REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

According to Chris Aque (2007), the historical background of perception is studied by

philosophers, physiologists, physicians, and psychologists. Physiologists and physicians focus

mainly on the basic physical processes connected to perception. The study about perception

began with early Greek philosophers who were interested in the sources of human knowledge.

Epistemology, a branch of philosophy examine whether our perceptions are an exact reflection of

the world. Epistemologists questioned whether we are born with prior knowledge or scheme, or

whether all knowledge is learned through experience. The systematized examination of mental

organizations of physical senses is included within the field of psychology.

According to Elyssa Twedt and Dennis R. Proffitt (2015), perception is the study of how

sensory information is processed into perceptual experiences. On the other hand, actions lead by

sensory information processed outside of awareness. There are five senses with its unique

sensory structures, and mechanisms introducing its function. However, all five senses share the

common goal of putting up sensory information from the external environment and processing

that information into a perceptual experience. The experience of seeing is through, light activates

photoreceptors on the retina, which leads to a flow of chemical and electrical events processing

in the visual cortex in vision. The experience of hearing sound is through changes in air pressure

transformed by the inner ear and auditory cortex. The experiences of touch, pain, and

temperature result from the activation of mechanoreceptors, nociceptors, and thermoreceptors on

the skin, which send information to the somatosensory cortex. The sense of smell arises once

odorant receptors in the nose detect gas molecules and structures within the olfactory cortex

work to discriminate, identify, and evaluate odor qualities. Finally, taste occurs when liquid or

solid molecules stimulate receptors on the tongue and information about taste quality can be
processed by the gustatory cortex. Perceptual scientists have utilized a variety of behavioral,

physiological, and neuroimaging techniques to discover how sensory inputs are organized in the

brain onto perceptual experiences. The parts of this article provide a definite discussion of each

sensory system, the major areas of research within each field, how the sensory systems often

interact to create multisensory experiences, and how non-sensory factors like behavior, and

experience, can affect perceptual experience. This article shows that some of the sensory

systems, such as vision and sound have a longer history of study and are much better understood

than touch, smell, or taste.

Self-concepts may affect or influence your choice of career, either positive or negative

self-concepts, Stan Mack (2017). If you portray positive self-concept, you will believe in

yourself and you'll pursue more opportunities for growth. You'll also take more chances and

handle certain rejections better, which increases your chances of career success. While on

negative self-concept, it makes you feel down and as if your capabilities are limited. That means,

you'll miss opportunities to success and will remain where you are.

According to Bob Schneider, the biggest name that appears in early history of accounting

is Luca Pacioli, who first describe the system of double-entry bookkeeping which is used by

Venetian traders in his Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioniet Proportionalita in 1494.

He was also describe first the system of debits and credits in journals and ledgers that is still the

foundation of today's accounting systems. Since long before the Venetians, businesses and

governments had been recording their financial information.

Father of accounting, Pacioli was born in 1445 in tuscany, be known as the father of

accounting and bookkeeping. He wrote summa de arithmetic, geomatria, proportioni,

proportionalita, which means "the collected knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, proportion and
proportionality". His book was one of the first books published using the historical Gutenberg

press and the included treatise was the first known published work on the topic of double entry

bookkeeping. One chapter of his book, particularis da camputis et scripturis, which means

"details of calculation and recording". The chapter educated readers about the use of journals and

ledgers as well as keeping account of assets, receivables, inventories, liabilities, capital, income

expenses, keeping a balance sheet and making an income statement. He invented to teach

mathematics at the court of duke Lodovico Maria Sforco in Milan. Leonardo da Vinci was one

the Paciolis' students.

