ASSESSMENT OF ACCOUNTING COMPETENCIES POSSESSED BY BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES FOR HANDLING ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHALLENGES IN ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The increasing cases of inability of business education graduates to adequately apply accounting competencies in their places of employment and in managing businesses in Abia State informed the need for this study, to assess the accounting competencies possessed by business education graduates for handling entrepreneurship challenges. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the extent business education graduates possess competencies in management and cost accounting. Two research questions guided the study while two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised 105 private employers of business education graduates. A 36-item questionnaire tagged Accounting Competencies for Handling Entrepreneurship Challenges (ACHEC) was used for data collection. The questionnaire has 5-point rating scale. Internal consistency of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha and it yielded an alpha value of 0.82 for all the clusters. Two experts in Business education and one expert in Educational Measurement and Evaluation validated the instrument. Data collected for the study in respect of the research questions were analysed using mean and standard deviation while z-test was used to test the null hypotheses. Findings from the study revealed that business education graduates possessed management and cost accounting competencies to a moderate extent. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Business educators should adopt learner-centered method of teaching to engage the students more in problemsolving activities in management and cost accounting courses to enable them acquire the required competencies to a high extent and be able to apply them in their places of work and business. Again, Business education students should be encouraged to register for professional programme in accounting courses to help them improve on their accounting skills. Also, Business education students while in school should be encouraged to