Factors Affecting Students’ Intention To Become Professional Accountant In Selected Malaysian Universities

Abstract

Professional bodies are targeting to double the number of professional accountants by year 2020 in order to provide confidence and strong assurance for a mature and strong capital market. However, most Malaysian graduates from accounting program does not have the intention to pursue their career as a professional accountant. Thus, this study is conducted to investigate the factors affecting accounting students’ intention to become professional accountant in selected Malaysian universities. This study also examines the significant difference in the students’ intention between the private and public university. Questionnaire survey was distributed to 200 respondents of the third and fourth year undergraduate accounting students of the universities. The results show that accounting students’ intention to become professional accountant is influenced by their intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Students' subjective norms and self-efficacy do not affect their intention. Further analysis observed no significant difference in the intention p to pursue a career in accounting between the private and public university students in Malaysia. However, additional findings evidenced a significant difference in the students' subjective norms between the private and public university students.