The need for more advanced cost accounting system were stimulus in industrial

revolution. The larger classes if external capital providers were created by the development of

corporations- share owners and bondholders- who were not part of the organization’s

management but had a dynamic interest in its results. The rising and improving public status of

accountants helped to transform accounting into a profession. Thirty-one accountants who joined

together to create the American Association of Public Accountants way back in 1887. The first

CPA's were authorized in 1896, and the official standard test was given a decade later of

11887.The Great Depression headed to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission

(SEC) in 1934. From this time forward, all publicly-traded companies had to compile periodic

reports with the Commission to be certified by members of the accounting profession. The

predecessors of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) had responsibility

for setting accounting standards until 1973, when the Financial Accounting Standards Board

(FASB) was showed.

In 2001, the Enron scandals had broad repercussions for the accounting industry. When

one of the top firms, Arthur Anderson, went out of business under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
accountant faced tougher condition on their consulting engagements. One of the paradoxes of the

profession, is that accounting scandals brings more work for accountants, and demand for their

services continued to accelerate throughout the early part of the 21st century.

According to Andrew Beattie, accounting is the language of business and the language of

all things that are connected to financial. The same way of how we understand and translate the

things and information about our surrounding, accountants are needed to translate the intricacy of

finance into simple form of numbers that the public can understand.

The first professional for accountants were established in Scotland in 1854, starting with

the Edinburgh society of accountants and the Glasgow institute of accountants shot up, and the

profession rapidly became an integral part of the business and financial system. There are now

organizations for chartered accountants all over the world. In the U.S, the American institute of

certified public accountants was established in 1887.

The Federal Reserve published Uniform Accounting, a document that tried to set industry

standards for how financial should be organized both for reporting tax and financial statements

way back in 1917. There was once said that the SEC instituted the regular review of financial

statements and began a long run of government regulation over both the practice of accounting

and of investing.

According to Bellis (2017), accounting is a system of recording and summarizing business

and financial transactions. Therefore as long as civilizations engage in trade or an organized

system of government, accounting and accounting tools use for record keeping. Archeologists

discover that are accounts of ancient tax records on clay tablets from Egypt and Mesopotamia

dating back as early as 2,000 to 3,000 B.C.

 The common problems on the accountancy from student’s perceptions are based on

EzineArticles.com are the following: managing other people's money while on a budget, leading

a social and relaxed life, choosing the correct industry, formal lifestyle, being unqualified, online

technologies

1. Managing other people's money while on a budget - Accounting students have to live their life

on a strict and low budget while also manage the incomes of big business houses at the same

time. It might be a good idea to take a break before starting an accountancy course and collect

some funds to relax as they study year after year.

2. Leading a social and relaxed life - As students pave their way to adulthood, a university is the

perfect place to make new friends, socialize and learn more about life with every passing day.

However, accounting as a career can be extremely demanding and an accounting student rarely

gets the time to relax or socialize with others.

3. Choosing the correct industry - Trained accountants can choose from various business fields

and sometimes it becomes a problem to choose the correct and apt industry for a student amongst

the various options available. A student should not limit his opportunities for progression and

explore them all before making a final choice.

4. Formal lifestyle - Being a computer-oriented career, accounting can prove to be quite rigid and

requires the student to lead a formal and strict lifestyle both during and after graduation.

Internships too can be strict and stressing, without allowing much flexibility to an accounting

student.

5. Being unqualified - An accounting student who fails to complete his degree or secures

extremely low marks in his exams due to the excessive academic pressure may face serious

problems in securing a job and might be left unemployed while his peers achieve success in their
careers.

6. Online technologies - With the advent of online technologies and an internet culture setting in

rapidly, many accounting students find it difficult to secure a job after their graduation as several

business homes avoid hiring an accountant when a number of functions and jobs can be

completed with cloud-based accountancy software's.

