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Journal of Education for Business

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Student Academic Performance in Undergraduate Managerial-Accounting Courses

Abdulrahman Ali Al-Twaijry
a a

Qassim University, Qassim, Al-Melaida, Saudi Arabia

Available online: 13 Feb 2011

To cite this article: Abdulrahman Ali Al-Twaijry (2010): Student Academic Performance in Undergraduate ManagerialAccounting Courses, Journal of Education for Business, 85:6, 311-322 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320903449584

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JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 85: 311322, 2010 Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0833-2323 DOI: 10.1080/08832320903449584

Student Academic Performance in Undergraduate Managerial-Accounting Courses

Abdulrahman Ali Al-Twaijry
Qassim University, Qassim, Al-Melaida, Saudi Arabia

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The authors purpose was to identify potential factors possibly affecting student performance in three sequential management-accounting courses: Managerial Accounting (MA), Cost Accounting (CA), and Advanced Managerial Accounting (AMA) within the Saudi Arabian context. The sample, which was used to test the developed hypotheses, included 312 students whose performance was followed throughout 3 semesters (4, 6, and 8) out of 8. Techniques of mean comparison and correlation were employed. The results suggest that the preuniversity accounting background was only found to have signicant impact on the AMA course whereas skill in mathematics was found to affect student performance signicantly in the MA course. It was evidenced that student performance in the MA course and overall was signicantly affected by preuniversity ability, general undergraduate academic capability, and matriculation year. Student performance in the Financial Accounting course signicantly correlated with performance in the subsequent MA and AMA courses. There is also evidence of a signicant relationship between MA student performance and that of both CA and AMA. The ndings of this study conrmed that the load of weekly registered hours has no negative impact on the student performance. It also suggested that accounting students had outperformed nonaccounting students in accounting and nonaccounting courses. Keywords: accounting, student performance, undergraduate

Accounting education has received much attention from researchers in developed nations. A great many studies have been directed towards accounting education and how it might be enhanced. However, the research on accounting education in developing countries is still far behind. Their education systems are affected by various factors (i.e., culture, politics, and social factors) and this means that results from accounting education studies can not be always applied to different nations because each has unique features. The education system in Saudi Arabia differs widely from western education systems in terms of teaching styles and program types, volumes, and content. As is the case with many accounting and business departments and schools worldwide facing the problem of weak student academic performance (cf. Gayle & Michael, 1999; Lane & Porch, 2002; Shotweel, 1999), the Accounting Department at Qassim University in Saudi Arabia has encountered a severe challenge with its students. During the 15-year

Correspondence should be addressed to Abdulrahman Ali Al-Twaijry, Qassim University, Accounting Department, Qassim, Al-Melaida 6633, Saudi Arabia. E-mail: aaltwaijry@gmail.com

period from 1990 to 2005, the number of accounting students whose overall GPA was 4.00 or more out of 5.00 was fewer than 100 students (less than 10%). A great majority of accounting students nd it rather difcult to understand managerial accounting courses, and a high percentage (average 3550%) of students fail in management accounting courses. As noted by Gracia and Jenkins (2002), academic failures have huge consequences, both emotionally and nancially. The reasons for these failures need to be understood and appropriate remedies applied. One possible reason that makes failures in managerial accounting courses different from those in nancial accounting and other business courses is that the managerial courses are not straightforward. They need critical thinking and a good background, especially in mathematics, and this warrants further research to suggest ways for improving the student performance in these courses in particular, and accounting programs more generally. Therefore, the question begging an answer is which factors affect student performance in Managerial Accounting (MA) courses and whether they are different from those affecting performance in Financial Accounting (FA) courses as suggested by previous studies. Because no research was found to tackle this issue within

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the Arabian environment, a gap exists in the literature. This study, however, endeavors to identify the potential factors that may have some effect on student performance generally, and particularly in three sequential management-accounting courses. These undergraduate courses are: MA in the second year (fourth semester), Cost Accounting (CA) in the third year (sixth semester), and Advanced Managerial Accounting (AMA) in the fourth year (eighth and nal semester). The outcomes of this study have eld implications and applications to help enhance student performance generally and for these courses specically. Background of Saudi Arabia Business Educational System The Saudi Arabian business educational system, although originally imported from the United States, is somewhat different from those in the West. Public business education in Saudi Arabia, which represents about 80% of the industry and is only available for Saudis, is free with the government paying each student up to 1000 SR per month. Even though business education is available for both men and women, they are separated from each other. Students admitted to the business schools must have a high school degree with an acceptable GPA (normally above 70%). The average undergraduate student stay at university is 4 years, in which an average of 140 hr (about 4045% of them within the student major) must be studied and passed. Both Arabic and English are used as a medium of instruction. As for textbooks, they are mainly published in the West, with most of them having been translated into Arabic. Teaching styles are mostly a one-way street, which means that the instructor does almost all the talking, and students are the audience. Government regulations do not allow female instructors to teach male students whereas the opposite is possible but only through video conferencing. A high percentage (an average of 85%) of the course assessment is based on the examinations, and the rest (15%) is based on homework, attendance, and projects. The passing level is 60%, and when the student cannot get a total of 60 out of 100 points for a course, he or she must restudy the course; there is no limit for retaking the same course as long as the GPA is at the required level (2.00 or above out of 5.00). When the GPA goes below 2.00, the student loses his or her stipend. When the GPA stays below 2.00 for three (and sometimes ve) sequential semesters, the student must leave the university. In general, business students can nd jobs easily, especially those majoring in accounting. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development Accounting education is one of the chief subjects that has been receiving and continues to receive great attention from accounting researchers. Many studies have focused on how to improve the quality of accounting education (i.e., Jackling, 2005; Kramer, Johnson, Crain, & Miller, 2005; Mustafa &

