CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

To pursue accounting, there are needs for proficiencies especially in the areas of English

and Mathematics. Based on the previous study of Buba and Umar (2015), the students who had

took and passed English and Mathematics, have good academic performance in Financial

Accounting.

English language has something to do in understanding, and interpretation of the

financial information. Furthermore, according to Ballada (2012), intellectual is one of the core

competencies of accountants in which this carry out problems that need critical thinking.

Scholastic studies have tried to determine the intellectual ability required for students’ success in

accountancy.

Burnett (2003) suggested that the development of analytical, critical thinking and

communication skills should be pursued throughout the students’stay in the university rather than

incorporating it in a term or two as these skills are thefoundation of the all other skills. Burnett

also emphasized the need for an accountancystudent to improve his research skills to better

prepare him for his career.

Analytical skills are necessary in solving unstructured problems requiring judgments and

critical thinking. These skills may be developed in school through exposures in avariety of

business cases and practical application. Application of analytical skills will prove to be

important in processing complex business transactions in the work place.

 Furthermore, analytical thinking is one of the most basic high level thinking skills such as

critical thinking, problem solving and decision making so that analytical thinking is essential for

students as basic skills and it allows students to think logically and develop the capacity to think

wisely, intelligently, solve problems and analyze statements.

On the other hand, analytical skills are one of the factor that affects the English Language

Proficiency of the students and the reason why students experienced difficulties in answering

problems with connection in Accounting that may lowered the accounting proficiency of the

students.

This study is conducted to assess the analytical skills of accounting students and its

relationship to accounting proficiency.

Statement of the Problem

1. What is the level of analytical skill of Accounting students?

2. What is the level of accounting proficiency of accounting students in terms of Mock Board

Examination?

3. Is there a significant relationship between analytical skills and accounting proficiency of

Graduating College Accounting Students?

Hypothesis

H0: There is no significant relationship between Accounting Proficiency and English

language proficiency of the students in terms of grammar, vocabulary and analyzing.

Significance of the study

 This study will be undertaken to find the relationship between English language and

accounting proficiency of accounting students in Polytechnic University of the Philippines. And

the results of this study would benefit the following people:

Students

This study will help future accounting students by knowing the factor/s that possibly affect

their accounting proficiency. And through this study, college students will be able to gasp

appropriate insights concerning their needed skills and knowledge for them to become proficient

in their chosen field.

Future Researchers

This research study will serve as a guide for the future researchers and will stand as a

review of related study to make their research more reliable.

Scope and Delimitation

This study was focused on the relationship of Analytical skills on Accounting

proficiency of Graduating students in Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Maragondon. 20

students were served as the respondents in this study, and other factors that possibly affect the

accounting proficiency of students will be excluded.

Definition of terms

The following operational terms are used throughout the study:

Accounting Proficiency – it can be defined as the ability to apply knowledge appropriately

without technical research or assistance (Cahamper,2014). In this study, it refers to the ability of

the students to answer the mock board examination from their accounting subjects in a limited

span of time.

Analytical skills- pertain to the ability of a person in identifying and solvingunstructured

problems in unfamiliar settings and exercising judgments based onthe comprehension of

unfocused set of facts (Burnett, 2003).

Bachelor of Science in Accountancy (BSA)- a college level accounting degreeprogram set forth

in the Philippine Accountancy Act of 2004 and in CHED Memorandum Order No. 26, Series of

2006.
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

English is a language taught in our country and our government has taken several efforts,

one of them is that English has been formally taught in all levels of schools starting from

elementary school up to university (Cabigon, 2015).

According to the study of Nugroho (2011) states that English Language has been

commonly accepted as an active universal language in the world. People who study English

language consider it as their personal proficiency. Therefore, many of students have to master

English Language because it is an important value for the students to have which can improve

themselves both in academic and life skill.

Additionally, according to the 2000 Census of Population and Housing conducted by the

Philippine National Statistics Office, the most recent source of national language statistics,

63.7% of Filipinos reported an ability to speak English. However, 35% of it has difficulties when

it comes in grammar. (InCarpenter, 2019).

Second language learners usually make mistakes in certain grammatical rules. It is among

other difficulties found in the process of learning other languages. This precision also applies to

those who are studying English in different levels of education (Widianingsih&Gulo,2016).

Rashid and Hashim (2008) states that analytical skills are part of English competencies

that claimed to be important in the acquisition of language skills particularly in writing and

reading. Moreover, it has been proven to be a good predictor of academic performance. In other
words, students with higher levels of analytical thinking skills have better abilities of information

processing and exploring.

Additionally, according to Thomason (2017) critical thinking is also analytical skill.

Accountants must focus their critical thinking on financial information while all individuals have

natural critical thinking skills.. Accountants improve their critical thinking skills through formal

accounting education. This allows them to understand the purpose of accounting principles and

how to apply the principles to a company’s financial information and business practices.

According to Burnett (2003) analytical skills pertain to the ability of a person in

identifying and solvingunstructured problems in unfamiliar settings and exercising judgments

based on thecomprehension of unfocused set of facts. Schafersman (2010) defines critical

thinking as the “correct thinking in pursuit of relevant and reliable knowledge around the world.”

It embodies a reasonable, reflective, responsible, and skillful thinking in order to ask appropriate

questions, gather relevant information, efficiently sort the information, reason logically from the

information, and arrive to a reliable conclusion.

Many studies have shown that analytical skills of university students are at a low level or

generally at a medium level (Kantek et al., 2010; Akkuş et al., 2010). Addition with this, the

results in the study of Rinanto showed that the students' analytical thinking skills on evaluation

are in good criterion with 78% and 66% acquisition while 52% for interpretation. This concluded

that analytical thinking skill of the students still was not in enough categories, so that needed a

way to enhance it on some indicators.

 Analytical skills, particularly critical thinking skills, are as important as the other skills,

for critical thinking harnesses the ability to give light to problems of a “nondeterministic” nature

through identifying errors and irregularities which, in turn, aid in making sound judgments.

Schafersman (2010) suggested that critical thinking be taught during lectures, laboratory

exercises, homeworks, quantitative exercises, term papers, and exams where information can be

processed in order to come up with considerable judgment. An effective way of developing the

analytical skills needed in business is by incorporating case analyses in the curriculum.

In a study performed by Kealey, Holland, and Watson (2005), there was a significant

relationship between critical thinking and performance in a particular accounting subject, which

substantiates the need to develop the skill to reduce failure rates in class and to gear students

towards becoming future accounting professionals. The development of analytical skills is highly

related to the development of communication skills, specifically writing. Though effective

writing focuses on content,it also involved compiling ideas, drafting outlines and analyzing the

different aspects of an issue. Thus, critical thinking should precede writing (Reinstein & Trebby,

2013).