An investigation into the success rates of third-year Accounting conversion students en route to becoming a Chartered Accountant (South Africa)

Abstract

Stellenbosch University students who graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in Management Accounting or a Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Accounting may convert to a Bachelor of Accounting by completing a conversion year. The purpose of the conversion year is to meet the Bachelor of Accounting Honours admission requirements, which puts students on course to become a Chartered Accountant (South Africa). No previous research has investigated the success rates of these conversion students; therefore, current prospective third-year conversion students have no frame of reference to make an informed decision regarding whether or not to attempt the conversion year. The research reported in this paper sought to analyse the results of third-year conversion students to conclude on their success rate of being admitted to the Bachelor of Accounting Honours programme and their success rate in obtaining a Bachelor of Accounting Honours degree. A quantitative research method was applied and it was found that 37% of the third-year conversion students met the Bachelor of Accounting Honours admission requirements at the first attempt and only 19% of the third-year conversion students managed to obtain their Bachelor of Accounting Honours degree in the minimum amount of time. Receiver operating curve analyses were also done to predict optimal cut-off marks to meet the Bachelor of Accounting Honours admission requirements and to obtain this degree in the minimum amount of time.