Chiang, 2006). Some research has been directed toward identifying and suggesting solutions to problems and difculties confronting accounting students (Booth, Luckett, & Mladenovic, 1999; Davidson, Slotnick, & Waldman, 2000; Gracia & Jenkins 2002; Lane & Porch 2002). More narrowly, several studies concentrated on one or more undergraduate or graduate accounting courses. Based on research carried out 18 years ago, Doran, Bouillon, and Smith (1991) found that the preuniversity accounting knowledge of students negatively affected their performance in the basic managerial accounting course. Although this was a surprising result, it may not still be the case nowadays because both accounting academic programs and preuniversity education systems have changed. Auyeung (1991), Keef (1992), Rohde and Kavanagh (1996a), and Lee (1999) searched for possible variables affecting student performance in the Principles of Financial Accounting (PFA) course. One important nding of these studies was that the prior university accounting background and the general academic ability had a signicant impact on performance in PFA. The impact on student performance and of various entry paths to tertiary education in a second-year accounting management course was assessed by Jackling and Anderson (1998). They examined the effect of background features of some students on their performance in the course. Jackling and Andersons results revealed that part-time students outperformed full-time students, and that both entry qualications and a students general ability together can predict performance in the management course. However, there was no evidence of any signicant effect of preuniversity accounting study, gender, or language background on the course performance of students. On the other hand, Lane and Porch (2002) endeavored to investigate the possible impact of background factors of nonspecialist accounting students on their performance on the UK Level One and Level Two accounting modules. Multiple regression analysis was employed to evaluate the effect of various explanatory variables. The analysis outcomes suggest that a students accounting background does not have a signicant effect on Level One and Level Two accounting modules. More recently, Al-Twaijry (2005) studied the potential effects of various factors on student performance in the PFA course. The analysis of his sample (379 students) provided evidence that the signicant variables that affect the student performance in the PFA course are: (a) the preuniversity academic achievement, (b) the preuniversity accounting background, and (c) the preuniversity mathematics attainment. These studies have contradictory results regarding the potential effect of the student accounting and general background on the introduction to accounting courses. The possible reasons for that are either the time elapsed between the studies (some of them older than 15 years) or the cultural and educational system differences. Because the results of the majority of these studies supported the thesis that preuniversity academic ability in accounting generally has a strong

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PERFORMANCE IN MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING COURSES

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effect on accounting courses, the potential impact of the student preuniversity accounting and their general background and performance on managerial accounting courses can be hypothesized as follows: Hypothesis 1 (H 1 ): The performance of Saudi Arabian students with a preuniversity accounting acquaintance would be signicantly higher in the university management accounting courses than those without such experience. H 2 : The performance of Saudi Arabian students with a higher secondary school GPA would be signicantly better in the university management accounting courses than those with a lower GPA. Some research has been concerned with the students general performance in business and management schools. For example, Marcal and Roberts (2000), Braseld, Harrison, and McCoy (1993), and Allmen (1996) found that past performance (i.e., at high school) was a good predictor of future (i.e., university) performance in the elds of management, business, and economic studies. Similarly, Duff (2004) used linear regression analyses to test the explanatory power of students approaches to learning, their gender and age, and their prior academic performance on the subsequent academic achievement. The analysis outcome suggested that prior academic attainment was the strongest predicting variable of accounting and business economics students rstyear academic performance. Based on these ndings, the extent of the impact of student preuniversity performance and experience on performance at undergraduate business schools can be tested through the following hypotheses: H 3 : The performance of Saudi Arabian undergraduate business students with a higher secondary school GPA would be signicantly better than those with a lower GPA. H4 : The performance of Saudi Arabian undergraduate business students who graduated from scientic high schools would be signicantly higher than those who graduated from nonscientic high schools. Fewer studies (i.e., Drennan & Rohde, 2002; Jackling, Russell, & Anderson, 1994; Rohde & Kavanogh, 1996b) have focused on managerial accounting courses. Jackling et al. examined the inuence of relaxing the condition of the prerequisite of basic managerial accounting (basic nancial accounting) on the performance on the managerial accounting course and the inuence of a students level of understanding English language on his or her performance in the basic accounting courses. Their results suggest that, under certain circumstances, waiving the prerequisite has a negative impact on student performance. This result, however, could not be generalized. The level of understanding English was not found to have a signicant effect on the student performance in the basic accounting courses. On the other hand, Rohde and Kavanagh searched for the factors

affecting student performance in a course on the principles of management accounting. The most important variable to help predict student performance was the course grade in the prerequisite course (Introduction to Financial Accounting). Considering that nancial accounting courses differ in many aspects from managerial accounting courses, the effect of one on the other is questionable. To discover if the results reached can be conrmed or contradicted, the following hypothesis was tested: H 5 : The Saudi Arabian undergraduate students who perform better in the nancial accounting course would also perform signicantly better in the management accounting courses. Drennan and Rohde (2002) studied the factors expected to have an effect on student performance in AMA in an Australian university. They found that the performance of students whose mother tongue was not English in Introduction to Managerial Accounting was relatively poor whereas their performance was good in AMA. Also, they found that the student performance in AMA was better for those who studied its prerequisite at the same university than for those who had taken the prerequisite somewhere else. The admission procedure, which was not specically addressed in this study, but which can be inferred from its ndings, may correlate with the student performance in managerial courses and overall. In the year 2000, the acceptance procedure and criteria changed at the School of Business to which the Accounting Department belongs. To test the possible effect of such changes on academic performance, the following hypothesis was developed: H 6 : The performance of Saudi Arabian business students entering the University after the year 2000 would be signicantly higher than those who entered before the year 2000. Although accounting courses share some similarities, they sometimes differ widely from each other. The relationship between student performance in the rst year accounting courses and the following year accounting courses was investigated by Augeung (1991). The results conrm a strong relationship between student performance in the Introduction to Accounting course and in the advanced nancial accounting course. To extend their analysis to examine if the relation among introduction to management accounting, cost accounting, and advanced management accounting is also strong, the following hypothesis was set forth: H 7 : The Saudi Arabian undergraduate students who perform better in a managerial accounting course would also signicantly perform better in the other managerial accounting courses. Other researchers endeavored to identify different factors that may affect student performance in nonaccounting courses. For example, Anderson, Benjamin, and Fuss (1994)

