Abstract:

Financial Management (FM) is a course undertaken by many students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in tertiary institutions, and also in professional exams. Interestingly, a sizable number of students find the subject challenging. It is these considerations that have spurred us to research, on one hand, the challenges which students face in understanding FM, and on the other, teaching methods to improve their comprehension. The study adopted a quantitative survey research design to obtain the views of final year undergraduate students on a number of issues connected to teaching FM. Cross-tabulation, percentages, mean, and standard deviation were used for descriptive analysis. We tested for normality using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics at 5% significance level. Independent sample T-test and ANOVA statistics were employed to test for differences in mean. Correlation analysis was used to test for relationships. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression was used to develop an index of the liking for FM. There is empirical evidence from the study that students’ interest in FM is significantly influenced by four factors— teaching method, perceived difficulty, perceived relevance, and the liking for numerate subjects. We recommend the use of teaching methods that demonstrate the practicality of FM such as the use of real-life examples, case-studies, and discussion groups, amongst others, which should be reinforced by other methods that encourage consistency in study beyond classroom such as; student preparation before class, self-study, on-line learning, quiz, and peer competition, to ensure continuous improvement and proper mastery of the subject.

Keywords:

Pedagogy, curriculum, teaching method, Financial Management, Nigeria.