The solutions in the existing problems stated above are the following: first is giving

teenagers financial responsibilities so that they will get to use in budgeting while they are young

and recognize the value of things so that they will be get ready in budgeting larger amount of

money/assets in the future. Second is to review or manage or time and priorities, set goal, give

boundaries between your career life and personal life, avoid stress and exhaustion because it can

affect your working performance and these things will lead you to have a relaxed life. Third one

is, having a proper mind-set will let you enjoy your job and have passion into it. Fourth is to

focus on most demanding tasks, manage your personal or family matters, getting questions

answered and keeping work going, never go to bed with undone work so it will not be hassle for

you for tomorrow’s tasks, and keeping things running smoothly to lessen your too formal

lifestyle. Next is being unqualified accountants, you missed the chance to prepare, examine or

analyze accounting records. So if you are unqualified accountant, prove to the qualified

accountants that even you are unqualified, you can analyze business operations and you can

establish a table of accounts and assign entries to proper accounts. Lastly, you should hire a

professional accountant to get several advices about your business. When you are writing a

business plan and you involve an accountant, they will be able to help you using accounting

software to add financial projections and other reports to it. This will help you to make a

business plan that is professional, realistic, and more likely to succeed. When you hire a
professional, you will get benefit of their financial and analytical knowledge and advice right

from the start. You will also be needing advices from professional accountants regarding your

company’s legal structure like: limited companies, limited liability, partnerships or corporations,

sole traders or proprietors. And you need to choose wisely which legal structure best suits

you/business. It is different if the company structure has a limited liability. The liability of the

business is limited to the assets owned by the business. However, this also means, any business-

related obligations could be held personally. An accountant can explain the legal business

structures available and help you choose among them. You will also need an accountant to help

with the finance as they will help you control of who owes you money. They can also help you

manage your payroll and produce visual representations to see how the ratio changes over time.

And if your accountant uses cloud-based accounting software, they’ll be able to share your

business accounts and position with you very easily. They can produce tables and charts that will

help you understand your company’s current situation and monitor the cash flow. Accountants

help you to regulate your workload and determine your own finance. Delegating your company’s

financial affairs is a good start, you need to choose trustworthy accountants to handle your

company’s financial account. With this, you will be having more time to concentrate on other

aspects of your business.

According to Wells’ (2013), the way we think and feel may affect perceptions. The

certain attitude or behavior, beliefs, expectations can contribute on how a person, with the same

characteristics as them, will think of something. The need of accountant are increasing but their

undergraduate students don’t seem to continue accounting areas as their career path [ CITATION

Azn16 \l 1033 ]. Mbawuni (2015) were about to study if the gender of a person has something to

do their perception in accounting.

 Career choice is a lifelong process of decision-making for those who seek major
satisfactions from their work. His theory said that people make their career decisions which
balance their interests and values with the opportunities and talents available, as well as the cost
of pursuing the opportunities. There are some theories in relation to career choice, for 55, social
cognitive theory says that family and relative have influences on students’ career choice.
According to the Parsons' theory, individuals should consider their skills and abilities how they
may fit with a particular occupation. In addition, individuals need knowledge of jobs, the labor
market and compensation which includes salary and benefits (Bandura, 1986). Socioeconomic
theory said that Social conditions include parent influence, friends and teachers’ influences,
social status and economic conditions include job opportunity, salary amount, and the likes have
an impact on students’ career choice. ( Venable, 2011). In general, it's important to understand
that career choice is not made based on any one factor. Our choices are subject to many
influences – individual, cultural, social, and environmental. The combination and interaction of
various influences on individual decision-making are unique to their situation (Venable, 2011).

Early studies reveal that accounting majors perceive differences between working for

public accounting and working for private industry. Stolle (1976) study reveals that students

from four USA universities view public accounting as more professionally and socially

satisfying than industrial accounting. Melcher, Duangploy and Owings (1985) document that

students perceive the public accounting provides greatest satisfaction than the private in seven

out of eight factors: compensation, interpersonal relations, status, working conditions, career

counselling, job security and overall satisfaction.

The general images of accountants still abound some 50 years after O’Dowd and

Beardslee (1960) provided evidence of the existence of a depreciative the view of accountants.

