An International Meeting of the American Accounting Association American Accounting Association 2006 Annual Meeting August 6–9, 2006 Washington, D.C.

Mostafa M. Maksy
Northeatern Illinois University

Ring Chen
Northeastern Illinois University

Lin Zheng
Northeastern Illinois University

Abstract: This study considers the association between motivation, actual ability, self-perceived ability, and confidence factors and students' performance in Auditing and Contemporary Issues in Financial Accounting. Using one-way ANOVA, Pearson, and Spearman tests, the study shows that all variables used as proxy for actual ability, e.g., students' grades in Intermediate I and II, their grade point average (GPA) in foundation courses, and their cumulative GPA, are significantly associated with students' performance. Two of the six motivation variables (the grade the student would like to make, and the student's self-classified motivation toward learning), three of four self-perceived ability variables (the student's writing, reading, and listening abilities), and one of three confidence variables (the student's course load) are also significantly associated with the student's performance. Most of the remaining variables have positive but not significant association with students' performance.

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