CHAPTER 1 SUMMARY

Problem and its background

Due to the growth of our economy in complexity and specialization, there is an ever-increasing demand for more and
better trained accountants. The performance of professional services requires the exercise of sound judgment in applying
professional knowledge and skill. Professional competence in this case is divided into two separate phases: Attainment of
professional competence and Maintenance of professional competence. It is therefore crucial for us to focus on the first
phase. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the factors that might affect academic achievement of accountancy
students namely: personality traits, aspirations, study habits, and proximity to school.
(Attainment of professional competence)
Significance of the Study
The findings of this study will be of great benefit to:

 undergraduate students of the accountancy program, our major stakeholder, to cater their needs and have a
thorough assessment of their academic achievement as well as;
 The professors and academicians of the accountancy program, to have deeper understanding of the factors
affecting students’ academic achievement and may use this to improve and facilitate overall training and learning
of the students.
Personality traits.
Definition: these are the qualities or characteristics that distinguish and reflect the character, action, and attitude of a
person.
Finding: Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham (2006) argued that correlations between academic performance and
personality measures would mirror corresponding correlations of intelligence with personality.
Aspirations.
Definition: Aspiration is the goal which an individual sets for himself in a task which has intense personal significance for
him.
Finding: The study conducted by Dwivedi (2012) showed that there was no correlation between level of aspiration and
achievement since most of the students were found to be over aspirant, i.e., they expect more and do less.
Study habits.
Definition: The student’s ways of studying whether systematic, efficient or inefficient.
Finding: Jade ballado-Tan (2014) said that there is a significant relationship between study habits and academic
performance.
Proximity to school.
Definition: Distance of home to school.
Finding: According to Moyo (2013), walking distance as it has been identified by several researchers appears to be a
common factor for poor academic performance.
Academic Achievement
Definition: Generally regarded as a display of knowledge, attained or skills developed in the school subject.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
SDT: Explains the motivational level of individuals in three types:
a. Intrinsic motivation – Highest level of motivation, in which an individual acts according to his will
b. Extrinsic motivation – low level of motivation, in which an individual acts if there is a reward involved
c. Amotivation – lowest level of motivation, in which an individual’s acts is not the result of his will.
Big Five Inventory:
The Big Five factors names correspond to the capital letters in the abbreviation and consist of
Openness to experience (O), It indicates how open-minded, imaginative, and curious a person is.
Conscientiousness (C), Individuals who prefer to follow a plan, rather than act spontaneously.
Extraversion (E), Enjoy being with people, participating in social gatherings, and are full of energy.
Agreeableness (A), Had an optimistic view on human nature and get along well with others.
Neuroticism (N). Commonly associated with emotional stability, which refers to personal feelings and mood of anxiety,
guilt, depression and loneliness.

Conceptual Framework
Independent variables: personality traits, aspirations, and study habits.
Dependent variable: academic achievement of accountancy students in terms of subjects related to CPA Licensure
examination.

Statement of the Problem

1. How may the respondents of the study be described in terms of their (1) Proximity to School and Gender, (2)
Personality traits, (3) Aspirations and (4) study Habits.
2. What is the level of academic performance of the respondents in their professional courses?
3. Is there significant relationship between Academic Achievement and the following factors: Personality Trait
domains (OCEAN), Aspirations, Study Habits and Proximity to School.
Hypotheses of the Study
Hₒ1: There is no significant relationship between (1) the domains of personality traits, (2) aspirations, (3) study
habits, (4) proximity to school with academic achievement and (5) Aspirations and study habits has no significant
relationship with academic achievement.
Scope and Delimitation of the Study
This study focuses on the current fifth year students of Bachelor of Science in Accountancy of the present school year,
2018-2019. The grades that will be obtained are limited to third year 2nd term and fourth year 1st term. The
questionnaires were distributed by utilization of survey forms.

CHAPTER 2 SUMMARY
Nature of Research
A descriptive research design was justified for use in this study as it sought to identify and describe how the
independent variable influenced the dependent variables.
Research Design
Quantitative analysis was used because the study’s method for data collection is in the form of survey questions.
Research Approach
The researchers studied what others have done, reads existing theories of whatever phenomenon we are studying
and then test hypothesis that emerge from those theories.
Population
Our respondents are the current 5th yr accountancy students of Baliuag University comprising 60 students
excluding the researchers.
Data gathering tool
We used Likert format with 5-point response scale. The respondents was given 5 response choices, where one is
the lowest point and the five being the highest point.
We measured the personality traits using the Big 5 Inventory questionnaire adopted from the previous study.
As to aspirations and study habits, we used the questionnaires from Ballado Tan’s master study.
Data Gathering Procedures
 Official list of students were obtained from BU Registrar Office. Upon the approval of our thesis professor we
distributed the letter of request as well as the questionnaires to the respondent and then recent average grades in
accounting-related subjects were retrieved from the promotional report of the office of CBAA.
Pearson Product-Moment Correlation
In the study, it was used to determine how dimension of personality traits, aspirations, and study habits were
related to the overall academic achievement. In the study of relationships, two variables are said to be correlated if change
in one variable is accompanied by change in the other - either in the same or opposite direction. The coefficient (ρ or r) is
calculated as the ratio of covariance between the variables to the product of their standard deviations.
ANOVA Test
In this study, one-way ANOVA was used to compare means of different groups while maintaining the type 1 error
at alpha level of 0.05 for the entire set of comparisons. ANOVA test identifies the effect of independent variable from the
variation due to error.
 CHAPTER 3 SUMMARY
Personality Traits Correlation Significance
Openness to Experience -.047 .361
Conscientiousness .195 .068
Extraversion .224 .043
Agreeableness -.034 .398
Neuroticism -.303 .009
Openness to experience - has no significant relationship with academic achievement

