Assessment of

Financial Literacy of ABM

Students in Acacia National High School

Proponent of the Study:

Accountancy, Business, and Management Strand

Abstract
This study is descriptive research that intends to assess the Financial Literacy of ABM Students in Acacia
National High School in terms of knowing financial terms, money management, and financial
transactions. There are 32 respondents of this study selected using simple random sampling. Conducted
online due to the pandemic, this study used a survey questionnaire instrument through a google form. The
result of this study revealed that the ABM students of Acacia National are financially literate having a
mean score of 2.655816 which belongs to agree in the category.

Keywords: Financial Literacy, ABM Students

1. Introduction

Financial literacy is a meaning-making process in which individuals use a combination of skills,

resources, and contextual knowledge to process information and make decisions with knowledge of the
financial consequences of that decision, Mason and Wilson (2000). According to an article published by
the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) 2018, the Filipino mentality upon receipt of
salaries, as usually noted, is that upon receipt of salaries, disbursement comes in before saving. what's
left, is saved. If there is none left, then there is nothing saved. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor
Benjamin Diokno said on the five-day virtual 4th Financial Education Stakeholder Expo that in 2015
World Bank survey on adult financial literacy, Filipinos have the lowest at 25% compared to neighboring
countries. Filipino respondents were able to correctly answer only three out of seven financial literacy
questions and scored low on interest computation, inflation, and simple division.

Diokno also mentioned that the financial behavior of Filipinos has improved since the pandemic,
more people are now contributing to the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) from 1,388 in
2019 to 2,671 in 2020, availing life insurance accounts from 39.1 million in 2019 to 43.5 million in 2020,
and 21% increase in savings in the bank in 2019 (Villanueva, 2021). Financial Literacy is not common
knowledge in the Philippines as there is no subject thought in the school unless students take the
strand/course that deals with financial literacy itself. Given the importance of financial literacy in an
Accountancy, Business, and Management Strand, this study seeks to assess the financial literacy of ABM
Students in Acacia National High School.

2. Conceptual Framework of the Study

The conceptual
framework of this
study, shown below,
intends to find out the ABM students’ demographic profile, knowledge on money management,
familiarity of financial terms, and how confident they are in doing financial transactions to assess their
financial literacy.

3. Methodology

This study was conducted in the First Semester of School Year 2021-2022 at Acacia National
High School. The respondents of this study are the grade 11-Hera and grade 12- Zeus of Accountancy,
Business, and Management students in the said school.

This study is descriptive quantitative research that aims to obtain information to systematically
describe the financial literacy of the respondents. This study was conducted online considering the safety
of everyone. This study used a survey questionnaire via google form which was sent out to the specific
respondents, the grade 11 and 12 ABM students of Acacia National High School. This study aimed at 52
participants but due to uncontrollable factors we only managed to get 32 participants. Consisting of both
males and females with ages ranging from sixteen (16) to twenty-one (21).

This study used a Likert scale tool in the survey questionnaire via google form as a way to gather
statistical information about the financial literacy of the respondents. Some of the questions were adopted
from the online site National Center for Education Statistics - Financial Literacy Questionnaire, which
was suggested by the researchers' professor. Other questions are from the lessons discussed in Accounting
and Business Mathematics subjects which have something to do with financial literacy, the reason why
researchers included them as well. In gathering the data, the researchers generated the research interview
questions through google form and distributed them to all the ABM students in Acacia National High
School via Facebook messenger. After gathering the data, the researchers get the mean score/average of
the result as a basis for the interpretation and conclusion.

4. Results and Discussion

1. What is the profile of the respondents:
1.1 Age

Figure 1

The pie chart above shows that 75% of the respondents are 17-20 years old, 15.6% are 16 below, and
9.4% are 21 above. This means the majority of the respondents are 17-20 years old.

1.2 Gender

Figure 2.

The pie chart above shows that 68.8% are female and 31.3% are male. It can be gleaned that the majority
of the respondents are female.
1.3 No. of Family Members

Figure 3

The pie chart above shows that 65.6% of the respondent consist of 5-8 family members in their
households, 28.1% consist of 4 family members below, and 6.3% consist of 9 family members above.
With this data, we can say that majority of the respondents are consist of 5-8 family members in their
households.

1.4 Family Economic Status

Figure 4.

The pie chart shows that 56.3% of the respondents have a family monthly income of below 10,000, 34.4%
ranging from 10,001 to 30,000, and 9.4% for 30,001 above. This implies that the majority of the
respondents' families are earning 10,000 below monthly.

1.5 Family Business

Figure 5.

The pie chart above shows that 40.6% of the respondents have a family business and 59.4% of those don't
have one. It can be gleaned that the majority of the respondents don't have a family business.

2. How familiar are the respondents to financial terms?

Figure 5.

The chart above shows the average score of the students who are familiar with financial terms having a
total average score of 3.1725 in a total of 5 strongly agree responses and a total average score of 2.96875
of 3 agree responses. With this data, it can be gleaned that the respondents are very familiar with the
financial terms having a mean score of 3.08984 which belong to strongly agree category.

3. How knowledgeable are the respondents in the aspects of financial literacy?

Figure 6.

The chart above shows that the average/mean score of the students who Strongly Agree to statements is
3.2429, those who Agree are 2.583, those who Disagree are 1.9219, and no one Strongly Disagrees. With
the data presented above, it can be gleaned that the respondents know how to do the statements above and
are knowledgeable in the aspects of financial literacy having a total mean score of 2.72917 which belong
to Agree category.

4. What is the perception of the respondents in doing the financial transactions?

Figure 7.

The chart above shows the average score of the respondents confidently doing the financial transactions
stated above. All of them have an average score ranging in the same category, agree. With this data, it can
be gleaned that the respondents are confident in doing the financial transactions having a mean score of
2.1484375 which belong to agree category.

5. Are the ABM students of Acacia National High School financially literate?
Figure 8.

The chart above

shows that the mean
score of
respondents in the
financial
literacy survey is 2.655816 which belongs to Agree in the category. This data imply that ABM students of
Acacia National High School are financially literate in terms of money management, financial terms
familiarity, and doing financial transactions.

5. Conclusion and Recommendation

In conclusion with the limited data used and gathered in this study, the ABM students of Acacia
National High School are financially literate in terms of money management, financial terms familiarity,
and doing financial transactions. This implies that the curriculum of the school is doing well in educating
the students in financial literacy and students have knowledge enough to handle and manage money when
it comes to financial concerns.

The result of this study must be read with prudence as the data used, collected, and discussed are
limited and the number of respondents did not meet the sample size required. However, this study can still
be used as a guide for future researchers who should read this study with carefulness due to the said
reasons. All in all, the findings of this study are useful for parents or teachers who want to teach children
the basics of financial literacy.

6. References

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1160556?
fbclid=IwAR1IbKLk0sE3lsQhK4ekLvrxSSTo5Dd3Z31pXvf0r9d87gfLRwbak73OdbU

https://nro13.neda.gov.ph/financial-literacy-for-filipinos-understanding-for-better-living/?
fbclid=IwAR1IbKLk0sE3lsQhK4ekLvrxSSTo5Dd3Z31pXvf0r9d87gfLRwbak73OdbU

https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2018/questionnaires/Financial_Literacy_Q_English.html