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examined the possible impact of the students ability in mathematics in high school on his or her performance in the basic economics course. They found a signicant positive correlation. On the other hand, in an earlier study, Ely and Hittle (1990) could not nd such an effect of student ability in mathematics on the performance in the business nance course. Because managerial accounting uses mathematics in a deeper manner than the other accounting courses, it was expected that students with good understanding of mathematics would perform better in management accounting courses, and so the following hypothesis was set forth: H 8 : The Saudi Arabian undergraduate students achieving better in preuniversity mathematics would perform significantly better in the university management accounting courses than those whose achievement in mathematics is poorer.

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Mathematical ability can signicantly affect graduate and undergraduate business studies given that many of the courses at business schools rely on mathematics. Based on that, the following hypothesis was developed: H 9 : The performance of Saudi Arabian undergraduate business students who have done well in preuniversity mathematics would be signicantly higher than those whose achievement in preuniversity mathematics is poor. Course scheduling and load could have an effect on the student performance. The likely inuence of course scheduling during the week was investigated by Henebry (1997), who focused on the nancial management course. Henebrys results show that the likelihood of passing the course when it is scheduled for more than one meeting during the week is higher than when if there is only one long meeting during the week. The probability of the load effect was examined in a recent study by Mustafa and Chiang (2006), who suggested that course materials and course content do affect the quality of higher education. Because the time and load of the course are expected to affect performance in the course, also time and load of all other courses, which can be measured by the number of registered hours, are expected to negatively affect the individual courses and overall performance. That is because a high load means less time available for homework and examination preparation for individual courses and vice versa. Based on this, the following hypotheses were developed: H 10 : Saudi Arabian undergraduate students with a small load would perform signicantly better in the university management accounting courses as compared to those with a large load. H 11 : The performance of Saudi Arabian undergraduate business students with a small load would be signicantly higher as compared to those with a large load. Other factors, such as class size, course problems, attendance, student personality, and instructors attributes, could

have an effect on a university students academic performance. Naser and Peel (1998) found out that the class size, the instructors character and personality, the students effort, and the course problems are the factors most inuencing student performance in the Introduction to Accounting course. Paisey and Paisey (2004) identied potential causes behind student absences from classes and found a strong positive relationship between student attendance and performance in an accounting module. The possible effect of a students personality was studied by Nguyen, Allen, and Fraccastoro (2005). They used data of 368 undergraduate and graduate students of a university business course. Anxiety was found to be positively and signicantly predicting overall GPA, whereas the other personality characteristics such as agreeableness, extroversion, emotionality, and intellect had some impact on the nal course grade and overall GPA. The inuence of emotionality and intellect, however, depended on the students gender. Mustafa and Chiang (2006) endeavored to identify the quality dimensions in higher education and how they were related to instructor ability and attitudes, course material, and load and the amount of knowledge provided. The results, which were based on analyzing 485 questionnaires, suggest that the key factors affecting the quality of higher education are teacher ability and attitude. The mean comparison analysis showed that students with a high GPA perceive course content to be more important for enhancing education quality, whereas the students with low GPAs perceived that a teachers superior performance enhanced course content. Although the literature on this subject has highlighted various factors affecting student performance either in a particular course or in general, other factors that may affect performance in accounting studies were not discussed. The term load, the type of high school, the term length and the student major are further factors that have the potential to have an impact on accounting student performance, and they need to be investigated. These variables are addressed and discussed in this study.

DATA COLLECTION AND DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS The sample used in this study (312 students) was randomly selected from students registering during the academic years 2000, 2001, and 2002. These particular years were chosen because, as the normal stay at the university is 4 years, those students should have graduated, and they would have studied all three courses. The data sample was collected from the students present and permanent les kept in the university registration system, to which I was given access, through two steps. First, the data regarding the university academic performance was gathered from the students present les, les which contain information about the students academic transcripts, all semesters details, such as registered hours,

PERFORMANCE IN MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING COURSES TABLE 1 Number of Students Who Either Received or Did Not Receive a Grade in the Course Status Received a grade Did not receive a grade Total sample MA 219 93 312 CA 187 125 312 AMA 90 222 312

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Note. Students who did not receive a grade either dropped the course or had chosen different major (other than accounting) or left the university.

