Assessment of Final Year Accountancy Students’ Knowledge of the Elements of Financial Statements

The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of final year accountancy students on the elements of financial statements as contained in the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting. The study was exploratory in nature. It involved final year students on the accountancy programmes at colleges and universities in Malawi. The students were required to list the elements of financial statements. The results indicate that the majority of the students were not aware of the elements despite the fact that the financial reporting syllabi for the programmes incorporate the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting. It is recommended that financial reporting lecturers at the colleges and universities should adopt the principles based approach to teaching International Financial Reporting Standards. The accountancy students should also be encouraged to consider the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting as a foundation for their accounting studies and so endeavor to know its tenets.