Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
An Analysis of Students’ Perception about Accounting and Financial
Reporting Standards
Sevgi Aydin
Keywords: Accounting education, students‟ perception, accounting standards.
1. Introduction
Concepts such as convergence and harmonisation, to name a few, are gaining great popularity
among academic research papers presented at the conferences, conventions and symposiums.
Despite the obvious benefits of a thorough knowledge of accounting and reporting standards on the
general understanding and application of the various accounting issues, there is no research to-date
on whether, how frequently and for what purpose the students refer to accounting and financial
reporting standards. Therefore, in an attempt to fill this gap in the literature, the aim of this study to
explore the level of interest of students in the Accounting Standards, as well as to find out the factors
affecting it.
2. Literature Review
It has been suggested that, in an accounting system under the influence of globalisation and
international standardisation, it becomes easier to understand and interpret accounting transactions
involved in the recording and classification of certain items (Gücenme, 2000). Additionally, through
the adoption of international accounting standards, the accounting profession is expected to have a
global edge and speak a common language (Gücenme, 2003). In order for accounting to produce
reliable, accurate and comparable information for the public use, it is crucial to abide by a certain set
of standards related with the preparation and the presentation of financial statements (Sayar, 2002).
Therefore, the adoption and precise application of accounting and financial reporting standards are
important from both the firms‟ (Türker, 2006) and the countries‟ economic point of view (Ataman
Akgül and Akay, 2003). Furthermore, for the production of high calibre accounting information it is a
precondition to use a chart of accounts and reporting system that conforms to the foundations of
universal accounting theory (Koç Yalkın, 2002).
__________________________________________________________________________
Sevgi AYDIN, Ph.D is an Assistant Professor at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey. E-mail: sevgi.aydin@khas.edu.tr
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
It is generally assumed that higher education is meant to equip the person with the necessary
knowledge, skills and tools which will be of great importance for career and personal advancement.
With the rapid technological progression making it possible to acquire information in a low-cost, fast
and easy way, the business world is currently undergoing a major transformation. Globalisation, online information flows and e-trade have not only put businesses under pressure to re-think and redesign their management tools, but also made an impact on the accounting profession and
accounting education (Mohamed and Lashine, 2003). Therefore the accounting curriculum, especially
in Business Schools and Faculties of Economics and Administrative Sciences, needs to incorporate
contemporary and innovative teaching methods to catch up with the new rules of the game (Albrecht
and Sack, 2000).
Contemporary learning techniques are to help students attain better academic performance.
As a one of the contemporary learning technique, cooperative learning, also promotes the team spirit
in the classroom and leads students to not only concentrate on their own personal success but also
on the success of the group (Slavin, 1990). Empirical studies in the literature provide evidence in
support of the view that cooperative learning techniques have a positive impact on students‟ learning
and performance (Paisey and Paisey, 2005). Professional accounting bodies have indeed been
recommending the use of cooperative learning techniques for accounting education for many years
(AECC, 1990; AICPA, 1988).
Additionally, regular and direct feedback during the cooperative learning process is shown to
be much more effective and to have a more positive impact on learning than irregular and indirect
feedback (Rosenshire and Stevens, 1986; Kulik and Kulik, 1989). It is also a relatively low cost
method and does not require any additional costs than those already required by conventional
learning methods (Büyükkaragöz and Çivi, 1999). However, during the application of cooperative
learning methods, is crucial to make sure that the students involved understand the value of working
in groups, possess the necessary information for successful group-work, and make a conscious effort
(Demirel, 2005).
Despite all these obvious advantages, the adoption of cooperative learning techniques in
accounting education is still not very wide spread. In Turkish Universities it is extremely rare to see
special tutorials, outside the formal lecture hours, in which students can discuss certain issues in
small groups, receive feedback on the course material covered and to simply interact with each other
in a way to promote each others‟ understanding of the course.
3. Research Methodology
3.1. Research Design
A field study has been used. Group-style questionnaires were applied which based on the
survey used by Paisley and Paisley (2005), translated into Turkish and modified to reflect the
accounting environment in Turkey, the questionnaire comprised questions on exposure to accounting
and financial reporting standards, students‟ academic background and personal factors. Response
rate is about 90%, which makes 212 fully completed questionnaires.