passed hours, term GPA, overall GPA, and specialization. Second, the other data were collected from the students permanent les, les that contain preuniversity information such as high school transcripts, date of birth, addresses, and special needs. Table 1 shows the number of students in the sample who received a grade in the management accounting courses. The MA course is in Level 4 (second year), and all students in the college must take and pass it. A high percentage (30% = 93 students) did not receive a grade in that course, which means that nearly one third of the students in Level 4 had left the university (withdrawal or dismissal). The CA course is in Level 6 (third year) and must be taken by business students in addition to accounting students. The number of students who received a grade in the CA course was 187 whereas 125 (40%) did not get a grade in the course, which means that 30 (12593) students (10%) had left the college during their third year. The AMA course is in Level 8, the last semester (in the fourth year) and taken only by accounting students. The total number of students in the sample who graduated in accounting was only ninety students. Table 2 represents the number and percentage of the sample students in each grade. Very few students (< 2%) received an A+ or A in the MA course, and even fewer (1.6%) in the CA course. Nobody received an A+ or A in the AMA course. The number of students who got a B (4 points) or more is 6 (6.4%) in the MA course, 5 (5.9%) in the CA course, and 2 (2.2%) in the

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AMA course. The vast majority of the students who passed the courses (MA, CA, AMA) received between a D and C+. On the other hand, 88 students (40%) failed the MA course, 55 students (29%) failed the CA course, and fewer (22%) failed the AMA course. This data may suggest that the performance of students in the management courses did not follow a normal distribution. By looking at the term GPA and the overall GPA of the sample, which is illustrated in Table 3, it is noticeable that very few students got a GPA of 4.0 or over (between 1% and 3% in all cases). The great majority of the students (between 35% and 72%) had a GPA lower than 2.5. According to the university rules, a student with an overall GPA lower than 2.00 gets a warning and if the student could not improve his or her overall GPA to 2.00 or more for a number of terms (normally three), the student would be asked to leave the university. The percentage of those students who were at risk of being dismissed was 18% in Year 2, 5% in Year 3, and 1% in Year 4. Looking at the term performance, I noticed substantial development because in Term 4 more than 60% of the sample students had an overall GPA lower than 2.5, but in Term 8 more than 60% of the sample students had an overall GPA higher than 2.5. One possible reason of this is that the more time (terms) a student spends at university, the better the student understands and the better the student performs because, with time, the student gets used to the culture, system, and teaching style of the university, and he or she also is more mature. Statistical Analysis and Hypothesis Testing The hypotheses used in this research were of the alternative hypothesis format, which suggest an existence of an effect or relationship between variables. Such an effect or relationship was examined, and, if the hypothesis is proven, it would be possible to improve the academic performance by the affecting variables. The most widely used measurement of the students future academic performance was his or her past accomplishment. Normally, students with backgrounds in a subject are expected to do better than others with no

TABLE 2 Number and Percentage of Students in Each Grade Course Grade Symbol A+ A B+ B C+ C D+ D F Points 5 4.75 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1 MA (n = 219) Frequency 1 3 4 6 16 19 25 57 88 % 0.5 1.4 1.8 2.7 7.3 8.7 11.4 26.0 40.2 CA (n = 187) Frequency 0 3 3 5 3 16 21 81 55 % 0.0 1.6 1.6 2.7 1.6 8.6 11.2 43.3 29.4 AMA (n = 90) Frequency 0 0 1 1 5 17 19 27 20 % 0.0 0.0 1.1 1.1 5.6 18.9 21.1 30.0 22.2

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A. A. AL-TWAIJRY TABLE 3 Student Term and Overall Performance During the Three Academic Terms MA (n = 219) Term GPA Overall GPA n 3 14 43 119 40 % 1 6 20 54 19 n 6 33 60 40 48 Term GPA % 3 18 32 21 26 n 1 17 48 111 10 CA (n = 187) Overall GPA % 1 9 26 59 5 n 2 27 29 19 13 AMA (n = 90) Term GPA % 2 30 32 21 14 n 1 15 30 43 1 Overall GPA % 1 17 33 48 1 Grade 4.0 3.03.99 2.52.99 2.02.49 < 2.00

n 4 41 40 66 68

% 2 19 18 30 31

background. To examine this case in managerial accounting, I divided the sample into students who had studied at least one accounting course at high school and those who had not. The mean comparison results are disclosed in Table 4. Students with preuniversity accounting backgrounds performed slightly better (not signicantly) in the MA course, and this, to some extent, contradicts the ndings of Doran et al. (1991) and those of Al-Twaijry (2005), but they are consistent with those of Jackling and Anderson (1998). However, in the CA course, students without such backgrounds performed slightly better (not signicantly). On the other hand, students who had some experience in accounting before university did signicantly (p <.05) better in the AMA course. These results lead us to accept H 1 only for the AMA course. There is no evidence of any signicant (p >.20) effect of the preuniversity accounting background on term and overall GPA. It seems that, although preuniversity accounting backgrounds may help students understand some topics in accounting, it is not very helpful, and so it may not be considered as an inuencing factor on overall performance in undergraduate accounting. On the other hand, students who do well at high school are also expected to do well at university. To nd out to what extent this was true, I compared the performance of students with a high school grade of 77.5 or higher to those with a grade lower than 77.5. This specic point was chosen because, normally, the high school grades of students admitted to the business school at Qassim University range between 70

and 85, with an average of 77.5. Table 5 reveals the statistical analysis. Students who performed better before university did signicantly better (p <.05) in the MA course, and they also did better in the CA course but with less signicance (p = .11). This result agrees with the ndings of Jackling and Anderson (1998). However, the difference in means between the two groups in the AMA course is not signicant. As a result, we accept H 2 for the MA course only. I extended the analysis to include the performance in the other term courses (measured by the term GPA) and in all university courses (measured by the overall GPA), and results are shown in Table 6. Students with a higher preuniversity academic performance do signicantly better at the university level, especially in the rst term. The difference between term GPA means is signicant (p = .059) only in Term 4 and is not signicant in Terms 6 and 8, and thus I only accept H 3 for Term 4. However, the difference between overall GPA means is signicant in all cases, and so H 3 for overall performance must not be rejected. These results conrm the ndings of previous studies (i.e., Braseld et al. 1993; Duff, 2004; Marcal & Roberts, 2000; Von Allmen, 1996). As a result, and in order to enhance the undergraduate accounting student success, more emphasis should be given to the level of student performance at high school. There are several different types of high schools in Saudi Arabia with only one concerned more with scientic subjects (mathematics, physics, and chemistry) and the English

