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

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.Students were generally positive about the introduction of OBA, but lecturers were less enthusiastic. Their conclusion was that OBA has generally been a step in the right direction to preparing students better for the workplace. Cognisance should, however, be taken of the negative study behaviour that was encountered. The paper also proposes strategies to improve the effectiveness of OBA.