Predictors of Tertiary Accounting Students' Academic Performance: A comparison of Year 12‐to‐university students with TAFE‐to‐university students

Abstract

Awareness of factors associated with academic performance in tertiary accounting education courses is useful for selection officers, educators, administrators and students. Yet research shows findings relating to this topic area to be inconclusive. Also, investigations are typically cross‐sectional rather than longitudinal, and as such can have limited application. Furthermore, issues concerning the effect on academic performance of transferring between institutions appear not to have been investigated in relation to TAFE‐to‐university accounting students. This investigation evaluates the effects of a range of demographic, behavioural and educational variables on the Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 academic performance of Year 12‐to‐university, and TAFE‐to‐university accounting students at one Australian university. Findings reveal that the best predictor of academic performance in any one year is the performance in the same discipline in the previous year. Notably, successful Year 12 Accounting completion had an enduring positive effect for all university accounting grades. Type of secondary school attended, previous year's academic grades, and level of interest in accounting as a discipline and profession also proved to be significant influences on academic performance. In addition, findings suggest that transfer shock is apparent for TAFE‐to‐university transferees. Recommendations include consideration to be given to applicants' prior performance in that discipline when universities make offers, closer liaison between university and TAFE accounting departments when accepting TAFE‐transfer students, and dedicated university‐orientation programs for transfer students. Possibilities for further research are also discussed.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Mr Bruce Mackenzie, Mr Frank Virik and Mr Dennis Hobbs of Holmesglen Institute of TAFE. The authors also appreciate the helpful comments of two anonymous referees on an earlier version of this paper.