According to Hunt, Anthony and Intrieri (2004), accountants were widely seen as being skilled

in mathematics and tax work and attentive detail, but they were not considered particularly

admirable, exciting, outgoing, versatile or strong in leadership capabilities. Research conducted

by Mladenovic (2000:142) showed that students tend to perceive accounting as primarily

numerical, objective and non-controversial, and are less able to perceive the importance of

creative judgment and communication skills for accountants. Students are also more inclined to
perceive accounting as having an affinity with subjects like mathematics and statistics. In the last

few years, researchers have noted a worldwide decline in the number of students choosing to

become accountants (Marriott&Marriott2003:113). Albrecht and Sack (2000) listed five reasons

for the decline in student interest in the accounting profession in the USA: low starting salaries,

more attractive career choices, a willingness to choose risky majors, a misconception of

accountants and the accounting profession. Byrne and Willis (2005:368) argue that although

perceptions play a critical role in career decisions, few studies have explored this issue in the

field of accounting. They also point out that most of these studies focused on tertiary students in

the USA. No specific prior research on students’ perceptions of accountants in South Africa

could be identified other than a study by Myburgh (2005) who examined the career choices of

students to identify the factors motivating accountancy students to become chartered

accountants.

A significant number of studies have been conducted to address various aspects of the

Accountancy. Among other things, these studies have examined the possible effect of gender on

accounting profession. (Buckless, Lipe and Ravenscroft, 1991) and the prediction of student

performance in accounting courses (Danko, Duke and Franz, 1992; Bernardi and Bean, 1999). A

study by Friedlan (1995) asked Canadian accounting students both at the beginning and end of

the course the perceived importance of 12 skills on their ability to perform well in accounting,

and the importance of 13 skills for performance as accounting practitioners. While the Friedlan

study assessed students’ perceptions of the skills needed to perform well academically and

professionally. There has also been some empirical research concerning on students’ general

perception of accounting, accountants, and the accounting profession (e.g., Paolillo and Estes,

1982; Cory, 1992; Cohen and Hanno, 1993). However, studies involving student perception in
accounting typically ask students one or only a few attitudinal/perceptual questions at the end of

the course. Accordingly, these prior studies have incorporated attitudinal questions, but have not

adequately addressed student attitudes. Additionally, there have been several studies that have

attempted to examine whether the accounting course has the ability to attract “the best and the

brightest” students to accounting profession (e.g., Inman, Wentzler, and Wicker, 1989; Baldwin

and Ingram, 1991; Adams, Pryor, and Adams, 1994; Nelson and Deines, 1995; Riordan, St.

Pierre, and Matoney, 1996). They found that the mean GPA of intended accounting majors was

higher than that of non-accounting students before the introductory course, and that students

transferring into accounting after the course had higher GPAs than those transferring out. These

4 results suggest that the introductory course may retain quality students and may actually attract

higher performing students to major in accounting. A study by Cohen and Hanno (1993) used the

theory of planned behavior to predict and explain the choice of accounting as a major. Their

results indicate that students chose not to major in accounting because they perceived it to be too

number-oriented and boring. Intended accounting majors were also found to place more

emphasis than intended non-accounting majors on high performance in the introductory courses

in their selection of a major. In a related study, Stice et al. (1997) categorized students as being

“qualified” or “unqualified” to major in accounting based on performance in the introductory

course. Their results indicate that course performance was not significantly related to the

decision to major in accounting when examining just the “qualified” (i.e. high performing)

students. That is, just because a student performs well in introductory accounting does not mean

that they will choose to major in accounting. Their results are consistent with those of Adams et

al. (1994) who found that students’ responses to the item “genuine interest in the field,” as

opposed to actual course performance, was the most significant factor in deciding to major in
accounting. However, none of these prior studies present a direct examination of student

perceptions toward the introductory accounting course and how these perceptions relate to the

decision to major in accounting. Stice et al. (1997) argue that while performance may serve as a

screening device, future research should focus on identifying non-performance factors that affect

the decision to major in accounting. Further, no study in accounting has examined the possible

differential effect of individual instructors on students’ decisions to major in accounting.