 Has significant relationship based on studies of:

o O’Connor &Paunonen, 2007
o Lim and Melissa Ng Abdullah(2010)
o Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnharm(2005)
o Lounsbury, Sundstrom, Loveland, & Gibson (2003)
 Has no significant relationship based on studies of:
o Mitrofan and Ion (2012)
o Bauer and Liang(2003)
o Diseth(2003)
o Hair and Hampson (2006)
 Reasons why there is NO SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP
o This may be attributed to the fact that accountancy students learn from established principles and
standards and not from new experiences.
o This means that respondents tend to be conventional and traditional in their outlook and behavior
and they prefer familiar routines to new experiences.
Conscientiousness – has no significant relationship with academic achievement

 Has significant relationship based on studies of:

o Jensen (2015)
o Almost all studies
 Has no significant relationship based on studies of:
o None
 Reasons why there is NO SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP
o It has no significant relationship at the alpha set of .05 however at the alpha set of .1 conscientiousness
would be considered to have significant relationship with academic achievement.
o This contradicting results to other studies also established the need for further research in order to
determine other factors that might explain this variation.
Extraversion – has significant relationship, direct

 Has significant relationship based on studies of:

o Komarraju, Karau, Schmeck and Avdic (2011)
o Salehi, Khak and Alam (2013) -
o Kumari, 1996
o Akomolafe, 2013
 Has no significant relationship based on studies of:
o Lumanisa, 2015
 Reasons why there is SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP
o Our result suggest that there is significant relationship between extraversion and academic achievement
and that this relationship is direct which means that higher level of extraversion means higher academic
achievement.
o Students with high level of extraversion perform better academically because of their positive
attitude towards learning and active participation in academic activities and social activities such
as group studies.
Agreeableness – has no significant relationship

 Has significant relationship based on studies of:

o Komarraju,Karau, Schmeck and Avdic (2011)
o De Raad and Schouwenburg, 1996
 Has no significant relationship based on studies of:
o Raza and Shah (2017)
 o Shiner, 2000
o Lumanisa (2015)
 Reasons why there is no SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP
o Agreeableness is not significantly related to academic achievement because the positive relationship the
respondents have with their colleagues and professors does not affect their grade point average.
Neuroticism - has significant relationship, inverse

 Has significant relationship, but direct based on studies of:

o Raza and Shah (2017)
o Komarraju et al. (2009)
o (Hakimi et al., 2011)
o Bidjerano and Dai, 2007
 Has significant relationship, but inverse based on studies of:
o Sahinidis et al. (2013)
o Naggar et al. (2015)
o Hakimi et al. (2011)
o Akomolafe (2013)
 Reasons why there is SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP and that it is INVERSE
o This suggests that most neurotic students who are depressed, anxious, angry and vulnerable in
nature and face difficulty of coping with threats and stress are not that effective in their academic
achievement.
o They tend to focus on the difficulties of performing the tasks rather than acting on it.
Aspirations – has no significant relationship

 Has significant relationship based on studies of:

o Goodman et al., 2011
o St Clair &Benjamin, 2011;
o Gorard et al., 2012;
o Gutman&Schoon, 2012;
o Rose & Baird, 2013;
 Has no significant relationship based on studies of:
o Ballado-Tan, 2014
 Reasons why there is no SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP
o This could imply that despite their high aspirations in life, if their capability does not coincide
with it, then students may find it difficult to achieve higher academic achievement.
Study habits – has no significant relationship

 Has significant relationship based on studies of:

o Tan, 2014
o Hall, Ramsay & Raven, 2004
o Williams & Worth (2002)
 Has no significant relationship, but inverse based on studies of:
o Carpio’s (1995)
 Reasons why there is no SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP
o This connotes that accountancy students of Baliuag University do not require good study habits
to achieve academic performance and therefore lessons are directly understood upon the
teachings of their professors in an interactive learning setting.
Proximity to school – has no significant relationship

 Has significant relationship based on studies of:

o (Hastings, Kane, &Staiger, 2005)
o (Becker, 1965)
o (Ahrberg et al., 2012;
o Perkinson-Gloor, Lemola, &Grob, 2013).
 Has no significant relationship, but inverse based on studies of:
o Ebinum, Akamagune and Ugbong (2017).
o Ntibi and Edoho (2017)
 Reasons why there is no SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP
 o Geographical location of a student does not affect performance in mathematics and basic science
provided that if students possess a positive attitude in mathematics, they will perform
academically very high. Thus, the result shows that proximity to school doesn’t affect the
academic achievement of students when they have a positive attitude towards education.
o May be attributed to the fact that the respondents’ learning capability will not be affected since
most of them do not come to school by means of walking but instead take several modes of
transportation, such as tricycle, motorcycle and jeepney.
o Most of the respondents also incorporate proper time management

Recommendations
• To enlighten the primary stakeholders of this study, the undergraduates of accountancy and other accounting
related course about factors affecting their academic achievement, especially extraversion & neuroticism.
• The scope is limited to 5th year students, it would be plausible to add other year levels or assess graduating
students of other universities.
• There are also other pertinent measures of academic achievement such as IQ.
• Consider participants’ socioeconomic status
• Gender differences