major help to the university, especially for transferred students Other factors such as scores on aptitude tests at college were found not useful predictors according to results reached However few other studies found that GPA possesses negative relationship with student’s course performance (Turner, J.L et al, 1997) Gender was another variable that gained considerable attention, as many researches took place to investigate the ongoing say that female tends to outperform males in accounting courses (Eskew and Faley, 1988; Lipe 1989; Hayes, R.S et al, 1994; Jackling and Anderson 1998; Koh and Koh 1999; Mutchler, J.F et al., 2001) Mutchler et al., (1987) compared performance of male and female students in upper division accounting courses and found that females tend to outperform males This is similar to Tyson (1989) study which reached a conclusion that female outperformance is not just related to upper division courses Other findings gave notice to instructor's gender effect as it was found that students got higher marks in a female instructor class than otherwise On the contrary, Lipe (1989) reached different results as the research aimed to examine further implication of Mutchler et al., (1987) work By choosing different variables in research method which differs significantly from Mutchler et al., (1987) work, such as multi lower division accounting course sections, strict grading policy, and uniform exams and it was found that neither gender of student nor gender of instructor had significant relationship with 186 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 course scores, except interaction between them (male perform better in male instructor's class and vice versa) However Koh and Koh (1999) found that males did outperform females but this outperformance decreases over time Also, Doran et al (1991) found that male outperform females in principles of Accounting I but not in principles of Accounting II The impact of prior exposure to accounting subjects such as school accounting and mathematical courses on performance in college level students' performance was also investigated by several researchers However, results vary significantly, some concluded that no difference exists between group of students who studied accounting before and those who didn’t will be misleading as outperformance of those studied accounting previously changed over the time While, Baldwin and Howe (1982) found that group of students of previous exposure did better in early examinations but worse latter This is supported by Bergin (1983) who found that students who studied accounting before will be underachievers at later stage although they did perform better than others in early stage of the course Moreover, Schroeder (1986) reported no difference in overall performance between students without prior exposure students and those with one year or less exposure and added that students who have more than one year high school exposure to accountancy earned high scores in all introductory financial accounting course’ exams Other studies found the opposite is true as they concluded that previous exposure and background is major determinants of students’ performance (Eskew and Faley 1988; Bartlett et al., 1993; Gul and Fong 1993; Tho 1994; Rohde and Kavanagh 1996) In this regard, Eskew and Faley (1988) found that number of quizzes; high schools’ grades and previous accounting exposure together with university's grade are the ones who highly contributed to the variation across students' performance in first college financial accounting course at Purdue University Moreover, Doran et al.,(1991) found very similar results to Eskew's work that past academic performance and aptitude found significantly correlated with performance in both introductory accounting courses, while exposure to high school bookkeeping appear to be significantly positively related to performance in Accounting Principles I and negatively related to Accounting Principles II In the latest research in Tanzania, different results reached regarding prior accounting exposure In this research, Jagero and Masasi (2011) found that accounting education prior to entering university had no significant association with student performance Other studies conducted in Jordan by Ramadhan and Quraan (1994) in which they isolated factors that are uniquely related to introductory accounting courses ACCT 101 and ACCT 102 at Yarmouk 187 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 University It was found that GPA before ACCT 101 is the most significant determinant of students' performance in ACCT 101, while grade attained in ACCT 101 is main determinant of students' performance in ACCT 102 Grade at high