CONSTRAINTS TO EFFECTIVE HARNESSING OF THE FULL POTENTIAL OF ACCOUNTING EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN UNIVERSITIES IN ENUGU STATE FOR GRADUATES 'EMPLOYABILITY'

The purpose of the study was to determine the constraints to effective harnessing of the potentials of Accounting Education programme for graduates’ employability in universities in Enugu State. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population for the study was 119 comprised of 22 Accounting Education lecturers and 97 final year students of accounting education programme) in the three universities. The entire population was used because of the size therefore, there was no sampling and sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was a four-point rating scale questionnaire titled Constraints to Effective Harnessing of the Potentials of Accounting Education Programme for Graduates’ Employability (CEHPAEPG). The instrument contained 20 items in two clusters of 10 items each according to the research questions with response options ranging from strongly agree (SA) to strongly disagree (SD). The instrument was face validated by the three experts, two from Business and Entrepreneurship Education Department and one in Measurement and Evaluation from Department of Mathematics and Computer Education both in Faculty of Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu. After editorial corrections, the instrument was said to be valid and used for reliability and data collection. Reliability coefficient values of 0.79 and 0.74 were obtained for the two clusters of the instrument with an overall coefficient value of 0.77 using Cronbach Alpha. Out of 119 copies of questionnaire distributed, 102 copies were properly filled and returned giving 85.71% return rate. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and in order to determine the homogeneity of the respondents’ mean ratings while t-test was used to test the six null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance at 100 degree of freedom. Findings of the study revealed that all the listed government and institution-related items are the constrain effective harnessing of the full potential of Accounting Education programme in the universities and that gender did not significantly influence the respondents’ mean ratings. Based on the findings, it was concluded that government and institutional related constraints should be addressed by the stakeholders in Accounting Education programme. It was, therefore, recommended among others that government and management of the institutions should implement policies that will address the identified constraints to ensure effective harnessing of the full potential of Accounting Education for the benefits of students, the state and the nation. .