Although prior researchers (e.g., Daroca and Nourayi, 1994) have inferred that there may be a

differential impact of individual faculty members on introductory accounting students, this

conjecture has not been tested empirically.

The researchers found a research on student perceptions of job opportunities generally

consists of rating job characteristics. According to Carpenter and Strawser (1970), he studied

student perceptions on job characteristics to help local firms understand how they compete with

bigger national firms in hiring employees. They found that students ranked (1) nature of the

work, (2) opportunities for advancement, (3) starting salary, (4) working conditions, and (5) job

security. They characterized their findings as accommodating smaller local firms because the

students didn’t highly rank characteristics believed to be favoring national firms such as;

company reputation and opportunity for graduate study. The highest Grade Point Average (GPA)

students were almost evenly divided. Only 5 of 9 selected a national firm on selecting a local

firm verse a national firm as a first preference. They suggest that communication of the

opportunities in a small firms is a key component to helping level the recruiting playing field.

Schmutte (2001) had students and recruiters from national, regional, and local firms evaluate

employer attributes that characterized eight factors such as, personal issues, compensation,

technical development, and professional development. Students considered different attributes

held from the recruiters as support for entry level staff, flex time scheduling, future earnings

potential, salary offered, promotion and advancement opportunity, opportunity to use skills and

abilities, and independence in completing work as the top one or two attributes for each factor.

Source: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?

doi=10.1.1.197.3538&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Prior research has indicated negative perceptions of accounting exist and enrollments are

declining. According to Albrecht and Sack (2001), the profession faces a major crisis due to the

lack of college students majoring in accounting. From 1990 to 2000, the number of college

accounting majors fell from 4% to 2% and the percentage of high school students planning to

major in accounting fell from 2% to 1% over the same time period. According to focus groups,

the reasons for this decline are numerous misconceptions of what a career in accounting

involves. Many students see accounting as a necessary evil, not as an exciting career path. Berry,

O'Bryan, and Swanson (2004) find that high school teachers and counselors also have distorted

perceptions of the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for success in the accounting

profession.

Saemann and Crooker (1999) surveyed the students and found that traditional perceptions of

accounting tend to discourage more creative students from selecting it as a major with the

amount of precision required in the course work being the biggest turn off. Geiger and Ogilby

(2000) measured the effect of change during the semester of student perceptions of accounting

and found that students who had declared accounting as their major at the beginning of the

course had better overall perceptions of the course. However, both accounting and non-
accounting majors had diminished perceptions of accounting at the end of the term, and the

largest perceptual change was boredom. Cohen and Hanno (1993) studied choice of college

major and found significant statistical differences between accounting and non-accounting

majors: non-accounting majors failed to select accounting as a major because it was too number-

oriented’ and ‘boring’ (p. 235).

Cory (1992) examined the effect of accounting concept held by students entering college and

whether these concepts had any impact in their choice of accounting as a major. High school

students appeared to have very little information concerning accounting professions. When

compared to the other groups such as attorneys, bankers, and marketing majors, students rated

accountants as dull, indifferent, conservative, and methodical.

Reference: Saemann, G.P. and Crooker, K.J. (1999). Student perceptions of the profession and

its effect on decisions to major in accounting. Journal of Accounting Education, 17(1), 1-22.

According to Robert Foff (2007), prior accounting education literature documents that

students typically associate accounting subjects with negative perceptions, but there are also

recent suggestions that the generalization of the accountant has positive associations. These

perceptions of accounting are likely to affect students’ attitudes towards learning and accordingly

influence their performance. We examine the relationship between students’ perceptions and

students’ performance. The present study involved undergraduate and graduate students enrolled

in management accounting subjects. Our findings indicate that students’ performance is

negatively affected by the negative perceptions of accounting that students bring to the subject.
Our findings also suggest that positive perceptions of accounting held by students at the end of

the semester have a positive impact on students’ performance.