3.2
Study Sample
The study sample consist of all undergraduate students who have passed General Accounting
I and II courses at a Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. Students were asked
whether they have examined the Turkish and international accounting and financial reporting
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
standards, how frequently and for what purpose they have examined these standards, and how
useful they thought the standards were in their understanding of the various topics during the
accounting courses they took. Additionally collected information on their respective departments,
academic year, sex, cumulative grade point average (CGPA), grades attained on the General
Accounting I and II courses, whether they plan on working in the field of accounting in the future, and
whether their parents are working in a field related with accounting.
3.3. Data Analysis
First, univariate logistic regressions applied on each of the above variables included in the
analysis with the dependent variable equal to 1 if the student has examined at least one standard and
0 otherwise. Using the statistically significant variables attained in this analysis, then construct a
multivariate logistic regression model.
As can be seen in Table 1, out of the 212 students in the analysis, 33% (70) is from business
management, 22% (47) is from economics, and 45% (95) is from public finance departments. The
categories used for the CGPA and accounting course grades are based on the new examination
regulations, which uses the relative evaluation method (the normal curve), that went into effect on
September 2006 in the University. 31 % of the students have a CGPA below 1.79, which is accepted
as being on probation, meaning that the student is not allowed to take on new courses in the next
semester. 31% of the students who took General Accounting I (GA-I) and 37% of the students who
took General Accounting II (GA-II), attained a grade below 70 (CC in the letter grading system), which
corresponds to a „conditional pass‟ in the new system (the condition is to keep the CGPA greater than
2.0). 51% of the respondents said they would consider a career in accounting in the future, and only
9% had parents working in an accounting related job.
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
Table 1. General Attributes of the Respondents
Variables
Department
Academic Year
Sex
CGPA
GA-I Grade
GA-II Grade
Busi. Man.
Economics
Public Fin.
2
3
4
Leap year
Female
Male
0-1.79
1.80-1.99
2.00-2.49
2.5 and
over
50-69
70-74
75-79
80 and over
50-69
70-74
75-79
80 and over
Yes
Would consider a
career in accounting
No
in the future
Parents working in Yes
an accounting
No
related job
Frequency
(%)
33
22
45
14
37
42
7
33
67
31
12
29
28
31
36
10
23
37
28
11
24
51
49
9
91
As depicted in Table 2, 88% of the students have examined the Turkish Accounting Standards
(TAS), and 17% have examined the Turkish Financial Reporting Standards (TFRS). These
percentages fall sharply when it brings in the international dimension. Only 11% have examined the
International Accounting Standards (IAS) and 14% have examined the International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS). In terms of frequency, 22% regarded their usage of TAS as „very
limited‟ and 12 % as „moderate‟. However, for the remaining standards usage rate falls to 4% for IAS
and to 3% for TFRS and IFRS.
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
Table 2. Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards -Usage Rates
Have you examined
the following
standards?
Yes
No
(%)
(%)
TAS
TFRS
IAS
IFRS
88
17
11
14
12
83
89
86
How frequently have you examined the
following standards?
Never Very
(%) limited
(%)
12
22
83
12
89
7
86
10
Moderate
(%)
12
3
4
3
Extensi
ve
(%)
4
1
0
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Table 3. Contribution of Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards in Students‟ Comprehension
of Topics Covered in the General Accounting Courses
How would you rate the helpfulness of the standards to
your understanding of the topics covered in GA-I and
GA-II
Very
Moderate Extensive
None
limited
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
TAS
54
18
20
7
TFRS
74
13
10
3
IAS
78
11
8
2
IFRS
78
13
8
1
Also 54% of the students TAS have not at all been helpful in their understanding of the topics
covered in the general accounting courses, as can be seen in Table 3. The respective figures for the
rest of the standards are, 74% for TFRS, and 78% for IAS and IFRS. Additionally, 18% of the
students rated the helpfulness of TAS as „very limited‟, 20% rated its helpfulness as „moderate‟, while
7% rated it as „extensive‟. The corresponding fıgures for the other standards are much lower.
