Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effect of open-book examinations on the learning behavior of accountancy students

Abstract

In 2003 the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) changed its assessment policy from a closed-book to an open-book format. One reason for this was to encourage better learning behaviour amongst students. This paper investigates whether students perceive this aim to have been achieved, by means of a survey conducted among final-year accounting students who were preparing for the qualifying examination of SAICA. Assessment in the first three years of study was generally done by means of closed-book examinations, but in their final year, students were assessed by means of open-book tests and examinations (OBA). A comparison was made between the views of these potential chartered accountants and those of lecturers in accounting departments at selected universities.