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Personality preferences of accounting students: a longitudinal case study

According to Wheeler (2001), prior research shows that accounting students exhibit very

homogeneous personality preferences points to the need for greater diversity. The dominance of

individuals in accounting firm also exhibit these same homogeneous preferences (Wheeler,

2001), suggesting that these preferences may fit well with an accounting career. Numerous

studies have found relationships between Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality

preferences and various applicable professional skills and capabilities. Therefore, the broadening

of accounting firm skill needs as well as the desire to consistently attract bright, innovative

students suggests a need to draw from a more diverse group.

Source:www.personalitypreferencesofaccountingstudents:alongitudinalcasestudy.com

Personality types and the MBTI

According to Wheeler (2001), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) points to the usefulness

of the measure for accounting research, as well as its high degree of validity and reliability.

Based on the theories of Jung (1921), the MBTI measures four aspects of an individual’s

personality. The MBTI indicates whether an individual prefers extraversion (E) or introversion

(I), sensing (S), thinking (T) or feeling (F), and perceiving (P) or judging (J). These four aspects
of personality are combined to make up 16 personality types. The MBTI measures only

individuals’ preferences for each of the four aspects of personality.

Source:www.personalitypreferencesofaccountingstudents:alongitudinalcasestudy.com

Curriculum change and personality types

The need for professionals with a broad range of viewpoints and capabilities to address the

changing needs of the profession has been the foundation of accounting education change since

the Bedford Committee report on changes in accounting education in 1986. Research in

personality type has indicated that certain types are predisposed to one skill set above another.

Therefore, it is suggested that for academy to address concerns regarding accounting students,

there must be a better combination of personality types than we have had in the past in order to

assure that graduates encompass the broad range of qualities and skill sets needed by the

profession.

According to Langfield-Smith, Milne et al., Otley, (2008), management accounting as a

discipline, profession and practice has recently been given a considerable amount of unwanted

attention, since prominent accounting academics have considered both the academic discipline

and the professional practice as a 'dated' concept. For instance, Otley (2008) suggests that

financial management and analysis exist but that middle management often undertake such

analyses themselves, thus do not need a designated accounting professional for this purpose.
 Many researchers have conducted and examined students’ perceptions in a variety of

accounting fields and concentrated on students’ interest on majoring and choosing accounting as

their future career and the factors that influence such interest, but none has investigated the

interest in management accounting as a future career and profession (for example see,

Hermanson and Hermanson, 1995; Ahmed et al., 1997; Saemann and Crooker, 1999; Tan and

Laswad, 2006; James and Hill, 2009; Warrick et al., 2010).

Factors that influence students’ interest in particular majors vary. Intellect, personal styles,

job prospects, family background, parental pressures, perceptions of different disciplines,

culture, market focus and the curricular options made available by universities are categories of

such factors ( Bourdieu, 1990; Wolk and Cates, 1994; Simons et al., 2004; Tan and Laswad,

2006; Hoffjan et al., 2009). A consistent result of many prior studies points out the important

impact of financial factors (e.g. job opportunities and income) upon accounting students’

decisions when choosing their majors (see for example, Gul et al., 1989; Inman et al., 1989;

Adams et al., 1994; Felton et al., 1994; Lowe and Simons, 1997; Mauldin et al., 2000; Ahmed et

al., 1997).

Other factors may also impact on students’ choice of their future profession, such as

accounting instructors, parents, relatives, or friends. Inconsistent findings were reported in

literature. Cangelosi et al. (1985) and Gul et al. (1989) did not find that instructors have an

important impact on students’ choice of majors. Other studies (see for example, Hermanson and

Hermanson, 1995; Geiger and Ogilby, 2000; Mauldin et al., 2000) indicate the significant
importance of accounting instructors upon students’ decisions in choosing the accounting major

and profession. Cangelosi et al. (1985), Gul et al. (1989), Hermanson and Hermanson (1995),

and Lowe and Simons (1997) indicated that friends and parents were less influential upon

students’ decision-making. On the other hand, Inman et al. (1989) and Mauldin et al. (2000)

indicate the important influence of parents and accounting instructors upon students’ decisions in

choosing the accounting major.

