Factors influencing accounting students` intention to become a professional accountant in Malaysia

Abstract

In 2009, Malaysia and other ASEAN countries signed the Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Accountancy Services (MRAAS), designed to enhance the supply and further widen the professional accounting services across the ASEAN countries. However, the professional accountants’ segment in Malaysia is currently underserved due to the limited number of registered accountants under the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). Thus, the purpose of the study is to explore factors influencing and hindering students’ intention to become a professional accountant in Malaysia. The sample of the study consists of students in a public and a private university in Malaysia who had already undergone industrial training. The findings suggest that students who have the intention to become professional accountants are influenced by self-efficacy, job security, and subjective norms while students with no intention to pursue the profession are affected by intrinsic factors, self-efficacy, subjective norms, and financial costs. The findings provide insights to universities, professional bodies, and organisations on the factors that could motivate undergraduate students to become professional accountants in the future. Besides, the findings could be beneficial to the relevant authorities in developing strategies to attract more accounting graduates to obtain professional accounting qualifications.