school found to be important determinant of performance in ACCT 101 but not in ACCT 102 Koh and Koh (1999) study tested impact of six variables such as gender, age, academic aptitude, prior accounting knowledge, previous work experience, and mathematical background It was found that males outperformed females While prior accounting knowledge had significant impact at the beginning, then commerce students' starts to fall behind non commerce as term progresses Other studies such as Fedoryshyn et al., (2010) incorporated impact of other variables such as arithmetical reasoning skills and find significant positive correlation between arithmetic reasoning and final grade received in introductory accounting courses Other findings also suggested that prior GPA was best indicator of success in introductory accounting courses and accounting major students did not outperform as compare to other major students Gender and major are found less correlated predictors in first accounting course Baker et al., (2010) examined relationships between performance in the first accounting course taken by business major and their performance in other non-accounting courses such as Business Law, Economics, Marketing, Management and others Gungormus and Uyar , (2010) compared performance of accounting and other programs students' in the first accounting course in Turkey and it was found that accounting students outperformed other students who are coming from non-accounting background in the first accounting course Other factors studied were age in which Koh and Koh (1999) found that younger students at seniority college level have better performance than others Work experience was also a variable which has been studied by a number of researchers (Guney 2009; Hartnett et al., 2004; Koh and Koh, 1999; Jackling and Anderson, 1998) Research Methodology 3.1 Research Setting This study is conducted at AU, one of the private universities in Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) College of Business and Finance (CBF) at AU, one of the six colleges, offers two accounting principles courses (ACCT 101 & ACCT 201) under its four departments All five bachelor degree programs (see table 2) provided by this college includes ACCT 101 & ACCT 201 as a core course for their programs AU is chosen by researchers since all five bachelor degree programs include both the introductory accounting courses, as this is important for this 188 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 study because it does not intend to focus only on the accounting specialized students, however The diversity of students’ majors increases the researchers challenge to study determinants of students' performance 3.2 Multiple Regression Models The multiple regression models are chosen in this study This model was mainly chosen as it is known for its ability to deal with large number of independent variables and it regress meaningful results with small data sets This model was used by many previous research studies to investigate determinants of students’ performance in accounting courses as well (Uyar and Gungormus, 2011; El Shamy et al 2011; Gul and Fong 1993; Ramadan and Quraan 1994; and Tho 1994) This model is also accompanied with the use of other statistical measures of central tendency, variations and Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation 3.3 Selection of Independent Variables Independent variables are carefully selected based on extensive and deep understanding of previous studies and lot of discussion with several researchers and academicians The availability and reliability of data was also kept in mind The model includes two equations The first equation hypothesized that students' performance in ACCT 101, is a function of the students' gender, major, stream, cumulative average score in high school, GPA before ACCT 101 and credit hours completed before ACCT 101 Second equation hypothesized that students' performance in ACCT 201 is a function of the students' gender, major, stream and cumulative score average at high school, GPA before ACCT 201, credit hours before ACCT 201 and grade in ACCT 101 These variables represent independent or explanatory variables The dependent variables which are performance in ACCT 101 & ACCT 201 are measured by the grades as shown below in both equations GRAPI= β0+β1GENDER1+β2MAJOR1+β3STREAM1+β4CUM1+β5CREDIT1+ β6 AVG1+E1 GRAPII= β0+ β1GENDER2+β2MAJOR2+β3STREAM2+β4CUM2+β5CREDIT2+ β6 AVG 2+ β7GRAPI +E2 Where dependent variables are: 1- GRAPI = Grade in ACCT 101 2- GRAPII = Grade in ACCT 201, and independent variables are: 1-GENDER = Sex (Male or Female), using dummy variables (0 for male, for female) 2-MAJOR = Students' major (specialization) whether