The influence of parental profession on students‟ academic performance in Financial Accounting needs to be addressed considering the fact that Government expects good result at the end of SS 3. Parental occupation is considered to have a place in academic performance of students because the nature of occupation affects the time parents spend at work and at home and the attention they give to their children especially in their studies. Maternal employment has overall impact on the time mothers spend with their children, although one hour increase in employment is associated with a much smaller reduction in time spent with children. The truth is that the time consumed by one occupation differs from the other since the length of training differs as well. Some

professions allow those engaged in them to have more time to themselves and these include teaching and lecturing, while other professions such as banking, piloting and sailoring take greater hours of those that are engaged in them.

Although some parents with busy schedules may make all necessary provisions for their children's education, children reared under such atmosphere may be delinquent and may not be serious academically despite all the provisions made for them. Children of average or poor parents may perform better because their parents have invested time in the children's education. Hawthorne (2004) has stated that the role played by parents in their children‟s education and general competencies in understanding and use of language in understanding some concepts cannot be ruled out. Moreover, some children tend to emulate their parents in whatever they do so as to become like them especially in the choice of career and this can propel them to work harder in their studies. Parents that are medical doctors may end up having one of their children interested in becoming a medical doctor and this may encourage the child to work hard in secondary school to achieve his/her aspiration in the future.

Financial Accounting, in relation to which the impact of parental profession studied in this work, is one of the Business Studies‟ subjects offered at the senior Secondary level. Other Business Studies subjects include Typewriting, Shorthand, Commerce, Office Practice and Insurance. Financial Accounting can be defined as a specialized area of instruction that deals directly with business skills and techniques, business knowledge and facts, business understanding, economic understanding, business attitudes and appreciations necessary to understand and adjust to the economic and social institution called "business" (Udoh, 2003).

Academic performance refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different tasks given to them by their teachers. Academic performance is the ability to study and remember facts and being able to communicate the facts and knowledge verbally or in writing .The academic performance of students may negatively correlate with the low parental socio- economic status level as it may prevent the individual in gaining access to sources and resources of learning (Duke, 2000 & Eamon, 2005). Flegm (2005) reports that in educational institutions, success is measured by academic performance or how well a student meets the standards set by the institution.

Performance of students in accounting has not been impressive as reported by researchers such as (Drennan and Rhode ,2010).However, SSCE results of students studying Financial Accounting at the secondary school level is poor as reported by Akinsolu (2010) using WAEC and NECO result analysis. The extent to which parental profession can influence the performance of students in Financial Accounting is what the researcher has interest in knowing.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The Federal Ministry of Education (2011) gave the analysis of performance in Financial Accounting at credit level in NECO/SSCE as follows:

2007 - 48%

2008 - 51%

2009 - 47%

2010 - 45%

In one of the Federal Government Colleges in focus, the total credit pass in Financial Accounting was 42% in 2010 NECO/SSCE‟s result analysis. This performance was very low for a college that was regarded as a model for others. The researcher, being a teacher of Accounting was concerned about such performance as most of the students did very well at end of their Junior Secondary Examination (JSSE) in Business Studies conducted by NECO with the average score standing at 80% and above. It is important therefore to investigate the reason for the poor performance and to specifically clarify whether or not parental professions have any effect on students‟ poor performance in this subject. This was done by classifying the professions into the following groups.

Group A- Lecturing/Teaching Group B- Medical Services Group C- Administration.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The major objective of this research work was to determine the influence of parental profession on students‟ academic performance in Financial Accounting in Federal Government colleges in north-central geo-political zone of Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to:

1. determine the difference in the academic performance of financial accounting students and the parental profession in federal government colleges of north central geo-political zone.

2. determine the difference in the parental profession in teaching/lecturing and medical services on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges in north-central geo-political zone, Nigeria.

3. determine the difference in the parental profession in teaching/lecturing and administration on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges of north central geo-political zone.

4. assess the difference in parental profession in medical services with those in administration on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges of north-central geo-political zone, Nigeria.

5. assess the difference in parental profession in the three groups in relation to students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in Federal Government Colleges in the north central geo-political zone, Nigeria.

1.4 Research Question

1. What is the difference between the academic performance of financial accounting students and the parental profession in federal government colleges of north central geo- political zone.

2. What is the difference between the parental profession in teaching/lecturing and medical services on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges in north-central geo-political zone, Nigeria.

3. What is the difference between the parental profession in teaching/lecturing and administration on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges of north central geo-political zone.

4. What is the difference between parental professions in medical services with those in administration on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges of north-central geo-political zone, Nigeria.

5. What is the difference among parental profession in the three groups in relation to students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in Federal Government Colleges in the North Central Geo-political zone, Nigeria?
   1.5 Research Hypotheses

   In line with each research question, the following null hypotheses were raised for this study.

1. There is no significant difference between the academic performance of financial accounting students and the parental profession in federal government colleges of north central geo-political zone.

2. There is no significant difference between the parental profession in teaching/lecturing and medical services on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges in north-central geo-political zone, Nigeria.

3. There is no significant difference between the parental profession in teaching/lecturing and administration on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges of north central geo-political zone.

4. There is no significant difference between parental professions in medical services with those in administration on students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in federal government colleges of north-central geo-political zone, Nigeria.

5. There is no significant difference among parental profession in the three groups in relation to students‟ academic performance in financial accounting in Federal Government Colleges in the north central geo-political zone, Nigeria.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The result of this research study will be of significance and most beneficial to parents, education planners, children and school counselors in the following ways:-

It is significant for parents to be involved in their children‟s academic activities as their profession may not be the reason for the children‟s academic performance but other factors such as the need to engage extra lesson teacher at home which may bring about better performance academically.

It will be of immense benefit to the educational planners as there will be an awareness through publication of this research work that parental profession has no effect on students‟ academic performance; instead, if school libraries are equipped with modern textbooks and computers this may enhance better academic performance.

It will help students to pay less emphasis on the type of job their parents engage in as it is not a reason for better/poor academic performance but other factors like regular class attendance and completion of home work/assignment given by their subject teacher

It will be of significance to school counselors so that they can provide the needed counseling to students that the profession of the their parents has nothing to do with their academic performance but other factors like intelligence or diligence are responsible for better academic performance.

1.7 Basic Assumptions of the study

For the purpose of this study, the following assumptions were made:

1. Students whose parental profession falls in teaching/lecturing perform better in school than students whose parents‟ profession falls in other groups.

2. Parental profession has a direct influence on students' academic performance.

3. Parental profession influences the choice of the students‟ career.

4. A girl child is influenced to choose the mother's career in the same way the boy

   child may be interested in taking up the father‟s career.

5. Students whose parental professions do not fall in teaching/lecturing, medical

   services and administration perform poor in academic.

6. Parental profession may not affect students‟ choice of career.

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

There are various factors that affect academic performance of students in secondary school. However, this study focused on parents‟ professions in teaching/lecturing, medical services and administration because they were the major variables in this study. In the same way, it was delimited to parental profession based on (biological father or mother).

The study was also delimited to Financial Accounting as a subject because it was the subject in focus in this study. The study was dedicated to all the six Federal Government Colleges (Boys and Girls) of North-Central Geo-political zone Nigeria. Also, it was delimited to Senior Secondary School students in SS1 and SS2 classes in the 2013/2014 academic session because they took Financial Accounting as subject and could therefore be used to assess students‟ performance.