The Effect of Previous Accounting Study on Student Performance in the First College-Level Financial Accounting Course.

Abstract

Two groups of students enrolled in the introductory financial accounting course were given the same lectures, assignments, and tests. One group of students had studied accounting in high school or technical school. The other group of students had never studied accounting before this course. Examination results of these two groups were come pared using the Mann-Whitney test. The basic hypothesis was that there is no difference in test scores between students who have studied accounting before taking their first college accounting course, and those students who have not. Results of the study indicate that the students who have studied accounting previously perform better than the other group early in the course, but worse than the other group when the material begins to get more difficult. The results suggest that the students who have studied accounting previously become under-achievers later In the course. At the end of the course there Is no significant difference between the groups as to total examination points, but to say that there is no difference between the course performance of the two groups would be misleading.