accounting or others, using dummy variable for each major (e.g.: if accounting, otherwise) 3-STREAM = Business stream at high school Using dummy variable for each stream (e.g.: if Business, if otherwise) 4-CUM1= Cumulative average before ACCT 101 5-CUM = Cumulative average before ACCT 201 189 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 6-AVG = Average grade point at high school 7- CREDIT = Number of credit hours completed before ACCT 101 8- CREDIT = Number of credit hours completed before ACCT 201 E = Error term in regression model Results and Analysis 4.1 Students' Profile The sample includes 166 (58.04%) females and 120 (41.96%) male (table 1) The sample contains seven majors, five majors from CBF which requires, ACCT 101 and ACCT 201 as core courses, represents 282 students (98.60% of sample) and other majors represents students (1.40% of sample) where these courses are not compulsory (table 2) The majority of student (170 out of 286) was registered in BS in accounting & finance major, which is flagship program of AU Only student from BS in Interior Design opted for the courses and completed both courses which were least in our sample from other than business major Table 1: Distribution of students according to Gender (N=286) First Semester 2010-2011 First Semester 2011-2012 Gender Totals Number of Number of % of Students Students Number of % of Students Students Students Total % of Students Female 144 56.03% 22 75.86% 166 58.04% Male 113 43.97% 07 24.14% 120 41.96% Total 257 100% 29 100% 286 100% Table 2: Distribution of students according to their Major Students' Major Number of % of students students BS in Accounting And Finance 170 59.44% BS in Banking And Finance 60 20.98% BS in Management And Marketing 25 8.74% BS in Management Information Systems 23 8.04% BS in Economics And Finance 04 1.40% College of Business & Finance 190 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 Sub total 282 98.60% BS in Interior Design 01 0.35% BS in Mass Communication And Public Relations 03 1.05% Sub total 04 1.40% Total 286 100% Other Colleges The sample of students has their high school studies from various streams This variety helps to indicate whether high school bookkeeping/accounting prior knowledge is, in fact a factor influencing students' performance in these courses or not Majority of students (161 out of 286) are coming from commercial stream and only student (lowest) from sample was coming from technical stream 79 & 33 students from science and general stream respectively, changed their stream to business, which clearly reflects the popularity of business program in this region (table 3) As from table 4, it can be seen that admitted students' GPA in high school was ranging from 51% to 98.80%, which indicates the significant academic performance dispersions in high school, but at the same time average GPA in high school was 84.07 %, which clearly indicates that AU was able to attract good academically performing students in their programs Further, GPA before ACCT 101 and ACCT 201, gives general indication of a student academic level and aptitude, was 2.78 & 2.68 in respective courses Also, average credit hours completed before ACCT 101 (15.85) and ACCT 201 (30.84) was obtained to check whether taking these introductory courses in first year is better in terms of taking courses later years It is important to note that ACCT 101 is a perquisite for ACCT 201 in AU Table shows distribution of grades in ACCT 101 and 201 The sample covers students’ grades from all levels ranging from 'A' (4 out of GPA) for the subject to 'F' (0 out of GPA) 191 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 Table 3: Distribution of students according to their High School Streams Students' Stream At High School Number of % of students students Commercial 161 56.29% Science 79 27.62% General 33 11.54% Literacy 09 3.15% Industrial 03 1.05% Technical 01 0.35% Total 286 100% Table 4: Minimum, Maximum and Average of Selected Independent Variables Independent Variables Maximum Minimum Average GPA before ACCT 101 2.78 GPA before ACCT 201 2.68 Credit hours before ACCT 101 102 15.85 Credit hours before ACCT 201 117 30.84 98.8% 51% 84.07 Grade in ACCT 101 2.67 Grade in ACCT 201 2.36 Students' GPA in high school 192 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 Table 5: Distribution of students' grades in ACCT 101 & ACCT 201 Grades Secured ACCT 101 (both semester) ACCT 201 (both semester) Letter A AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D F Points 4.00 3.67 3.33 3.00 2.67 2.33 2.00 1.67 1.33 1.00 0.00 Range % 90-100 87-89 84-86 80-83 77-79 74-76 70-73 67-69 64-66 60-63 0- 60 Total No of students 82 21 20 23 18 25 21 15 14 