FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING COMPETENCIES REQUIRED BY LECTURERS FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING IN CONSULTANCY UNITS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN TARABA STATE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i
APPROVAL PAGE ii
CERTIFICATION iii
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
LIST OF TABLES ix
ABSTRACT xi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 6
Purpose of the Study 7
Significance of the Study 8
Research Questions 10
Hypotheses 10
Scope of the Study 11
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Conceptual Framework 13
Consultancy units of tertiary institutions 14
Financial Accounting 15
Competency 17
Ledger competencies 21
Financial accounts competencies 25
Bank reconciliation competencies 28
Manufacturing account competencies 34
ICT-Based accounting competencies 35
Theoretical Framework 37
Conscious Competence Theory of Learning 37
Theory of performance 38
Related Empirical Studies 39
Summary of Literature Reviewed 45
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Design of the Study 47
Area of the Study 47
Population of the study 48
Sample and Sampling Technique 48
Instrument for Data Collection 48
Validation of the Instrument 49
Reliability of the Instrument 49
Method of Data Collection 49
Method of data Analysis 50
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Research Question 51
Research Question 2 53
Research Question 3 55
Research Question 4 57
Research Question 5 58
Hypothesis 1 59
Hypothesis 2 61
Hypotheses 3 62
Hypothesis 4 63
Hypothesis 5 64
Major Findings 65
Findings of the Study 65
Findings on Null Hypotheses 66
Discussion of finding 66
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Re-Statement of the Problem 69
Summary of Procedure Used 70
Summary of Findings 70
Research Questions 70
Implications of the Study 76
Conclusions 77
Recommendations 77
Limitations of the Study 77
Suggestions for Further Studies 78
REFERENCES 79
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Population Distribution of Lecturers in Consultancy units
(Accounting Department) of Tertiary Institutions In Taraba State 85
Appendix B: Request for Validation of Research Instrument 86
Appendix C: Questionnaire 87
Appendix E: Reliability of Instrument 92
LIST OF TABLES
- Mean and Standard deviation ratings of the respondents on the level of Ledger
account competencies required by financial accounting Lecturers for effective
teaching in consultancy units in tertiary institutions in Taraba state. 52
- Mean and Standard deviations of respondents on the level of final account
competencies required by financial accounting Lecturers for effective
teaching in consultancy unit in tertiary institutions in Taraba state. 54
- Mean and Standard deviation of the respondents on the bank reconciliation
competencies required by financial accounting Lecturer for effective
teaching in consultancy units in tertiary institutions in Taraba state. 56
- Mean and Standard deviation ratings of the manufacturing accounts
competencies required by financial accounting Lecturer for effective
teaching in consultancy units in tertiary institution Taraba state. 57
- Mean and Standard deviation ratings of level of ICT-based accounting
competencies required for financial accounting Lecturer for effective
teaching in consultancy units in tertiary institutions in Taraba state. 58
- t-test statistics of the respondents on the ledger competencies required for
effective teaching of students in consultancy units in tertiary institutions in
Taraba state. 60
- t-test statistics of the male and female lecturers on final account competencies 62
- t-test Analysis of mean ratings of junior and senior lecturers on the bank
reconciliation competencies required for effective teaching in the consultancy
units in tertiary institution. 62
- ANOVA analysis of mean ratings of lecturers in consultancy units of tertiary
institutions on the manufacturing account competencies required for effective
teaching in consultancy unit. 63
- ANOVA Analysis mean responses of lecturers in college of educations,
polytechnics and universities on the ICT- based accounting competencies
required for effective teaching in consultancy units in tertiary institutions. 64
ABSTRACT
The major purpose of the study was to determine the financial accounting competencies required by lecturers for effective teaching in consultancy units of tertiary institutions in Taraba state. Five research questions and five null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Thirty two financial accounting lecturers in consultancy units of tertiary institutions in Taraba State formed the population of the study. A questionnaire on financial accounting competencies required by financial established accounting lecturers was used for the study. The reliability of the instrument was using Cronbach Alpha formula with overall reliability index of .94 Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions, t-test and ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses. At o.o5 level of significance while Findings revealed that the financial accounting competencies required by lecturers are in the area of ledger account competencies final accounts competencies bank reconciliation competencies manufacturing account competencies and ICT-based accounting competencies. Finally it was recommended among others that in-service training should be provided to financial accounting lecturers so as to enable them acquire the requisite competencies for practical financial accounting transactions.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Accounting is a field of study offered as both academic and professional programme in most tertiary institutions in Nigeria. As a result of the increasing population of students applying for part-time programme in accounting, the tertiary institutions in Taraba State now have separate unit which is popularly known as ‘Consultancy Unit’ for teaching financial accounting. Accounting, according to Hongreen (2002), is the language of business that is used for recording, measuring, summarizing and reporting economic activities in monetary value for the users of financial information to make decision. Accounting information reveals the financial position of any business to determine whether there is profit or loss in a given period as well as to know the book value of assets, liabilities and owners’ capital. In practice, accounting can be broadly divided into financial accounting and management accounting. However, this study will deal on financial accounting.
