Performance Predictors in a Graduate Accounting Program

Outline

• Abstract
• Hypothesis Development
• Measures of Performance
• Prior Ability and Performance
• Language Ability
• Demographic Factors and Performance
• Gender
• Age and Experience
• Quantitative Undergraduate Degree
• The Study
• Tests for Differences Between U.s. and International Students
• Performance Measure: Graduate Grade Point Average
• Performance Measure: Job in Public Accounting
• Conclusion and Limitations
• References

CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS

Our regressions of comprehensive student GPA in a master’s of accounting program on an array of hypothesized variables confirm findings of prior studies that graduate accounting performance is explained by GMAT scores and undergraduate GPAs; however, these traditional measures of performance are valid primarily for U.S. students. We find different predictors of performance for international and domestic students centering largely on language ability. GPAs are insignificant in explaining international student performance, perhaps suggesting that admission decisions should deemphasize undergraduate GPAs for international students and focus more closely on measures of language ability. Quantitative GMAT scores also are insignificant for international students sampled, likely because admission processes screen out students with lower scores, reducing variability in GMATQ.

We find no significant effects of gender for either U.S. or international students, suggesting that gender effects are lessening with increased participation of women in graduate accounting programs and in the accounting profession. Age has a significant association with performance only for U.S. students, perhaps because U.S. students in our sample are younger, on average, than international students.

When performance is measured by landing a job in public accounting, U.S. students fare better than do international students in spite of lower average graduate GPAs. Graduate GPAs are not significant in explaining variance in job placement for U.S. students, but are the only significant factor for international students. Being female and having a quantitative undergraduate degree are the only factors significant in explaining variance in job placement for U.S. students.

Our results confirm that different factors are associated with success of U.S. and international students, whether success is measured by program GPA or by securing a job in public accounting at the end of graduate studies. Our analysis would be richer if we could obtain additional data. Winning a job in public accounting is likely influenced by factors other than academic performance, such as interview skills and perceived student interest. A better externally generated measure of performance would be student pass rates on CPA exams. Additionally, our analysis could more directly measure language ability with student scores on the TOEFL. These data are not available for most of the students in our sample; however, the personal interview process in our program lessens the dependence on TOEFL scores to assess language ability. In programs too large to conduct interviews, TOEFL scores may be used as a surrogate and may alter the relative significance of our predictor variables. Admission rankings of undergraduate programs would allow a more nuanced analysis of the effects of undergraduate GPA on MA program performance, but these data also are unavailable. Finally, our international students are largely Asian, and future studies could examine whether our findings can be generalized to other international students.