What are the determinants of student performance on an undergraduate accounting degree?

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics

					Overall Mean		Gender Mean			Ethnicity Mean			Placement Mean
	Number	Mini mum	Maxi mum		Overall (81)		Female (21)	Male (60)		White (59)	BME (22)		Non- placement (33)	Placement (48)
Maths GCSE	81	0	3		1.16		1.05	1.20		1.10	1.32		1.36	1.02
English GCSE	81	1	3		2.23		2.10	2.28		2.15	2.45		2.39	2.13
UCAS points	81	100	440		307.41		318.57	303.5		304.75	314.55		305.45	308.75
A Levels	81	0	3		2.14		2.29	2.08		2.15	2.09		2.06	2.19
Accounting A Level	81	0	1		0.22		0.19	0.23		0.19	0.32		0.21	0.23
Overall	81	46.25	76.25		65.97		67.53	65.43		66.23	65.27		64.78	66.79
Gender	81	0	1		0.74					0.78	0.64		0.82	0.69
Ethnicity	81	0	1		0.27		0.38	0.23					0.36	0.21
Placement	81	0	1		0.59		0.71	0.55		0.64	0.45
L4 average	81	49.33	83.16		61.73		61.87	61.68		60.97	63.78		59.71*	63.12a
L5 average	81	41.5	86.33		59.3		59.94	59.08		58.48	61.5		55.98*	61.59a
L6 average	81	44	80.16		61.08		62.6	60.55		61.08	61.07		57.05**	63.84b

*Difference in means is statistically significant at the 0.05 level

**Difference in means is statistically significant at 0.01 level

Table 2. Correlation

		Maths GCSE	English GCSE	UCAS points	A Levels	Acc’tg A Level	Gender	Ethnicity	Placement	L4 average	L5 average	L6 average
Maths GCSE	Pearson Correlation	1	.380**	.011	−.180	.329**	.081	.117	−.205	−.364**	−.296**	−.361**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.000	.921	.107	.003	.472	.298	.067	.001	.007	.001
English GCSE	Pearson Correlation	.380**	1	−.039	−.171	.159	.117	.190	−.187	−.110	−.135	−.280*
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000		.729	.127	.157	.300	.090	.095	.330	.230	.011
UCAS points	Pearson Correlation	.011	−.039	1	.421**	−.159	−.113	.075	.028	.183	.283*	.254*
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.921	.729		.000	.155	.315	.508	.806	.102	.011	.022
A Levels	Pearson Correlation	−.180	−.171	.421**	1	.108	−.091	−.028	.064	.429**	.418**	.280*
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.107	.127	.000		.337	.421	.804	.572	.000	.000	.011
Accounting A Level	Pearson Correlation	.329**	.159	−.159	.108	1	.045	.141	.020	.166	−.010	−.112
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.003	.157	.155	.337		.689	.209	.858	.140	.927	.320
Gender	Pearson Correlation	.081	.117	−.113	−.091	.045	1	−.145	−.147	−.012	−.037	−.108
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.472	.300	.315	.421	.689		.195	.192	.917	.740	.336
Ethnicity	Pearson Correlation	.117	.190	.075	−.028	.141	−.145	1	−.172	.172	.133	.000
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.298	.090	.508	.804	.209	.195		.126	.124	.237	.997
Placement	Pearson Correlation	−.205	−.187	.028	.064	.020	−.147	−.172	1	.231*	.274*	.401**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.067	.095	.806	.572	.858	.192	.126		.038	.013	.000
L4 average	Pearson Correlation	−.364**	−.110	.183	.429**	.166	−.012	.172	.231*	1	.779**	.594**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.001	.330	.102	.000	.140	.917	.124	.038		.000	.000
L5 average	Pearson Correlation	−.296**	−.135	.283*	.418**	−.010	−.037	.133	.274*	.779**	1	.778**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.007	.230	.011	.000	.927	.740	.237	.013	.000		.000
L6 average	Pearson Correlation	−.361**	−.280*	.254*	.280*	−.112	−.108	.000	.401**	.594**	.778**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.001	.011	.022	.011	.320	.336	.997	.000	.000	.000

Table

Model	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardised Coefficients	t	Sig.	Collinearity Statistics
	B	Std. Error	Beta			Tolerance	VIF
(Constant)	58.739	2.048		28.684	.000
A Levels	2.497	.701	.337	3.561	.001	.935	1.069
Maths GCSE	−3.543	.878	−.402	−4.033	.000	.841	1.189
Accounting A Level	4.076	1.728	.234	2.359	.021	.852	1.173
Ethnicity	3.190	1.511	.196	2.111	.038	.974	1.027

R2 = 0.603; Adjusted R2 = 0.363; F value = 10.847; p-value = 0.000

Table

Model		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardised Coefficients	t	Sig.	Collinearity Statistics
		B	Std. Error	Beta			Tolerance	VIF
1	(Constant)	−7.519	6.101		−1.232	.221
	L4 average	1.082	.098	.779	11.028	.000	1.000	1.000

R2 = 0.606; Adjusted R2 = 0.601; F value = 121.622; p-value = 0.000

Table

Model		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardised Coefficients	t	Sig.	Collinearity Statistics
		B	Std. Error	Beta			Tolerance	VIF
2	(Constant)	23.728	3.364		7.054	.000
	L5 average	.595	.058	.722	10.266	.000	.925	1.081
	Placement	3.444	1.189	.204	2.896	.005	.925	1.081

R2 = 0.643; Adjusted R2 = 0.634; F value = 70.293; p-value = 0.000

Regression models on admission – Level 4 and Level 5 as dependant variableDependent Variable = L5 Average, Independent variables = GCSE Maths, GCSE English, UCAS Points, A Levels (C+), Accounting A Level (C+), Ethnicity and Gender

Model	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardised Coefficients	t	Sig.	Collinearity Statistics
	B	Std. Error	Beta			Tolerance	VIF
(Constant)	54.265	3.035		17.880	.000
A Levels	3.876	1.044	.376	3.713	.000	.967	1.034
Maths GCSE	−2.793	1.240	−.228	−2.252	.027	.967	1.034

R² = 0.474; Adjusted R² = 0.225; F value = 11.303; p-value = 0.000

Dependent Variable = L6 Average, Independent variables = GCSE Maths, GCSE English, UCAS Points, A Levels (C+), Accounting A Level (C+), Ethnicity and Gender

Model	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardised Coefficients	t	Sig.	Collinearity Statistics
	B	Std. Error	Beta			Tolerance	VIF
(Constant)	54.038	4.658		11.602	.000
Maths GCSE	−3.672	1.024	−.364	−3.586	.001	1.000	1.000
UCAS points	.037	.014	.258	2.547	.013	1.000	1.000

R² = 0.444; Adjusted R² = 0.197; F value = 9.574; p-value = 0.000