Accounting on the Block: An Alternative Teaching Tool towards Enhancing Malay Students Performance Heritage in Accounting

Abstract

Previous research has found that the use of teaching aid is beneficial to enhance students’ perceptions of learning, examination performance and the learning process. Accounting on the Block (AOTB) is undertaken with the objective to provide an efficient, enjoyable and game-like teaching tool in teaching the basic preparation of published financial statements as part of the financial accounting curriculum in UiTM. It is also to enhance the performance of UiTM students in important accounting topic involving the preparation of published financial statement. This tool uses magnetic blocks with printed financial statement items that can be attached to the white board. Primary data were collected before and after the application of AOTB in classes. The performance- related data collected for FAR160 is based on the score of assignment on published financial statements before the use of AOTB in class and compared to the score of examination question on the same topic after the application of AOTB. Students are no longer sitting in one place listening and taking notes but they have to be more interactive in completing their assignments. A trial run with Diploma in Accountancy students recorded a shorter time taken to complete a set of financial statements and they seem to enjoy learning using this tool. The findings reveal a better score for published financial statements after the use of AOTB. It is hope that this tool will in a way contribute to the increased passing rate of students and consequently completing the programme on time, thus enhancing the performance heritage of Malay students.

Full text

Zuhariah Husin et al. KONAKA 2015
119
Accounting on the Block: An Alternative Teaching Tool towards
Enhancing Malay Students Performance Heritage in Accounting
Zuhariah Husin
1*
, Norlaila Mohd Din
2
, Junaidah Jamaluddin
3
,
Nur Syazwani Mohammad Fadzillah
4
, Mohamad Azmi Nias Ahmad
5
1,2,3,4,5
Faculty of Accountancy, University Teknologi MARA Cawangan Pahang,
Kampus Jengka, 26400 Bandar Tun Abdul Razak, Jengka, Pahang, Malaysia
zuhariah@pahang.uitm.edu.my, norliey@pahang.uitm.edu.my, junaidah_jamal@pahang.uitm.edu.my
nsyazwani@pahang.uitm.edu.my, mohdazminias@pahang.uitm.edu.my
*Corresponding Author
Abstract: Previous research has found that the use of teaching aid is beneficial to enhance students’
perceptions on learning, examination performance and learning process. Accounting on the Block
(AOTB) is undertaken with the objective to provide an efficient, enjoyable and game-like teaching tool in
teaching the basic preparation of published financial statements as part of the financial accounting
curriculum in UiTM. It is also to enhance the performance of UiTM students in important accounting
topic involving the preparation of published financial statement. This tool uses magnetic blocks with
printed financial statement items that can be attached to the white board. Primary data were collected
before and after the application of AOTB in classes. The performance- related data collected for FAR160
is based on the score of assignment on published financial statements before the use of AOTB in class and
is compared to the score of examination questions on the same topic after the application of AOTB.
Students are no longer sitting in one place listening and taking notes but they have to be more interactive
in completing their assignments. A trial run with Diploma in Accountancy students recorded a shorter
time taken to complete a set of financial statements and they seemed to enjoy learning using this tool. The
findings reveal a better score for published financial statements after the use of AOTB. It is hoped that
this tool will in a way contribute to the increased passing rate of students and consequently completing
the programme on time, thus enhancing the performance heritage of Malay students.
Keywords: Accounting, Financial statements, Performance, Students
1. Introduction
The study of accounting is important since it provides the economic information for
business to prosper or survive (Larson, 1995). Hence, many believe that accounting education
provides the best background for business and other related careers (Albrecht & Sack, 2000).
The current method of conventional teaching approaches in the preparation of published
financial statements where lecturers do most of the talking and show all the workings on the
whiteboard is time consuming and the students may get bored with this passive learning style
and the learning process tends to be ineffective. Likewise the use of PowerPoint slides where all
the items of financial statements have been prepared will lead to the same outcome for students.
Studies found that PowerPoint decreases the teacher-students interaction (Pippert & Moore,
1999), makes the students sleepy (Parks, 1999) due to the dimming of light in the classroom.
Preparation of published financial statements in financial reporting paper in UiTM
forms the largest portion of the course where approximately 30% mark are allocated for the
topic. Accordingly, accounting graduates are expected to have the relevant technical knowledge
and competencies in financial reporting specifically in the preparation of published financial
statements where a specific format as laid out in the Malaysian Financial Reporting Standard
(MFRS) 101 among others has to be complied with. Thus, to help students comply with the
relevant MFRS and remember the format of published financial statements, the use of an
alternative teaching approach using a teaching tool, Accounting on the Block (AOTB) was
applied during classes.

