Student attitudes towards the accounting profession: a cross institutional comparison

Abstract

This paper reports on a study that has examined the global attitude Australian accounting students have towards the accounting profession. The objective is to gain some insights into whether their attitude is effected in any way by their university studies and whether the university they attend will have an impact. To understand the effect of their time at university students‟ attitudes were measured using the previous validated Accounting Attitude Scale. Students from a traditional Group of Eight (Go8) university as well as students from a newer Australian Technology University (ATN) were surveyed. Differences were observed between two students groups. The attitude of the Go8 students was found to decline during their period of study while no such decline was observed in the ATN students. It was identified that the G08 students were younger than their ATN colleagues and were more likely to have studied accounting at high school. The possible effects of these differences are investigated. This paper concludes by suggesting that there is little evidence to suggest that attitude changes are a driven by the university attended but the decline in attitude of the Go8 students is a concern and ways to reduce it should be identified.