Financial accounting is a practice and body of knowledge concerned primarily with methods of recording, classifying, analyzing, reporting and communicating the financial transactions in monetary terms to the internal and external users (James, 2010). It is also the systematic and comprehensive way of measuring, recording, analyzing, interpreting, summarizing and communicating the finance of a business to the appropriate users. Financial accounting provides the external users outside the business organization such as creditors, tax authorities, regulatory bodies, prospective investors, financial analysts, customers and other members of the public with information on the worth of a business entity. Amat (2002) defined financial accounting as the process of recording, classifying, selecting, interpreting, summarizing and reporting financial data of an organization to the users for objective assessment and decision making.
Financial accounting is also concerned with providing both financial and non-financial information that will help decision makers to make good decisions. Okoli (2013) explained that financial accounting as a specialized branch of accounting that helps to keep track of both financial and non-financial information using standardized guidelines. It enables the general public to assess the potentials of the business for investment, understanding the concept of assets and liabilities so that the functions in business cycles can be easily analyzed by the users of accounting information. According to the Australian National Training Authority (2003), there are fundamental financial accounting competencies required for business functions namely ledger competencies, final account competencies, bank reconciliation competencies, manufacturing account competencies, ICT- based accounting competencies among others, which must not be compromised for effective teaching of the basic principles needed in preparing financial accounting information.
Effective teaching is the impartation of knowledge. In the words of Sowande (2002), effective teaching depends on competency acquired by the teacher/staff in carrying out a set of specific tasks. Effective teaching in this study refers to ideas, attitudes and skills into students in order to properly measure, record, analyze, interpret, summarize and communicate the financial transactions of business to the appropriate users. It is conceived that the availability of competent financial accounting lecturers who are abreast of the trends, innovations, strategies and international accepted standards will ultimately improve the effective teaching of financial accounting in the consultancy units in the tertiary institutions of Taraba States. Abubakar and Dantani (2005) noted that a teacher cannot teach that which he does not know and knowledge alone does not make a teacher because it is the teachers’ task to create or influence desirable changes in behavior of students through his\her competencies.
Competency is a generic word that refers to the sum total of skills, knowledge and attitudes manifested in an individual; behavior about a particular task, subject or activity. It is also a quality or state of being functionally adequate in terms of knowledge, skills and capability to perform a particular duty or task (Baffa, 2013). Penney (2014) defined competencies as the knowledge, skills and behavioural attributes necessary for acceptable job performance. Chagbe (2009) defined competency as the knowledge, skills, attitudes and judgments which are required in order to perform successfully at a special proficiency level in a programme. Ekong (2000) explained further that to be competent means that an individual has acquired the knowledge, skills, attitude and judgement which one requires in order to performed a specific given task effectively. To be effective, according to Olaitan, Nwachukwu, Igbo, Onyemachi and Ekong (1999), is an indication of the impact of a group of activities performed on the achievement of intended learning outcomes (the quality of education or professional training students acquired). This implies that there is a strong relationship between effective teaching in consultancy units and the financial accounting competencies of lecturers working in the units. Gbadamosi (2006) explained that effective teaching occurs when the measure of output or outcome of a specific activities meet the set goal/objectives based on quality of human and material resources, and way or manner such activities are performed in line with the laid down procedures and standards. In this study, competencies are the fundamental knowledge, skills and ideas that are useful and required for effective teaching of financial accounting in the consultancy units.