Source: www.ccsenet.org/ass

Nowadays, it is important for the accounting profession to portray a proper professional

image as a public accountant in order to attract talented people into the profession. Sugahara and

Boland (2006) claims that advancement opportunities and potentially high salaries, high social

prestige and powerful authorities are some of the factors that attributes on the prospects of the

job.

Opportunities for moving forward were also found to be positively related to the intention

and perception of accounting people towards accounting profession (Germanou, Hassall &

Tournas, 2009). According to Germanou et.al (2009), the stability and the security of the

profession, advancement opportunities and the student’s perception towards the accounting

job will subsequently influence their decision to join the accounting field.

According to Wessels & Steenkamp (2009), accountants have high responsibilities in a

company: from managing, updating, correcting, and reporting of the company’s accounts.

Every profession would have its own rules, principles and job requirements and an accountant
as numerous regulations and code of conduct that may perceived to be difficult to achieve by a

student. Students should be exposed to the accounting rules and regulations and the reporting

standards should have been taken into account to help as a grooming process to be a good

accountant. These requirements of the accounting profession may not reflect present practice,

but consequently they may influence accounting students to have positive perceptions of the

profession. If accounting students are unconcerned of these requirements, the students might

not have good base skills to become reputable accountants (Jones & Abraham, 2008, 2009).

Ethical behaviour is behaviour that a professional people should have (Oseni, 2011). Hunt

Anthony and Intrieri (2004) clarify that even though accountants were mostly seen as being

skilled in mathematics and tax work, they rarely been considered can be capable in leadership

activities and admirable. Accountants should aim to maintain high ethical standards to

tackle people’s confidence on the perceptions about the profession (ACCA, 2012). Oseni

(2011) claimed that unethical behaviour in accounting profession happened due to the

pressure from the top management, in order to meet unrealistic business objective or deadlines.

Nevertheless, accounting students have witnessed negative behaviours in the accounting

profession such as corruption, dishonesty, data manipulation, frauds and withholding

information from financial statements (Wessels & Steenkamp, 2009). Due to these

malpractices, students have perceived the accounting profession negatively over time.

According to Germanou et.al (2009) and Brás & Rodrigues (2007), previous studies have

found that most students see accountants as respected people and people with high reputation

because of the profession’s expectation from public. Previous research found that most first year

students had negative perceptions about the accounting profession at the beginning of their
accounting course which will tend to decrease as their passion for the accounting profession

increases (Wessels & Steenkamp, 2009). It was also found that career reputation was important

to accounting students as it can affect their image, attitude and confidence (Dalci, Arasli, Tümer

& Baradarani, 2013).

According to Byrne & Willis (2005), primary researches have established that the male

students perceived the accounting profession as more interesting than their female counterparts.

While Hashim, Embong and Shaari (2012) found that the female gender perceived the

accounting profession more positively than the men. However, there had been difference of the

attitudes between women and men in some areas of their perceptions on the profession. It was

also discovered that female students comprise of 57% of accounting graduates (Vigilante, 2005)

and are less likely to hold profession’s concepts (Wessels & Steenkamp, 2009). Studies also

found that female accounting majors tend to graduate with better grades than male, a majority of

accounting majors are female and that accounting firms hire more entry-level female than entry-

level male (Pillsbury, Capozzo & Ciampa, 1989).

According to Mustapha and Hassan (2012), accounting students’ perceptions would have

influenced on their own career decision. A study by Mbawuni, (2015) focused on the perceptions

of students towards accounting profession by gender and factors that influences the perceptions

on the profession found that there was a significant difference between both of male and female

perceptions on accounting profession. Thus, the perceptions of students on accounting

profession should be in line with their interest on the profession (Richard, 2011) because the

perceived notions would give useful information to parties that want to attract the accounting

students on pursuing the accounting profession as their choice of career.

Soure:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302410711_Students
%27_Perception_of_the_Accounting_Profession