Investigation of Excellent Performance for Basic Accounting Course: The Evidence of Non-Accounting Students

Abstract

Nowadays, graduates should focus more on entrepreneurship rather than being employed due to the rise of unemployment rate in Malaysia. Accounting literacy is a key role in the success of being an entrepreneur. However, non-accounting students believed that accounting subject as irrelevant to their discipline and difficult to grasp due to its technical and complex process. This perception has consequently led to a high failure rate of accounting subject among non-accounting students. On the other hand, most of the nonaccounting students in Universiti Teknologi MARA Jasin Campus had performed very well in the accounting subject. The characteristics of students such as their past experiences and their approaches to learning may influence the academic performance in the basic accounting course. Hence, this study examines the factors that contribute to the student's excellence performance for the basic accounting course. 524 students from two faculties responded to the questionnaire distributed. Findings of this study revealed that, those students with prior accounting knowledge performed better and have a high success rate in the basic accounting course. Besides, basic understanding in the financial statements components significantly affect the performance of non-accounting students. These results indicate that prior accounting knowledge really helps students to excel in accounting courses which are necessary to prepare them as an entrepreneur after they have graduated.