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TABLE 4 Mean Comparison Between Students With and Without a Preuniversity Accounting Background Studied accounting before university? 1 0 1 0 1 0

Course MA CA AMA

n 17 174 16 147 11 70

M 2.132 1.957 1.844 1.998 2.636 2.079

SD 1.061 0.988 0.437 0.858 0.674 0.797

SE M 0.257 0.075 0.109 0.071 0.203 0.095

t 0.695 0.709 2.198

Sig. (2-tailed) .488 .479 .031

Note. 1 = had accounting background before university, 0 = otherwise.

PERFORMANCE IN MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING COURSES TABLE 5 Course Mean Comparison Using a 77.5 High School Grade Cut-Off Point Course MA CA AMA Grade (%) 77.50 < 77.50 77.50 < 77.50 77.50 < 77.50 n 105 86 92 71 49 32 M 2.138 1.770 2.073 1.866 2.194 2.094 SD 1.052 0.880 0.816 0.832 0.783 0.837 t 2.585 1.594 0.548 Sig. (2-tailed) .011 .113 .586

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language. To examine to what extent the type of high school may affect undergraduate business student performance, we used t test, the results of which shows that there were no signicant differences (p >.25 in terms and overall) in the GPAs between students from scientic high schools and those from other high schools. Thus H 4 must be rejected. At present, the Business College at Qassim University prefers students form scientic high schools to others, but as these ndings suggest, the school type should not be considered as a dominant factor inuencing the admission decision. On the other hand, the admission minimum acceptance level of high school GPA should be increased. Probably, management accounting courses use mathematics more than nancial accounting, and so students with a better understanding (i.e., higher grades) of mathematics were expected to do better in these three management courses (MA, CA, and AMA). Using the mean comparison of grade in the course between students with a grade in mathematics equal to 65 (the average grade of the sample students) or more and others with less than 65 in mathematics, the only signicant (p = .07) difference in means was found in the MA course, and so we do not reject H 8 for the MA course. This result is consistent with Al-Twaijrys (2005) ndings regarding the effect of mathematics achievement on the student performance in nancial accounting. In the other two courses (CA and AMA), and also in the term and overall GPA, student mathematics skill had no signicant effect on

his performance. As a result, H 8 for CA and AMA and also H 9 cannot be accepted. A possible reason behind the nonsignicant effect of the preuniversity mathematics capability on the school of business student performance, although mathematics is used in most of the courses, is either that mathematics content or teaching technique is different. Development in higher education is dynamic. Admission procedures, course contents, and syllabi change over time. To examine whether the changes introduced in the year 2000 helped students in their academic performance and achieve better grades, we compared the performance (measured by course grade, passed hours, and GPA) for students enrolled at the college before the academic year 2000 and those who enrolled either in year 2000 or after. Table 7 shows the MannWhitney U results. Students entering the university in the year 2000 or later performed signicantly better (p <.05) in the MA course than students enrolled before the year 2000. However, there were no signicant differences between the performances of these groups in CA and AMA courses. Thus, H 6 can be only accepted for the MA course. The differences between the means of hours passed by these two groups were not signicant (p >.20) in all three terms (4, 6, 8). The term GPA was better for those matriculating in the year 2000 or later, but the mean differences were not signicant except at the 15% level for Terms 4 and 8 and not signicant at all for Term 6. Therefore, H 6 must be rejected for term performance. On the

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TABLE 6 Term and Overall GPAs Means Comparison Using a 77.5 High School Grade Cutoff Point Course Term 4 GPA Term 6 GPA Term 8 GPA Overall GPA (Term 4) Overall GPA (Term 6) Overall GPA (Term 8) Grade (%) 77.50 < 77.50 77.50 < 77.50 77.50 < 77.50 77.50 < 77.50 77.50 < 77.50 77.50 < 77.50 n 105 86 92 71 49 32 105 86 92 71 49 32 M 2.421 2.223 2.511 2.377 2.696 2.503 2.463 2.271 2.540 2.362 2.670 2.485 SD 0.718 0.714 0.668 0.612 0.649 0.545 0.476 0.410 0.408 0.366 0.420 0.431 t 1.899 1.320 1.393 2.955 2.889 1.915 Sig. (2-tailed) .059 .189 .168 .004 .004 .059

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A. A. AL-TWAIJRY TABLE 7 Course, Passed Hours, and GPA Means Comparison Using an Academic Year 2000 Cutoff Point

Term Four

Course

Test Mean Comparison Mann-Whitney U Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Comparison Mann-Whitney U Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Comparison Mann-Whitney U Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)

Course grade A>B 4589.500 0.015 A<B 4166.500 0.922 A<B 934.500 0.560

Passed hours A>B 5120.000 0.248 A>B 4124.500 0.833 A>B 986.000 0.879

Term GPA A>B 4910.50 0.107 A>B 3986.50 0.556 A>B 804.50 0.105

Overall GPA A>B 3685.00 0.000 A>B 3068.00 0.002 A>B 756.00 0.044

MA Six CA Eight AMA

A = entered the college on or after the year 2000, B = entered college before year 2000.

