Accounting Skills Required by Business Education Graduates for Sustainable Entrepreneurship
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the Study
The major purpose of the study was to determine the accounting skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship in Enugu State. Specifically, the study will determine:
- The stocktaking skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship in Enugu State, Nigeria.
- The profit and loss account skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship in Enugu State, Nigeria.
- The bank statement reconciliation skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship in Enugu State, Nigeria.
- The balance sheet skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship in Enugu State, Nigeria.
- The computer based accounting skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship in Enugu State, Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter reviewed the literature related to this study. The literature was reviewed under the following sub-headings:
Conceptual Framework
Business Education
- Business Education Graduates
- Skills
- Accounting
- Accounting Skills
- Accounting Skills required by Business Education Graduates
- Business Education Lecturers
- Entrepreneurship
- Sustainability of Entrepreneurship
- Theoretical Framework
- Katz’s three skill approach theory
- Entrepreneurial skill trait theory
- Winterbothem theory of soft skill.
- Related Empirical Studies
- Summary of Literature Reviewed
Conceptual Framework
Business Education
Business education is a program of instruction which consists of two parts: (1) office education, a vocational education program for office careers through initial refresher, and upgrading education, and (2) general business education, a program to provide students with information and competencies which are needed by all in managing personal business affairs and in using the services of the business. Business education is one of the major areas offered in Vocational Teacher Education. According to a survey conducted at the University of Nigeria in 1979, about 86 percent of young Nigerians enter the labor market without a bachelor’s degree. The situation emphasizes the need for business education.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the procedure used for this study under the following sub-headings: design of the study; area of the study, population for the study; sample and sampling technique; instrument for data collection; validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument; method of data collection, and method of data analysis.
Design of the Study
This study adopted descriptive survey design. Descriptive survey design was considered appropriate as it aimed at obtaining information concerning the current status of phenomena using a questionnaire (Osuala, 2001). Descriptive survey design is regarded suitable for research that was aimed at describing the characteristics of a population of people or situation, with respect to specific variables. Nworgu (2009) affirms that what determines perspective of design that is appropriate is dependent on the purpose or objective of the investigation. The researcher therefore adopted a descriptive survey design, in this study, in the sense that a survey of business education graduates in entrepreneurship in Enugu State under small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and lecturers in business education in the four public tertiary institutions that offer business education in Enugu State enabled the researcher ascertain the respondents opinion on accounting skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship ventures in Enugu State.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
This chapter discusses the results of the study. The results are presented in tabular form in line with the research questions and hypotheses that guided the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Re-statement of the Problem
Every entrepreneurship business in form of micro, small, medium and large scale production need some sort of financial information for effective business operations. Accounting information is required by managers or owners of enterprise for effective business decision making. However, graduates of business education in Nigeria and Enugu State in particular employed in entrepreneurship at various position, seem to be lacking in some knowledge and skills required for keeping accounting records of entrepreneurship.
Ogalanya (2010) conducted a research to ascertain the extent to which employers are satisfied with the accounting job skills exhibited by business education graduates. The result showed that as a result of low job skills exhibited, especially in accounting areas, some employers subject their new employees to several weeks of in-plant retraining session (on-the-job-training) to beef up their job-skills, and hence improve their performance as business education graduates. Business education programmes prepare graduates for a job or employment within a wide range of business careers due to the inherent skills the beneficiaries acquire.
However, lack of accounting employability skills among the graduates may have contributed to a large extent, why business education graduates due not venture into entrepreneurship business after graduation. While those employed in entrepreneurship perform below expectation as was observed by Ogalanya’s study (2000). In fact some of the small and medium scale industries visited by the researcher in Enugu State on his pilot survey, preferred employing OND, HND and B.Sc graduates in accountancy to business education graduates whom they fill lack some basic skills in keeping financial records of enterprise. This may be responsible why business education graduates are considered last in appointment of accounting officers in entrepreneurship.
In fact, business education graduates because of the specialist accounting skills the course offers, were suppose to be the best entrepreneurs who should employ others rather than being in the labour market seeking for job. Based on the foregoing, there is the need to determine the areas of lack in accounting skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship inEnugu State.
Summary of Procedure Used
The study titled accounting skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship in Enugu State, Nigeria was guided by five research questions and hypotheses. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Four hundred and fifty four (454) business education lecturers and graduates in entrepreneurship businesses in Enugu state under Small and Medium Scale enterprises (SMEs) form the population of the study. While two hundred and forty
six (246) business education lecturers and graduates in entrepreneurship businesses in Enugu state under Small and Medium Scale enterprises (SMEs) form the sample, made up of 224 graduates and 22 lecturers. A questionnaire on accounting skills required of business education graduates was used for the study. The reliability of the instrument was gotten using Cronbach Alpha formula with overall reliability index of 0.94 gotten. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions and t-test used to test the hypotheses.
Conclusions
Based on the findings made, the following conclusions were drawn: Findings of previous studies were consistent with findings of the present study, which means that stocktaking, profit and loss, bank statement reconciliations, balance sheet and computer skills are some of skills required by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship ventures. Hence, for the graduates to become good entrepreneurs in Nigeria, the skills are paramount.
Recommendations
Based on the findings made and conclusion drawn, the following recommendations were made:
- Stocktaking, profit and loss, bank statement reconciliations, balance sheet and computer skills should be acquired by business education graduates for sustainable entrepreneurship in Nigeria;
- In-services training should be provided to graduates of business education so as to enable them acquire these skills.
- Business education lecturers should mount a programme for the undergraduate and postgraduate in their schools, in order to address the problem of lack of accounting skills
Limitations of the Study
The major limitation for this study was that not all the Small and Medium Scale enterprises (SMEs) in Enugu state were covered since many of them did not employ business education graduates. This means that only selected business education graduates in SMEs in Enugu were covered, hence making the findings non generalizable.
Suggestions for Further Study
The following suggestions were proffered for future researchers.
Future researchers should:
- Investigate the accounting skills required by business education students for sustainable entrepreneurship ventures;
- Investigate the accounting skills required by business education lecturers for sustainable entrepreneurship ventures;
- Investigate the accounting skills required by business education teachers for sustainable entrepreneurship ventures
- Investigate the accounting skills required by managers of entrepreneur business for sustainable entrepreneurship ventures
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