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AOTB is a teaching tool built with special features consisting of magnetic blocks of
financial statements items. The items are colour coded to indicate its usage in a particular
financial statement that is either the statement of profit or loss, statement of financial position or
statement of changes in equity. The colour coded is also used to show the double entries effect
when the basic rule is needed to be applied in preparation the financial statements. For example,
pink colour is for debit and green colour is for credit. The colorful, game like and interactive
features enable teaching and learning activities to become lively, enjoyable and effective. The
use of AOTB in teaching approach makes students active, reduces boredom and made for better
application on the accounting concept.
As such, the main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the efficiency and
effectiveness of using AOTB in the teaching process of published financial statements to the
accounting students. Hopefully, the application of AOTB will contribute to the increasing
number of students getting excellent grades in the relevant financial reporting courses.
1.1 Problem Statement
Teaching financial statements for publication is quite challenging primarily due to the
various MFRS that students have to understand and complied with. Furthermore, the time taken
to complete a set of published financial statement is quite long and students tend to lose interest
in the process. To make the teaching and learning process more efficient and effective, there is a
requirement for alternative teaching approaches. Thus, the need for AOTB is due to the lack of
existing teaching and learning tools in the preparation of financial statements for publication.
2. Literature Review
There are an abundance of literatures on the benefits of teaching tools in teaching
financial accounting. However, Riccio, Carastan, & Sakata (1999) find that 94% of accounting
educators used traditional method such as the whiteboard due to lack of time,working conditions
and compensation and he believed that this method can only increase the gap between the
accounting education and accounting practice.
The use of teaching aids in teaching and learning process is very important. This is
because it will assist effective learning for students. Teaching aids also help the students to
understand the lessons presented by lecturers (Razhiyah, 2006). According to Abdul Rasid &
Arbaie (2001), the use of teaching aid such as media in teaching students accelerates the process
of understanding and also helps students to understand better. Apart from that, the use of
teaching aids enables students to obtain information needed. Indeed, the use of teaching aids in
the process of teaching-learning cannot be denied that its use can result in effective learning and
is able to attract students to pursue activities in the classroom (Abdul Rasid & Rashidah, 2012).
However, teachers also need to be familiar with the use of teaching aids that could attract the
attention of students. At the same time, using teaching aids enables learning to be meaningful
and can even get rid of boredom and tiredness of the student, particularly students in the
accounting class.
Many researchers (Mohrweis & Shinham, 2015; Blackman, 2012; Neo & Neo, 2001)
argue that finding new and innovative teaching tools is crucial for educators to keep their
students engaged and interested in the subject matter. They note that educators should engage
students in active learning in order to improve their academic experience and achievement.
Active learning is defined as students participate in exercises rather than just being passive
learners listening to lecturers (Killian & Brandon, 2009). According to Mohrweis & Shinham
(2015), learning is enhanced when students are highly motivated to actively engage in learning
activities. Educators can make substantial improvements in their teaching tools and techniques
by including more “doing” experiences and reducing the traditional lecture and discussion
(Fink, 2003).