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other hand, students enrolled in the year 2000 or later generally (overall GPA) performed signicantly better (p <.05) than those enrolled before than the year 200. Therefore, we do not reject H 6 for overall performance. These ndings conrm that better admission procedures and more strict criteria could very well screen out students who were likely to fail or withdraw from the university, resulting in more successful higher education. On the other hand, it is very important to keep developing the education system to help the students perform better and encourage them to work harder. Correlation Analysis Sometimes students who are good in nancial accounting are also good in managerial accounting. Nevertheless, this is not always the case. Many students performed much better in either nancial or managerial accounting. We examined this case by correlating the students performance in nancial accounting to their performance in management accounting. Table 8 provides the correlation data. The previous correlation coefcients suggest that a signicant (p = .000) positive correlation (.39) existed between FA and MA, agreeing with result of Rohde and Kavanagh (1996b). FA is also correlated signicantly (p <.01) but with less strength (.30) with AMA. However, the correlation between FA and CA was weak and insignicant. Therefore, alternative H 5 should not be rejected except for the CA course and so it is good that the FA course remains a prerequisite of the MA course. MA is a prerequisite of CA and CA is a prerequisite of AMA. This means that a student cannot register in CA withTABLE 8 Correlation (Spearmans Rho) of the Student Performance in FA, by MA, CA, and AMA Variable Correlation coefcient Sig. (2-tailed) n FA 1 253 MA .389 .000 204 CA .112 .142 174 AMA .295 .007 83

out passing MA and cannot register in AMA without passing CA, logically passing MA as well. Table 9 shows to what extent these three courses were correlated. The correlation matrix suggests that MA is signicantly, but not strongly, correlated with CA and with AMA. So we should accept H 7 for the relationship between MA and CA and also between MA and AMA. This may mean that students who understand MA better perform better in both CA and AMA, and so it is important for MA to remain a prerequisite for both CA and AMA. However, there is no signicant correlation between CA and AMA at the 5% level and so H 7 cannot be accepted for the relationship between the CA and AMA courses. This is probably because the students in these courses vary. Although the CA course is considered as a MA course, its content mostly deals with costs, and so it is doubtful that CA should remain a prerequisite of AMA. It may be the time for the accounting curriculum to be reviewed because course prerequisites in many cases contribute to the delay in student graduation. Load Analysis The minimum number of hours a normal student must register in a normal academic term is 12 hr per week, the maximum being 20 hr and the normal average being 15 hr. In the summer term, however, a student can register for any number up to 9 hr (in some exceptional cases 12). Table 10 shows a comparison of the number of registered hours with hours passed. The students tend to take more hours as they proceed in their studies. The percentage of average failing hours decreases as the student advances to higher levels (26% in Term 4, 20% in Term 6, and 10% in Term 8). It is rational that, when the load of hours on a student is high, the performance is low and vice versa. This is because if the student has a lighter load (fewer courses), he or she has more time to spend in these courses, but if the load is high (many courses), less time can be spent on each course. For this purpose, the registration system at the university restricts the number of weekly hours that can be registered by students

PERFORMANCE IN MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING COURSES TABLE 9 Correlation Between Performance of MA, CA, and AMA Correlations MA Spearmans rho MA Correlation Coefcient Sig. (2-tailed) N Correlation Coefcient Sig. (2-tailed) N Correlation Coefcient Sig. (2-tailed) N 1.000 219 .200 .006 187 .239 .023 90
Correlation Correlation

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CA .200 .006 187 1.000 187 .179 .092 90

AMA .239 .023 90 .179 .092 90 1.000

CA

AMA

90

is signicant at the .01 level (2-tailed) is signicant at the .05 level (2-tailed). TABLE 10 Comparison Between Registered and Term Hours Passed

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Term 4 (MA; n = 219) 6 (CA; n = 187) 8 (AMA; n = 90)

Description # of hours registered in the term # of hours passed # of hours registered in the term # of hours passed # of hours registered in the term # of hours passed

Min 5 0 5 0 5 0

Max 17 17 18 18 20 20

M 13.94 10.25 15.24 12.19 15.54 13.91

SD 3.13 4.69 2.35 4.14 2.83 4.04

with low overall GPA in order for them to do better. To test the effect of the number of term hours on student performance on the three courses and whether lighter loads result in better performance, we ran a t test, and the results are shown in Table 11. For the MA course, which is given in the second year, there was a signicant difference (p <.05) between the means. But, the students with a load of more than 15 hr achieved better results than those with a lighter load. However, in the CA and AMA courses, there were no signicant differences (p >.10) between the means, and so we must reject H 10 . These results, however, contrast with what is expected from the students. We may thus infer that students with more hours are more conscientious than others and work harder, whereas students with fewer hours do not care as much because they think they

can pass a few courses without having to worry too much and subsequently they neglect their studies. Table 12 compares the term GPA means between students with more than 15 hr and those with equal to or fewer than 15 registered hours per week. From the previous mean comparison statistical analysis, in all three terms (4, 6 8), the term GPA means of students taking more than 15 hr were signicantly better than were those of students with fewer hours per week. In Terms 4 and 6, the difference is signicant at the 1% level, but the means differences in Term 8 are only signicant at the 10% level. These results lead us to reject H 11 , thus restricting the students with a low GPA to fewer weekly registered hours, which may not be an encouraging decision and a better alternative should be sought.

