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Factors Impacting Academic Performance of First-Year Accountancy Students at Walter Sisulu University

Abstract This article reports on a study that investigated the impact that scores in prerequisite high school subjects and location had on academic performance of first-time entering students registered for the National Higher Certificate (NHC) Accountancy qualification in the 2012 and 2013 academic years at Walter Sisulu University (WSU), Butterworth Campus, South Africa. Using a quantitative approach, the study was a desktop survey where data on 84 students was obtained from the student administration and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The relationship between student academic performance and high school matriculation scores was tested using Pearson correlation tests. To test the impact of high school location, the means of student performances per each identified location were compared using Analysis of Variance. The students’ matriculation scores in accounting were the only factor that was found to have a statistically significant relationship with their academic performance. The findings implied that the students’ high school performance in accounting correlates positively with the performance of NHC Accountancy students. As such, it should be a key admission requirement into the programme if performance in this field is to be improved.