Formative assessment in accounting: student perceptions and implications of continuous assessment

ABSTRACT Research on formative assessment in accounting education examines the learning outcomes stemming from e-assessment or formative assessment within a stand-alone subject, but few studies examine the benefits and implications of continuous formative assessment or the perceptions of students who undertake formative assessment. The findings of continuous formative assessment introduced in a subject on intermediate financial accounting suggest that students benefit incrementally from multiple attempts at the formative assessment with optimal performance achieved at 7 attempts from a total of 10 opportunities. However, students also highlighted that the additional workload to participate in continuous formative assessment presented a major participatory constraint. The results of this study are consistent with the proposition that formative assessment improves students’ academic performance, but student perceptions on the benefits of formative assessment differ, particularly students with prior accounting knowledge and international students who appeared more receptive to formative assessment and feedback compared with domestic students.