Table 4. Purposes of usage of Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards
Used the
Standards for
the following
purposes
Yes
No
(%)
(%)
Coursework
Preparation
Preparation for
lectures
Thesis Preparation
Supplement Lecture
Notes
How much use did you make of the
standards for the following purposes?
Never Very
(%) limited
(%)
50
19
50
50
49
51
51
9
39
91
61
91
61
Moderate Extensive
(%)
(%)
22
9
26
15
8
4
20
3
9
2
10
As shown in Table 4, 50% of the students used the standards for coursework preparation, 49%
for preparation for lectures, 9% for thesis (final dissertation) preparation and 39% for supplementing
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
lecture notes. For coursework preparation, 19% of the students regarded their use of the standards
as „very limited‟, 22% as „moderate‟ and 9% as „extensive‟ use. The rates for thesis preparation are
the lowest among the all the categories. Out of the 9% of students who have used the standards for
thesis preparation, 4% made „very limited‟, 3% made „moderate‟ and 2% made „extensive‟ use of
them.
In Table 5 presented the Pearson correlation coefficients between the CGPA, the GA-I grade
and the GA-II grade attained. Seen that these 3 measures are positively and statistically significantly
(at the 1% level) correlated with one another. The highest correlation exists between the GA-I and
GA-II grades, with a coefficient of 0.41.
Table 5. Pearson Correlation Coefficients
CGPA
CGPA
GA-I Grade GA-II Grade
0.28***
0.35***
GA-I
0.41***
Grade
(*** Significance (2-tailed) at the 0.01 level.
Then univariate logistic regressions performed on each of the variables included in the
analysis with the dependent variable equal to 1 if the student has examined at least one standard and
0 otherwise. In Table 6, presented the results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis using the
significant variables attained in the univariate analysis. The aim is to find out, to what extent the
students‟ perception towards the standards can be explained by the variables have included in the
analysis.
Out of the 8 independent variables have used, only being in the business management
department and being female are statistically significantly (at the 5% and 1% levels, respectively) and
positively related with perception in the standards, when compared to being in the other 2
departments in the faculty and being male. On the other hand, having a CGPA in the 2.00-2.49 band
is statistically significantly (at the 1 % level) and negatively related with perception in the standards,
when compared to having a CGPA higher than 2.49.
The regression model itself is significant at the 1% level (P-value<0.001) and can explain 28%
of the variation in the students‟ perception in the accounting and financial reporting standards.
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
Table 6. Logistic Regression Analysis
Independent Variables
Department
Busi. Man.
Economics
Academic Year
2
3
4
Sex
Female
CGPA
0-1.79
1.80-1.99
2.00-2.49
Consider a career in
accounting in the
Yes
future
Parents working in
an accounting
Yes
related job
Constant
Model
Nagelkerke R2
Chi-square
B
Sig.(P)
0.980
0.747
-1.535
-1.347
-0.244
1.093
-0.721
-0.331
-1.178
0.017
0.104
0.084
0.058
0.723
0.002
0.103
0.529
0.005
0.454
0.205
1.022
0.083
0.120
0.883
0.284
50.782
0.000
4. Results
The fact that 51% of the students said they would consider a career in accounting in the future,
shows that the accounting education they receive in university is actually very important for their
career advancement. Additionally, it also shows that the research question were asking is very
relevant and that it is crucial to search for novel methods and review existing ones to continuously
improve the system of accounting education.
31% of the students have a CGPA below 1.79, which is accepted as being on probation,
meaning that the student is not allowed to take on new courses in the next semester. Furthermore,
when the students‟ CGPA falls below 2.0, their „conditional pass‟ grades are converted to „fail‟. 43% of
the students have surveyed are in this position. Although this may seem as poor performance in
general, it can actually be considered quite normal, taking into account the fact that in the previous
system in effect it was sufficient to attain a grade of 60 and over to pass a course. The CGPAs of
students in their 3rd year and over were adversely affected by this change of system.