30 17 286 % of students 28.67% 7.34% 6.99% 8.04% 6.38% 8.74% 7.34% 5.25% 4.90% 10.49% 5.95% 100% No of students 62 15 25 20 13 12 26 20 26 45 22 286 % of students 21.68% 5.25% 8.74% 6.99% 4.55% 4.20% 9.09% 6.99% 9.09% 15.73% 7.70% 100% 4.2 Correlation Coefficient Results Table reveals Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficients between dependent and independent variables (except variables measured by dummy variables which are gender, major, and high school stream) It is apparent from this table that average grade in ACCT 101 is positively correlated with students' average GPA in high school (r =+0.574), average GPA before ACCT 101 (r =+0.679), average GPA before ACCT 201 (r=+0.751) and average grades in ACCT 201 (r =+0.662) A non significant negative correlation exists between the average credit hours completed before ACCT 201 and grade in ACCT 101 ( r = -0.060) Further, average grade in ACCT 201, is positively correlated with all independent variables such as students' GPA in high school ( r = +0.526 ), average credit hours before ACCT 101( r = +0.191 ), average credit hours before ACCT 201 ( r = +0.151 ), average GPA before ACCT 101 ( r = +0.642) , average GPA before ACCT 201( r =+0.720) and average grade in ACCT 101 (r = +0.662) 193 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 Table 6: Karl Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient Matrix Average GPA in High School Average Credit Hours before ACCT 101 Average Credit Hours before ACCT 201 Average GPA before ACCT 101 Average GPA before ACCT 201 Average Grades in ACCT 101 Average Grades in r Sig (2-tailed) N r Sig (2-tailed) N r Sig (2-tailed) N r Sig (2-tailed) N r Sig (2-tailed) N r Sig (2-tailed) N r Sig (2-tailed) Average GPA in Average Credit Average Credit High School Hours before ACCT Hours before ACCT 101 201 286 143* 015 286 014 809 286 660** 000 286 680** 000 286 574** 000 286 526** 000 Average GPA before ACCT 101 Average GPA before ACCT 201 Average Grades in ACCT 101 Average Grades in ACCT 201 286 436** 000 286 164** 005 286 222** 000 286 148* 012 286 191** 001 286 026 663 286 057 336 286 -.060 308 286 151* 010 www.globalbizresearch.com 286 932** 000 286 679** 000 286 642** 000 194 286 751** 000 286 720** 000 286 662** 000 Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 N 286 ACCT 201 * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) 286 286 286 286 286 4.3 Multicollinearity SPSS regression procedures were used to estimate dependent variables Before any independent variable was included in the study, its tolerance with other independent variables was checked According to results reached, there is strong relationship between GPA before ACCT 101 and GPA before ACCT 201 (r = +0.932) Therefore, GPA completed before 201 was chosen by researchers to be excluded from second model in order to avoid multicolinearity problem 4.4 Regression Results Table and shows multiple regression results for first equation and second equation which is related to ACCT 101 and ACCT 201 respectively The explanatory power of second model (R2 = 52%) is higher than the first model (R2 = 43.1%) determined by coefficient of multiple determinations results It suggested that all six independent variables in the first model explained dependent variable (grade in ACCT 101) by 43.1% While, for the second model all seven independent variables explained dependent variable (grade in ACCT 201) by 52% Also, researchers chose 10% level of significance which corresponds to t-value equal to 1.66 For gender variable, dummy variable was used (coded for male, for female), significance if any, were assumed for female However, table and also results suggested clearly that no significant relationship exists between students' performance in ACCT 101 (t=0.055< 1.66) and 201(t= -0.668< 1.66) with their gender This result is similar to Lipe’s (1989) and El shamy et al., (2011) results 195 www.globalbizresearch.com 286 Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 Table 7: Multiple Regression Results for ACCT 101 Un-standardized Coefficient Beta Standard Coefficient Error Independent Variables t-value significance -1.874 521 -3.595 000 Gender 006 111 055 956 Accounting And Finance 367 197 1.866 063 Banking And Finance 072 212 340 734 Economics And Finance -.007 476 -.016 988 Management Information Systems -0.037 261 -.143 886 Interior Design -0.111 887 -.126 900 Mass communication and Public Relations 390 537 726 468 Science 0.325 194 1.671 096 Commercial 0.558 182 3.065 002 Literacy 0.355 357 994 321 Industrial 0.388 542 716 475 Technical 0.092 886 104 917 Students' GPA at High School 0.020 008 2.520 012 Average Credit hours before ACCT 101 008 005 1.562 119 Average GPA before