TABLE 11 Course Mean Comparison Using a 15-hr Cutoff Point Course MA CA AMA Registered hours > 15 15 > 15 15 > 15 15 n 69 150 61 126 41 49 M 2.370 1.840 2.120 1.950 2.200 2.210 SD 1.100 0.949 0.937 0.851 0.765 0.866 t 3.680 1.228 0.110 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .221 .913

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A. A. AL-TWAIJRY TABLE 12 Term GPA Mean Comparison Using a 15-hr Cutoff Point

Variable Term 4 GPA Term 6 GPA Term 8 GPA

Registered hours > 15 15 > 15 15 > 15 15

n 69 150 61 126 41 49

M 2.637 2.215 2.793 2.294 2.812 2.557

SD 0.799 0.667 0.528 0.682 0.597 0.653

t 4.079 5.031 1.93

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .057

FURTHER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION In this section more ndings are presented and discussed. The relationship between management accounting courses and the other undergraduate courses reects the level of consistency between them. The extent of relationship between the students performance in each of the three management accounting courses and his general (term and all) performance are measured by the Spearman test, the results of which are shown in Table 13. Spearmans results conrm the strong, signicant correlations between student performance in the courses (MA, CA, and AMA) and student performance in the other courses (term GPA). Also, there are signicant (but weaker) correlations between the performance in these individual courses and the students general performance at a university level (overall GPA). Table 14 shows the correlation results between four semesters. Term 3 was included because it contains FA, and the others are Terms 4, 6, and 8. The strongest relationships were found between student performance in Term 6 and in Term 8 (Pearson correlation = . 53). There were also strong relationships between the performance in Terms 3 and 4 (Pearson correlation = .47) and between performance in Terms 3 and 8 (Person correlation = .46). However, the correlation between Terms 4 and 6 was weaker (Pearson correlation = .37). The weakest relationship was between Terms 3 and 6. All these correlations are signicant at the 1% level.
TABLE 13 Correlation (Spearmans Rho) Between Course Performance (MA, CA, and AMA)and General Performance (Term and Overall GPA) Course MA Variable Correlation coefcient Sig. (2-tailed) n Correlation coefcient Sig. (2-tailed) n Correlation coefcient Sig. (2-tailed) n Term GPA .694 .000 219 .605 .000 187 .637 .000 90 Overall GPA .554 .000 219 .357 .000 187 .464 .000 90

CA

AMA

Two of three management accounting courses (MA and CA) are required to be taken nonaccounting students. By comparing the performance of accounting students to nonaccounting students in these courses, we found that the mean performance (grade) of accounting students in the MA course (2.34) was signicantly (p = .000) better than that of the nonaccounting students (1.77). Also the accounting student performance in the CA course (2.16) was signicantly (p <.05) higher than the nonaccounting performance (1.87). It should be noticed, however, that until Term 4, both accounting and nonaccounting students take the same accounting courses, and so the difference in means should not be attributed to the fact that accounting students have had more accounting courses and experience. The proper explanation of this is that those students with a better understanding of (and performance in) accounting elementary courses are more likely to major in accounting. By comparing the performance between accounting and nonaccounting students in all term courses, we found that accounting students did signicantly (p = .000) better in the other (nonaccounting) courses as well (2.56) compared to nonaccounting students (2.20) in Term 4. However, in Term 6, although accounting student mean performance (2.44) was higher than for nonaccounting students (2.21), the difference was not signicant (p = .66). If we went further and examined the differences between accounting and nonaccounting students in all courses (overall GPA) from the beginning, we would nd that accounting students would outperform nonaccounting students. The means of accounting students overall GPA were signicantly (p = .000) higher than the means of other students overall GPA. This probably means that accounting students are, in general, better, in terms of ability. Also it can be inferred from these results that students of accounting are competent in courses unrelated to accounting, whereas the competence of nonaccounting students in accounting courses is pathetic. Many management and business schools offer summer terms to help students complete their degrees faster. But the question that should be raised is whether signicant differences exist in the performance in summer terms as compared to normal terms. The studys sample statistical results show no signicant difference in the performance in the MA course between normal terms and summer terms (p = .63). However, using the 10% level of signicance, the mean of normal terms GPA (2.38) is higher than it is in the summer

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PERFORMANCE IN MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING COURSES TABLE 14 Correlations Between Four Semesters: Term 2 (with FA) and Terms 4, 6, and 8 Semester Term 3 GPA Correlation Pearson correlation Sig. (2-tailed) n Pearson correlation Sig. (2-tailed) n Pearson correlation Sig. (2-tailed) n Term 4 GPA .47 .000 204 Term 6 GPA .24 .002 174 .37 .000 187 Term 8 GPA .46 .000 83 .41 .000 90 .53 .000 90

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Term 4 GPA

Term 6 GPA

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terms (2.11). In the CA course, there were no signicant (p >.30) differences, either in the course performance or in the term GPA. Nevertheless, a signicant difference exists when examining the results for the AMA course. Students who studied AMA in normal terms performed better (2.27) than those who had taken the course in summer term (1.20). In fact, 4 out of 5 (80%) students who studied AMA in the summer term failed in the course. The general performance in all term courses (Term GPA) was signicantly (p = .086) higher in the normal terms. One probable reason of the weak performance in the summer term is the level of absence, and this, as reported by Paisey and Paisey (2004), has a negative inuence on academic performance. From these results, we conclude that it would be better not to offer AMA in the summer term. Otherwise, the absenteeism problem must be resolved. The case is, however, more exible in the MA and CA courses. In other words, there must be a careful selection of the courses that can be offered during summer semester, course with which the students can cope.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Many problems are associated with weak student performance at the university level. To eliminate such problems, a sufcient amount of research must be undertaken to uncover ways to enhance student academic performance. However, in the present study, we have attempted to identify factors which may affect accounting student performance in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the management accounting courses as well as more generally. Student performance in management accounting courses was very weak. The failing percentage goes up to 50%, and the great majority of students (up to 80%) who passed the course(s), got low marks (D to C). In terms of general performance (term and overall GPA), over 60% of the sampled students had a GPA lower than 2.50 in Term 4. Although this percentage has improved when going to the higher level (Terms 6 and 8), it is still high (4550%). There was evidence of a signicant effect of preuniversity academic ability on the MA course and on overall performance. The preuniversity accounting background was only

