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PROBLEMS OF TEACHING ACCOUNTING IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Everyone is affected by accounting information. It is seen to be an everyday activity, not minding the individual, career, organization etc. Accounting can be seen to revolve around life, as everyone, in one way or the other is involved in one accounting practice or the other. The need to have in place, a system of recording financial transactions, brought the inception of accounting as a profession. (Nolan, 1998).  

Accounting is often called the “language of business” because it is used to communicate financial information. Accounting, as opined by John, Haddock Jr. and Brock (2007, p.15) “is the process by which financial information about a business is recorded, classified, summarized, interpreted and communicated to owners, managers and other interested parties.” The concept of accounting is further defined as the process of recording, classifying, selecting, measuring, interpreting and communicating financial data of an organization to enable users make decision (Longe and Kazeem, 2012, p.5).

The history of accounting as a separate discipline dates back to the end of the Nigerian civil war. Until then, accounting was not a discipline on its own, but was rather treated as an integral part of its parent discipline which was Economics. Okereke (2008, p.3). The study and practice of accounting, therefore, has a very important role to play in the economic development of any nation. As a measurement and reporting information system, accounting covers both micro- economic activities and it consists of various subsystems which relate to economic events and decisions (Ajayi, 1997, p.7). These subsystems can be identified as the major accounting fields: business accounting, government accounting, auditing and taxation, all of which aid in economic planning, project appraisal, capital formation and a host of other socio-economic activities. Accounting as a subject is taught amongst the numerous subjects taught in the secondary schools. It has several attractive characteristics. The study of accounting in secondary schools in Nigeria came up since the end of the civil war (Longe and Kazeem, 2012, p.21).

The reasons for offering accounting in the senior secondary school level are in four fold as viewed by Nolan (1998, p.27).

i.   To enable students obtain a background in bookkeeping and accounting.

ii.  To enable the students to obtain a marketable skills by which he/she can earn his/her living in an appropriate business or government job.

iii.  To enable students to understand that systematic and accurately kept records are the basis for financial decision that has to be made by businessmen, government officials and others.

 iv.  To enable students manage wisely his/her own personal business affairs with particular emphasis on the wise planning of his/her income and expenditure 

Danladi (2006, p. 45), views education as a process of teaching and learning, in which students acquire practical knowledge, value and skills for effective participation in the society. He further said that the process of acquiring the relevant knowledge, attitude, values and skills must be made as concrete as possible for easy learning. Teaching and learning of accounting should also follow this same process of acquiring practical knowledge, values and skills for effective participation in the society. Also, the process of acquiring these should be made concrete for easy learning. This gives us the reason for the study as some things required to make learning easy and effective seems lacking.

According to Yusuf (2009, p.19), one of the problems facing the teaching and learning of accounting is lack of good textbooks. He further observed that if accounting is taught in secondary schools by non-professionals and poorly motivated teachers, the students end up not understanding anything and the efforts made for effective implementation of accounting curriculum will be a waste.

Also, from the view of Okereke (2008, p.32), some of these problems facing teaching and learning of accounting in some secondary schools include: poor decline in funding from the government, the rigidity in the syllabus which makes it difficult for flexibility to be achieved and the shortage of qualified staff and teaching facilities.

To add to what has been said by different authors/authorities, from experience as a student, teachers that were assigned to 

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