Despite the fact that the students‟ perception in TAS was higher than the other standards,
majority of those who had examined the standards rated their usage as „very limited‟. To make the
picture look even gloomier, majority of the students thought that the standards were not helpful at all
in their understanding of the various topics covered in the general accounting courses. There could
be various explanations behind these findings.
First and foremost, the accounting curriculum, with specific reference to the general accounting
courses, may not be in a position to fully embrace and from links between the theory and the
standards of accounting and financial reporting. It can be argued whether it is acceptable to talk
about the practice side of many of the issues in accounting without touching upon the national and
international standards in effect, at an introductory or moderate level accounting course.
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
Secondly, especially with respect to the international standards, lack of proficiency in English
could be driving these results since the medium of education is Turkish. Although it is now
compulsory for students to participate in the foreign language preparatory program, prior to the
commencement of their studies in their respective departments, if they fail the test of their chosen
language, students in their 3rd year and over were not affected by this prerequisite. Therefore, their
command of a foreign language might be less proficient than the newer entrants.
Lastly and most importantly, it might simply be an awareness issue, in the sense that, the
students may not be aware of what is available to them and the potential benefits of putting the time
and effort into accessing these standards.
Furthermore, appallingly low rates of usage of the standards for the purposes of thesis
preparation. This finding is quite surprising considering the fact that, in all 3 departments included in
the study, it is compulsory for students to prepare a thesis (final dissertation) in their final year.
Additionally, these results become even more surprising when taken into account the fact that 51% of
the students said they would consider a career in accounting. Therefore it would expected that
students to choose thesis topics which would help them in the advancement of their career in the
future. Clearly this was not the case with respondents.
One possible explanation could be that the students‟ area of perception was not in the domain
of accounting. However, even though the thesis topic may not be directly related to accounting, it
might somehow have a component that requires forming links with accounting concepts and referring
to the standards. Another explanation could be that there are other factors in play when choosing a
thesis topic, such as choosing a lecturer who is known to have a generous grading policy or a lecturer
with stronger communication with and a generally more supportive attitude towards students, to name
a few. It could also be due to the departmental policy as to which topics will be available for
preparing a thesis in that particular academic year.
Another interesting finding of this study was the positive and statistically significant correlation
found between CGPA, the GA-I and the GA-II grades attained. The highest correlation between the
GA-I and GA-II grades have found which does make sense because these two courses possess
continuity. So, it‟s expected a student who has attained a high grade in one to also attain a high grade
in the other. However, with the normal curve system in effect, it is possible for students to pass a
course with a D+, on the condition that their CGPA is higher than 2.0. Therefore, a high grade in the
accounting courses does not have to warrant a higher CGPA unless the student has a specific affinity
towards accounting. In other words, a student who has a no interest what so ever in accounting for
example, might have a conditional pass from accounting courses, but still get a high CGPA with high
performance in other management courses.
5. Discussion and Conclusion
The aim of the study was firstly to describe the students‟ perception towards accounting and
financial reporting standards as well as their rates of access of these standards. Secondly, our aim
was to uncover the explanatory factors behind students‟ perceptions. The scale and scope of
perception was generally extremely low and, although preparation of coursework and preparation for
lectures were cited as the most frequent source of perception, majority of the respondents felt that the
standards were unhelpful in their understanding of the topics covered in the accounting courses they
took. In terms of the factors driving these results, overall, the students‟ department, sex and CGPA
has the greatest significant impact on the expressed perception in the standards.
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
4 - 5 August 2014, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-56-6
The picture elsewhere in the world is not too far from ours, in the sense that, although the
magnitude of the problem may differ across countries, universities and educational bodies around the
world are looking into ways that will help build a bridge beten practice and research in accounting
education (AACSB, 2004). Different types of action research with regard to cooperative learning are
proposed in the literature as significant players in this process (Paisey and Paisey, 2005).
It is clear that the adoption of cooperative learning methods could be beneficial in improving
the low rates of student perception especially in IAS, TFRS, and IFRS. There is so much that needs
to be explored and explained in this area and the results of this study will make a contribution and
also provide the motivation for further research.
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Proceedings of 9th Annual London Business Research Conference
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