found to have signicant impact on the AMA course, whereas the preuniversity mathematics ability was found to signicantly affect student performance in the MA course. However, no effects related to the type of high school were detected on the student undergraduate performance. Student performance in the Financial Accounting course did significantly correlate to the performance in the subsequent MA and AMA courses, but its correlation to the CA was weak. There is also evidence of a signicant relationship between the student performance in the MA course and performance in both CM and AMA, but the correlation between CA and AMA was weaker. On the other hand, it was evidenced that students with a better performance in the MA, CA, and AMA also performed signicantly better in the other term courses and in the university courses more generally. Moreover, the analysis of the research shows that student performances in Terms 3, 4, 6, and 8 are signicantly correlated, emphasizing that the strongest correlation coefcient is between Terms 6 and 8 whereas the weakest coefcient exists between Terms 3 and 6. The number of weekly registered hours was expected to have a negative impact on the student performance, but, in fact, it did not. The results of the MA course and Term 4 GPA were amazing because a signicant positive relation existed between performance and the number of registered hours. On the other hand, it was evident that students who entered the university in the year 2000 or later performed signicantly better in the MA course and overall. The comparison between accounting and nonaccounting student performance proved that accounting students had outperformed nonaccounting students even in the nonaccounting courses. Moreover, the performance comparison between normal terms and summer terms conrmed that, in general, students perform better in normal terms. Based on these ndings, we suggest that high school student selection criteria should concentrate more on high school performance, and more attention should be placed on the undergraduate new students and introductory courses. Relaxing the restriction on the number of weekly hours for which students with lower GPA can register might enhance term performance. The accounting curriculum and course

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A. A. AL-TWAIJRY Gracia L., & Jenkins, E. (2002). An exploration of student failure on an undergraduate accounting programme of study. Accounting Education, 11, 93107. Henebry, K. (1997). The impact of class schedule on student performance in a nancial management course. Journal of Education for Business, 73, 114120. Jackling, B. (2005). Perceptions of the learning context and learning approaches: Implications for quality learning outcomes in accounting. Accounting Education, 14, 271291. Jackling, B., & Anderson, A. (1998). Study mode, general ability and performance in accounting: a research note. Accounting Education, 7, 6573. Jackling, B., Russell, G., & Anderson, A. (1994, July). Student background and performance in management accounting. Paper presented at Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference. Wollongong, New Zealand. Keef, S. P. (1992). The effect of prior accounting education: Some evidence from New Zealand. Accounting Education, 1, 6368. Kramer, B., Johnson, C., Crain, G., & Miller, S. (2005). The practitionerprofessor link. Journal of Accountancy, 199, 7780. Lane, A., & Porch, M. (2002). The impact of background factors on the performance of nonspecialist undergraduate students on accounting modulesA longitudinal study: A research note. Accounting Education, 11, 109118. Lee, D. S. (1999). Strength of high school accounting qualication and student performance in performance in university-level introductory accounting courses in Hong Kong. Journal of Education and Business, 74, 301306. Marcal, L., & Roberts, W. W. (2000). Computer literacy requirements and student performance in business communications. Journal of Education for Business, 75, 253257. Mustafa, S., & Chiang, D. (2006). Dimensions of quality in higher education: How academic performance affects university students teacher evaluations. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 8, 294303. Naser, K., & Peel, M. (1998). An exploratory study of the impact of intervening variables on student performance in a Principles of Accounting course. Accounting Education, 7, 209223. Nguyen, N., Allen, L., & Fraccastoro, K. (2005). Personality predicts academic performance: Exploring the moderating role of gender. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, 27, 105116. Paisey C., & Paisey, N. (2004). Student attendance in an accounting modulereasons for non-attendance and the effect on academic performance at a Scottish University. Accounting Education, 13, 3953. Rohde, F. H., & Kavanagh, M. (1996a). Performance in rst year university accounting: quantifying the advantage of secondary school accounting. Accounting and Finance, 36, 275285. Rohde, F. H., & Kavanagh, M. (1996b). Academic determinants of performance in rst year management accounting. Accounting Research Journal, 9, 6369. Shotweel, T. A. (1999). Comparative analysis of business and non-business student performance in nancial accounting: Passing rates, interest and motivation in accounting, and attitudes toward reading and mathematics. College Student Journal, 33, 113. Von Allmen, P. (1996). The effect of quantitative prerequisites on performance in intermediate microeconomics. Journal of Education for Business, 72, 1822.

prerequisite in particular and undergraduate accounting program in general need more meditation. There is a strong need for qualitative and quantitative research to determine the major problems encountered by accounting students, problems impeding their better academic achievement in general and in management accounting courses in particular. Future researchers should investigate the possible effect of other variables on academic performance. For example, the effects of teaching styles, course content, evaluation and examination structure, scheduling system, the absenteeism problem, and student capability are factors that should be investigated.

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