Assessment of Accounting Competencies Possessed by Postgraduate University Business Education Students to Handle Entrepreneurship Business Challenges in Nigeria

Abstract

University Business Education graduates, by the nature of their programme, ought to possess relevant accounting competencies for successful entrepreneurship but casual observation and empirical reports indicate that they are not doing well in this aspect. Therefore, this study assessed the accounting competencies possessed by university postgraduate Business Education students to handle entrepreneurship business challenges in Nigeria. One research question and five hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population, also used as the sample, consisted of 388 Business Education graduates who are currently running their postgraduate programme in universities in the south-east and south-south geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The questionnaire was adequately validated by experts in Business Education and measurement and evaluation. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Cronbach alpha which has a reliability coefficient of 0.94. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while Z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result revealed that Business Education graduates are competent in ability to plan for small or medium scale businesses, ability to source funds for the running of a small scale business among others. However, they are not competent in preparation of tax codes and setting up of a currency. It was recommended that Business Education graduates should undergo training in conferences and workshops to enable them possess more effective accounting knowledge.