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Previous studies have provided evidence that the use of innovative teaching tools and
techniques can provide student-centered learning environment that can make learning process
interesting and understandable, thereby improving students’ performance. Mohrweis &
Shinham (2015) find that students who were exposed to immediate feedback scratch-off cards in
introductory accounting course performed better on subsequent objective exams than students in
a traditional lecture setting. Khurshid & Ansari (2012) who conducted an experiment on the
teaching of science subject to the students of grade 1 in Islamabad, revealed that students who
were instructed using innovative teaching tools and techniques (e.g. team projects, flash card,
real objects, audio-visual aids, computer assisted instructions and smart boards) achieved
significantly higher scores on science test than did the students whose instructions were done on
traditional method. Focusing on the use of multimedia technology as an innovative teaching
and learning strategy in a problem-based learning environment, Neo & Neo (2001) discover that
students were very positive toward the given project, enjoyed teamwork, able to think critically
and became active participants in their learning process.
3. Methodology
The samples for this study consist of 41 students from the Diploma in Accountancy
from semester 2 for academic session of January – May 2015. The samples were selected
because these students must sit for paper FAR160 where one of the main requirements of the
paper is to prepare the published financial statements. The topic of published financial
statements contributes the most marks of 50% of the continuous assessment of the paper. In
addition, the topic also contributes 25%-30% in the final examination questions that is the
highest marks for questions asked.
Primary data were collected before and after the application of AOTB in class. The
performance- related data collected for FAR160 is based on the score of assignment on
published financial statements before the use of AOTB in class and compared to the score of
examination question on the same topic after the application of AOTB. These pre and post
application scores were then tested and analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22 to
evaluate the impact on the students’ academic performance. After that, post application
interview with students were conducted to gauge the effectiveness of the tool from students
perspective.
The following hypothesis is developed for this study:
H1: The results of the students after the application of AOTB is significantly better than the
results before the application of AOTB.
4. Results And Discussion
The students’ results before and after the implementation of AOTB is illustrated in
Table 1. Table 1 indicates that the students’ results after the implemetation of AOTB are
completely different from the results before the implementation of AOTB. The median test
score has increased from 83 (before AOTB) to 92 (after AOTB) and the increase is statistically
significant (p = 0.000). Therefore, the hypothesis of the study is clearly proven through this
analysis.
Table 1. Students’ Results
Before AOTB
After AOTB
Median Score
83
92
Wilcoxon signed rank test on H
1
(p = 0.000, Z = -5.146)

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The analysis of score distribution in Table 2 shows that the range of scores’ mode is 80-
84 before AOTB and 90-94 after AOTB. The analysis of the range of scores presents a good
shift in the higher range of scores after the implementation of AOTB. The lowest band is
almost eliminated after AOTB which is a very positive indicator of achievement for students
who may be referred to as underperformers compared to the rest. Similarly, the middle bands
are moved to the higher bands and the results were improved generally. Hence, the results
clearly show the improvements of underperformers and the shift towards the higher range of
scores.
The findings of this study are consistent with those of Mohrweis & Shinham (2015) and
Khurshid & Ansari (2012), among others. The authors find that students who were taught by
using innovative teaching tools and techniques produced better results than other students who
were taught using traditional/conventional method.
Table 2. Score Distribution
Range of Scores
Before AOTB
After AOTB
75-79
5
1
80-84
19
6
85-89
17
4
90-94
0
18
95-100
0
12
4.1 Student Interviews
From the interviews conducted with randomly selected students, we obtained the
following comments with regards to the effectiveness of AOTB as a teaching tool:
“I think AOTB is very interesting and very helpful. I love it very much.”
“AOTB helps me to remember the format of the published financial statements.”
“The lecturer should use more AOTB before the the exams. It makes doing exercises
more fun.”
“With AOTB, I think I can understand about published financial statements better.”
“AOTB is a great idea to teach published financial statements. I never felt so involved
in the class before this.”
“AOTB has changed my perception towards learning published financial statements.
Now I don’t find this topic too difficult.”
On the whole, the students in FAR160 class responded very well to AOTB and were
able to have a positive attitude in learning the published financial statements. From the
interviews, we find that students felt more motivated and enjoyed their learning process and
were able to develop a better understanding of the published financial statements.
5. Conclusion
This study attempted to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of using AOTB in
the teaching process of published financial statements to the accounting students. This is proven

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by the overall better results on the topic after AOTB. The improvement in the median test score
supported the hypothesis that the results of the students after the application of AOTB are
significantly better than the results before the application of AOTB. Furthermore, the score
distribution before AOTB and after AOTB has also shown an improvement from the lower
range of scores to the upper range. The interviews with a number of students highlighted
students’ preferences for this teaching tool in learning published financial statements. The
positive responses of the students demonstrate that AOTB is an effective tool for reinforcing
their learning process, particularly for those students who did not benefit from traditional mode
of lectures. As a conclusion, accounting educators may find AOTB very useful for enhancing
their lectures in published financial statements, thereby contributing to better students’ learning
experience and performance.
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