The Role Of Accounting Knowledge In Defining The Career Of A Public Accountant

Abstract

Public accounting professions play a crucial role in the economic advancement. However, only few graduates in accounting majors are interested in this profession. This is quite unsettling. Knowledge is one of the determinants in selecting future career path. Therefore, this studyaims at describing the role of accounting knowledge with regard to the students’ intentions to work in public-accounting-related profession using the Theory of Planned Behavior (PBC) approach. Surveys, interviews, document analyses and observations were used to collect data. In conclusion, accounting knowledge played an important role in stimulating attitude and perceived behavioral control and eventually increased the students’ intention to work in public-accounting-related profession. This had a fairly major role, especially for high calibre students. On the other hand, subjective norms occurred in their selection of accounting major per se, and did not have any roles in defining their career selection.