ACCT 101 780 081 9.681 000 (Constant) 2 Model statistics: R = 0.431, Adjusted R =0.416 Table 8: Multiple Regression Results for ACCT 201 Un-standardized Coefficient Beta Standard Coefficient Error Independent Variables t-value significance (Constant) -2.298 561 -4.096 000 Gender -.078 117 -.668 505 Accounting And Finance 374 213 1.757 080 Banking And Finance 185 224 824 410 Economics And Finance -.160 505 -.318 751 Management Information Systems 222 277 801 424 Interior Design 1.021 940 1.087 278 Mass communication and Public Relations 199 567 351 726 Science -.003 207 -.013 989 196 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 Commercial -.167 192 -.872 384 Literacy -.283 374 -.758 449 Industrial -.046 565 -.081 935 Technical 473 937 505 614 Students' GPA at High School 030 007 4.076 000 Average Credit hours before ACCT 201 017 004 4.258 000 Grade at 101 560 055 10.154 000 2 Model statistics: R = 0.520, Adjusted R =0.493 Secondly, table and showed majors, marketing and management major was excluded for dummy variable computation, and results of this major are adjusted with constant (intercept) results Results in table and indicate that accounting and finance is the only major (t > 1.66) significantly positively correlated at the 0.10 level with students' performance in ACCT 101 (t= 1.866> 1.66) and 201 (t=1.757> 1.66) Other majors were found to be insignificant explainer of variations among students’ performance in both courses (t < 1.66) Further, table and showed results for high school stream variable, which give indications of previous knowledge and exposure to accountancy on the performance of ACCT 101 and ACCT 201 Results shown in the tables are for five streams, general stream was excluded for dummy variable computation, and results of this stream are adjusted with constant (intercept) variable As from table 7, commercial stream is the one with highest beta coefficient (+ 0.558), it implies that performance of students coming from commercial stream will be better than other streams The researchers expected this results since commercial graduated high school students are more expose to accountancy Commercial (t = 3.065> 1.66) and Science (t = 1.671> 1.66) streams are the ones found to have significant positive relationships with students' performance in ACCT 101 While for ACCT 201, all high school streams (t < 1.66) were found insignificant explainers of students’ performance This is observed by the researchers from their experience as well, since ACCT 201 exposes students to new things from students’ perspectives that they are unfamiliar with in high school Students' GPA in high school variable was included, as it is primarily measures students' academic aptitude and level which is expected to continue in university Results from table and indicated that there is significant relationship between students' GPA in high school and their performance in ACCT 101 (t = 2.520 > 1.66) and ACCT 201 (t= 4.076 > 1.66) This indicates that AU was able to attract good academically performed students Average credit hours before ACCT 101 and ACCT 201 are two variables included in the study to test whether a significant difference in their performance who took ACCT 101 or both in their first or second year exist or not When referring to table results, it can be seen that average 197 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 credit hours before ACCT 101 has no significant relationship with students' performance ( t = 1.56 < 1.66 ) This can be explained by the fact that most of the students are taking their ACCT 101 course immediately joining university In the contrary, ACCT 201 results in table indicated significant positive relationship between average credit hours completed before ACCT 201 and performance ( t = 4.258 > 1.66 ) We observed that the more credit hours completed before ACCT 201, the better is the performance This is supported by result of average credit hours before ACCT 201 (30.84) which mean that they are taking ACCT 201 in their second year As mentioned earlier, Average GPA before ACCT 201 was excluded from second model for dummy variable computation However Average GPA before ACCT 101 tested whether past performance before ACCT 101 has a significant relationship with performance in the course itself Table results indicated that GPA completed before ACCT 101 has positive significant relationship with students' performance in ACCT 101 (Beta = 0.780) The last variable tested was average grade in ACCT 101 to check if it has impact on performance of ACCT 201 course Table shows that there is significant relationship between ACCT 101 and ACCT 201 average grades (t = 10.154 > 1.66) This finding was expected by researchers