Abstract:

This research will review the results of the Peregrine Comprehensive Exam being used as a direct measure of assessing the Bachelor of Accountancy program at National University, a non-profit educational institution of higher learning. The Outbound Exam assesses the student's knowledge level at the end of the student's program of study. Additional subject-level analysis compared to specific aggregate pools allows for both internal and external bench-marking. The first Peregrine Outbound Exam was started in April 2020 with 13 students taking the exam. The Exam is being administered in all ACC435B Auditing II, the last class in the accountancy program. There were 17 topics taken from the courses in the program. The exam is the Final Exam for the course and is part of the course grade. In the academic year 2021, there were 4 classes of ACC435B with a total of 23 students who took the exam.

The results were analyzed using: (a) Internal Analysis Report comparing with the students of universities in the IACBE (International Accreditation Council for Business Education) region. In addition, the results were analyzed using External Analysis Report that included comparison with the aggregate results of students who took the Peregrine Exam under 5 regions:
(1) AACSB Members - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business,
(2) ACBSP (US) - Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs,
(3) Higher Learning Commission,
(4) IACBE (US) - International Accreditation Council for Business Education, and
(5) Online Delivery Mode.

The results showed that National University students’ scores surpassed the aggregate scores of students from universities under the IACBE (International Accreditation Council for Business Education) region for Internal Analysis Report. Similarly NU students’ scores surpassed the scores of students from universities under the 5 regions under the External Analysis Report. The results were indicative of the quality teaching/learning that are being provided by National University accounting faculty to its accounting students. The results will be further analyzed on a topic by topic basis to determine areas needing improvements. The results are shared to all accounting faculty. Department meeting will be scheduled for all faculty to discuss the results of the exam to determine what topic the student excelled and for those where the scores need to be improved as part of the continuous quality improvement efforts at National University.

Keywords:

assessment of learning, direct measure of assessment, comprehensive exam, outbound exam, quality teaching/learning, subject-level analysis.