An analysis of accounting exam answers: an inductive case study of response characteristics

This paper reports upon an exploratory study that aimed to identify and benchmark characteristics to account for the failure of students in short essay-style answers in the final examination of a second year core accounting unit. The purpose of doing so was to develop a benchmark against which future examination outcomes could be compared, to identify any differences in the outcome characteristics between international and domestic students and to inform the future redevelopment of the unit content and its delivery. An inductive approach was taken to the descriptive, quantitative analysis of 120 examination answers from 45 students, identifying themes using thematic analysis techniques. Although international students dominated both the group of students who had failed in the examination, and the failing answers, the same themes were found in the answers of both student groups, and the ranked order of the themes for both was similar. Modifications to the teaching and learning framework used for future delivery of the unit, and subsequent evaluations of similar assessment, will contribute to a better understanding of the causal links between the delivery and assessment outcomes. Future research will confirm whether the characteristics found apply to other accounting higher education contexts.