because if a student is excelling in ACCT 101 there is high probability that this excellence will be reflected in his/her performance in ACCT 201 course as well Conclusion The results of the study suggest that student’s GPA before ACCT 101 is the most important determinant of performance for ACCT 101 (table 7) While grade received by student in ACCT 101 course is the most important indicator of their performance in following ACCT 201 course (table 8) Accounting and finance major was found to be important indicator of performance in both ACCT 101 and 201 courses (table and 8) This is good for AU since BS in accounting and finance is flagship program of the university, and therefore the university can predict performance of huge number of students in these introductory accounting courses Further, there was no indication that gender was a factor determining performances in both courses Students' average GPA in high school was found to have positive significant relationship with performance in ACCT 101 and ACCT 201 This finding supports the advocacy of the argument that GPA in high school gives indication of overall students’ academic level of aptitude which is continued to universities as well Average GPA before ACCT 101 was found to be an important determinant of students' performance in ACCT 101 In addition, it was found that the more average credit hours accomplished before ACCT 201 course, the better students' performance is in ACCT 201 High school streams such as science and commercial were found to have significant positive 198 www.globalbizresearch.com Journal of Emerging Issues in Economics, Finance and Banking (JEIEFB) An Online International Monthly Journal (ISSN: 2306 367X) Volume:1 No.3 March 2013 relationships with students' performance in ACCT 101 Average credit hours before ACCT 101 found to have no impact on students' performance on this course This can be explained by the fact that most of the students taking ACCT 101 course immediately after joining university Limitations: All the findings of this study should be considered in the light of its limitations External validity was limited by inclusion of only one university Therefore, generalizability of results should await outcome of future research on this issue concerning all universities in kingdom of Bahrain Further, future research on this issue should incorporate other factors such as students' perceptions, motivation, gender of insturctor and even attendance Recommendations: Grade received by student in ACCT 101 is crucial determinant for the university to their performance in ACCT 201 and therefore ACCT 101 should continue to be perquisite for ACCT 201 Advisors at AU should examine these factors influencing students' performance in introductory accounting courses and provide counseling needed for students who obtained low grades in these courses The analysis and examination of these determinants and factors will save these students' money and effort and help them to perform better academically Admission policies are recommended to continue to be based on students' GPA at high school as this is found to be good indicator for students' academic aptitude and level Acknowledgement: The researchers want to extend thanks and appreciation to Dr Mansoor Al Aali, Dean of Student Affairs for providing students’ data for this research Further, the researchers wish to thank Professor Vizaya Kumar & Dr Ahmed Al-Hayky, Ahlia University, Bahrain for his whole hearted support during the whole research References Accounting Education Change Commission (1990) Objectives for Education for Accountants: Position Statement Number one Issues in Accounting Education, Vol.6, No.2, pp.307-312 Accounting Education Change Position (1992) The First Course in Accounting Position Statement No.2’’.Issues In Accounting Education, Vol.7, No.2, fall, pp.249-251 Alfan, E., and Othman, M N., (2005) 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(2011) Factors associated with student performance in financial accounting course European Journal of Economic and Political Studies 4(2) 201 www.globalbizresearch.com ... 2010-2011 First Semester 2011-2012 Gender Totals Number of Number of % of Students Students Number of % of Students Students Students Total % of Students Female 144 56.03% 22 75.86% 166 58.04% Male... intend to focus only on the accounting specialized students, however The diversity of students? ?? majors increases the researchers challenge to study determinants of students' performance 3.2 Multiple... 1.2 Significance of the study Considerable number of studies has been conducted to examine the determinants of students' performance at undergraduate level in accounting and other subjects However,