IMPROVING FINANCIAL FORECASTING AND OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS SKILLS OF BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS FOR SUSTAINABILITY OF GREEN ECONOMY IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine the financial forecasting and operational analysis skills improvement needs of Business Education students for sustainability of Green Economy in South-South Nigeria. Two specific objectives and two research questions were raised, while two hypotheses were formulated to guide this study. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 675 respondents made up of 164 Business Educators and 511 final year students of Business Education from 10 State Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria. The sample of the study was 251 respondents made up of 61 Business Educators and 190 Business Education students. A researcher developed instrument titled “Financial Forecasting and Operational Analysis Skills Improvement Questionnaire (FFOASIQ) was used to obtain data for the study. The instrument was face validated by three research experts in Business Education Department, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha. The data collected were analysed using the difference between the Mean rating of Business Educators and the students (Improvement Need Index [INI]) to answer the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested using independent t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that, Business Education students need improvement in all the listed financial forecasting and operational analysis skills. The result further revealed that there is a significant difference between the mean responses of Business Educators and Business Education students on financial forecasting and operational analysis skills for sustainability of Green Economy in South-South Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that Business Education lecturers in tertiary institutions should redouble their effort to expose students to financial forecasting and operational analysis skills before their graduation to boost their capacity to undertake profitable business ventures.