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Effect of Amalgamation Accounting Exercises on Business Combination Accounting Skills among Accounting Education Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Amalgamation accounting is an important area of advanced financial accounting education that enables students to understand the accounting procedures involved when two or more companies combine their business operations or assets and liabilities to form a new business entity or restructure existing business interests. Accounting education students require practical skills to determine purchase consideration, identify and value assets and liabilities acquired, calculate goodwill or capital reserve, prepare amalgamation accounts, record the acquisition of business assets and liabilities, and determine the financial position of the resulting business combination. However, conventional approaches to teaching amalgamation accounting may emphasize theoretical explanations and routine calculations without providing sufficient opportunities for students to apply business combination accounting principles to realistic corporate situations. Amalgamation Accounting Exercises provide students with structured opportunities to analyse business combination transactions, calculate purchase consideration, recognize acquired assets and liabilities, determine goodwill or capital reserve, and prepare relevant accounting records. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of amalgamation accounting exercises on business combination accounting skills among accounting education students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on Experiential Learning Theory, Constructivist Learning Theory, and Mastery Learning Theory. Experiential Learning Theory emphasizes learning through concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation, providing a suitable framework for students' engagement with practical amalgamation accounting activities. Constructivist Learning Theory emphasizes active participation, problem-solving, prior knowledge, and the construction of knowledge through meaningful learning experiences. Mastery Learning Theory emphasizes repeated practice, formative assessment, corrective feedback, and opportunities for learners to achieve clearly defined competencies. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how amalgamation accounting exercises may influence students' business combination accounting skills. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise undergraduate accounting education students enrolled in selected public and private universities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, universities, faculties or departments, levels of study, and eligible accounting education students. Amalgamation accounting exercises will be assessed using indicators such as frequency of practical exercises, identification of amalgamating companies, determination of purchase consideration, valuation of assets acquired, valuation of liabilities assumed, treatment of goodwill, treatment of capital reserve, calculation of net assets acquired, accounting for business purchase, treatment of discharge of liabilities, preparation of amalgamation accounts, preparation of realization accounts, treatment of shares issued as consideration, determination of new share capital, preparation of opening statements of financial position, case-based exercises, spreadsheet-based activities, accounting software, lecturer guidance, feedback, and opportunities for repeated practice. Students' business combination accounting skills will be assessed using indicators such as accurate determination of purchase consideration, calculation of net assets acquired, appropriate recognition and valuation of assets and liabilities, calculation and treatment of goodwill or capital reserve, preparation of amalgamation accounts, recording of assets and liabilities taken over, treatment of consideration paid through shares or cash, preparation of relevant journal and ledger entries, preparation of opening financial statements, interpretation of business combination information, identification and correction of accounting errors, numerical accuracy, analytical reasoning, professional judgement, and ability to solve unfamiliar business combination accounting problems. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized business combination accounting skills tests, practical amalgamation accounting tasks, corporate merger and acquisition scenarios, case studies, spreadsheet exercises, competency-based assessment rubrics, observation checklists, and pre-test and post-test assessments where a quasi-experimental design is adopted. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize students' demographic and academic characteristics, amalgamation accounting learning experiences, practical exercise exposure, and levels of business combination accounting skills. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, paired and independent t-tests, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of amalgamation accounting exercises on students' business combination accounting skills. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, business combination accounting skill scores before and after exposure to amalgamation accounting exercises may be compared with those of a comparison group receiving conventional advanced financial accounting instruction to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that amalgamation accounting exercises have a significant positive effect on business combination accounting skills among accounting education students in Nigeria. Students who regularly engage in structured amalgamation accounting exercises are expected to demonstrate stronger abilities to determine purchase consideration, calculate net assets acquired, recognize and measure acquired assets and liabilities, determine goodwill or capital reserve, prepare amalgamation accounts, record consideration issued, and prepare opening financial statements than students exposed primarily to conventional lecture-based instruction. Practical exercises may help students understand the relationship between purchase consideration, net assets acquired, goodwill, capital reserve, consideration paid, and the financial position of the resulting business combination. Exposure to progressively complex merger and amalgamation scenarios may strengthen students' numerical accuracy, analytical reasoning, problem-solving abilities, and professional judgement. Case-based exercises involving asset revaluation, liabilities assumed, share consideration, cash consideration, goodwill, and capital reserve may improve students' ability to apply business combination accounting principles to realistic corporate situations. Spreadsheet-based and computerized accounting activities may further strengthen students' digital accounting competence and ability to organize and analyse complex business combination information efficiently. However, inadequate access to realistic corporate cases, limited accounting technology, large class sizes, insufficient instructional time, limited lecturer training, and students' difficulty in understanding purchase consideration and goodwill calculations may reduce the effectiveness of amalgamation accounting exercises. The study therefore expects structured, practical, progressively challenging, and technology-supported amalgamation accounting exercises to contribute significantly to improved business combination accounting skills among accounting education students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on amalgamation accounting exercises, business combination accounting skills, accounting education, advanced financial accounting education, corporate accounting, merger and acquisition accounting, practical accounting competence, experiential learning, constructivist learning, mastery learning, accounting pedagogy, and higher education in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the National Universities Commission, universities, accounting education departments, accounting educators, professional accounting bodies, accounting firms, employers, curriculum developers, and policymakers regarding strategies for strengthening advanced financial accounting education. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for increasing practical amalgamation accounting activities, developing realistic Nigerian merger and business combination cases, strengthening students' training in purchase consideration, net assets acquired, goodwill, capital reserve, and consideration accounting, integrating spreadsheets and accounting software into amalgamation exercises, training accounting educators in practical business combination accounting instruction, using competency-based business combination assessments, providing continuous corrective feedback, and creating opportunities for accounting education students to develop the practical business combination accounting skills required for effective accounting practice in Nigeria.

Keywords: Amalgamation accounting exercises, business combination accounting skills, accounting education students, amalgamation, business combinations, purchase consideration, goodwill, capital reserve, merger accounting, practical accounting competence, Nigerian universities, Nigeria.