Relationship Between Level of Formal Reasoning and Students' Performance in Accounting Examinations*

This study tests the theory that students' performance on different types of examination questions is related to their level of formal reasoning ability, where formal reasoning refers to their ability to solve different types of problems. The theory of formal reasoning is based on Piaget's theory that the ability to solve problems is related to the maturation process. Piaget argued that young children can solve only the most straightforward types of problems and are not capable of solving complex problems simply because their minds have not developed sufficiently. With maturation, more complex types of problems can be solved. To measure the formal reasoning level of intermediate accounting students, we used an instrument developed by Piaget. Then, we related this level to the marks they received on examinations in several accounting courses. On examination questions that involve only straightforward types of problems, students performed equally well, regardless of their formal reasoning level, but students with higher levels of formal reasoning ability performed significantly better on questions that involve more difficult types of problems. The paper concludes by suggesting that accounting examinations should include more questions that require the use of higher reasoning skills if the accounting profession is to attract more students who have higher levels of reasoning ability. Resume. Les auteurs testent la theorie voulant que la performance des etudiants qui repondent a differentes formes de questions d'examen soit reliee a leur capacite de raisonnement structure, l'expression ≪ raisonnement structure ≫ designant leur capacite de resoudre differentes categories de problemes. La theorie du raisonnement structure se fonde sur la theorie de Piaget selon laquelle la capacite de resoudre des problemes est reliee au processus de developpement. Selon Piaget, les jeunes enfants ne peuvent resoudre que les problemes les plus simples et sont incapables de resoudre des problemes complexes, du simple fait que leur intelligence n'est pas suffisamment developpee. Avec le developpement de l'intelligence, il devient donc possible de resoudre des problemes de nature plus complexe. Les auteurs utilisent un instrument mis au point par Piaget pour mesurer la capacite de raisonnement structure des etudiants des cours de comptabilite intermediaire et relient cette capacite aux notes qu'obtiennent les etudiants aux examens, dans plusieurs cours de comptabilite. Les resultats revelent que les questions d'examen qui ne font intervenir que des problemes simples sont resolues aussi bien par tous les etudiants, peu importe leur capacite de raisonnement structure, mais que la performance des etudiants ayant une capacite de raisonnement structure superieure est significativement meilleure lorsque les questions font intervenir des problemes plus difficiles. Les auteurs concluent par une suggestion: les examens de comptabilite devraient comporter davantage de questions exigeant des facultes de raisonnement superieures si l'on souhaite que la profession comptable attire une plus grande population d'etudiants possedant une capacite de raisonnement superieure.