AWARENESS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

AWARENESS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS ACCOUNTANCY AS A PROFESSION _. PREPARED BY: PROFESOR DR JUHARI SAMIDI TEWYOUHOO AZMI ABD HAMID DECEMBER 1995

KAJIAN PERAKAUN'A INSTITUTTEKNOLOGI MflRR "Accountancy Is Our Nature And Quality Is Our Culture" 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darnl Ehsan, MALAYSIA. Tel :601 03.5564125,601 03 5564485 Fax: 601 03 5508101 31 Julai 1996 Ketua Biro Penyelidikan dan Perundingan (BRC) ITM SHAH ALAM, Puan LAPORAN AKHIR PENYELIDlKAN "AWARENESS OF SECONDARY' SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS ACCOUNTANCY AS A PROFESSION" Merujuk kepada perkara di atas, bersarna ini disertakan 3 (tiga) naskah Laporan Akhir Penyelidikan bertajuk "Awareness Of Secondary School Students Towards Accountancy As A Profession" oleh kumpulan Penyelidik Kajian Perakaunan, ITM Shah Alarn untuk makluman pihak puan. Sekian, terima kasih. P OF DR JUHARI SAMIDI Ketua Projek Penyelidikan... Larnpiranl Balk/penye School of Accountancy, MARA Institute Of Technology 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan. MALAYSIA

KUMPULAN PENYELIDIK Prof Dr Juhari Samidi KETUA PROJEK TewYouHoo AHLI... ~ Signature Azmi Abd Hamid AHLI ~ '1......... Sig ature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The researhers would like to convey their grateful appreciation to the Bureau of Research and Consultancy (BRC) Institut Teknologi MARA which provided the fund for this research. The cooperation of the principals, teachers and pupils of the school~ participating in this study is much appreciated. Last but not least, the researchers extend their sincere thanks to all those who have helped them in any special way to complete this research. Although it will not be possible to thank them all by individual names as there are too many to enumerate, their contribution will always be appreciated even if unrecorded. 1

ABSTRACT This study investigates the awareness of the secondary school students towards accountancy as a profession. The survey was conducted on Form 4 (four) and Form 5 (five) students of 8 secondary schools in Klang and Kuala Selangor by way of questionnaire. Comparisons are made based on the ethnicity of the students and the locality of the sample schools. Overall, the findings show that the secondary school students' level of awareness towards accountancy as a profession is not high eventhough accountancy is the most popular career choice. The survey findings also indicated that the bumiputra students are less keen to take up accountancy as a profession compared with the non-bumiputras. This survey should be of interest to Institut Teknologi MARA in general and the School of Accountancy in particular as it provides information on the degree of awareness of secondary school students on the accounting programmes offered by the School of Accountancy, Institut Teknologi MARA. 11

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgement Abstract 11 List of Tables VI CHAPTERl 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background Of Study 1.2 Objective Of Study 7 1.3 Significance Of The Study 8 CHAPTER 2 10 2.0 Literature Review 10 CHAPTER 3 12 3.0 RESEARCH DESIGN AND ANALYSIS 12 3.1 Sampling 12 3.2 Instrumentation 12 3.3 Pilot Study 13 3.4 Scope And Limitations 13 3.5 Analysis 14 III

CHAPTER 4 15 Page 4.0 FINDINGS 15 4.1 Profile of respondents 15 4.2 Career Aspirations.18 4.3 Reasons for Choosing Accountancy As A 24 Career 4.4 Accounting As One Of The 25 Subjects In The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia Examination 4.5 Reasons For Not Taking 28 Accounting In The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia Examination 4.6 Sources of Encouragement For 30 Career Choice 4.6.1 Parents Encouragement 31 4.6.2 Next Of Kin's Encouragement 32 4.6.3 Teachers Role In Student's 32 Career 4.7 Career Guidance Club In 33 Schools 4.7.1 Role of Career Guidance Club 34 4.8 Seminar In Career Guidance 36 iv

4.9 Reasons For Taking 37 Accounting In Sijil Pelajaran,; Malaysia 4.10 Dilemma Of Science Students 38 Taking Accounting Page 4.11 Avenues For Studying 40 Accounting 4.12 Awareness Towards 41 Accountancy Courses And Accountancy Bodies In Malaysia CHAPTERS 49 5.0 SUMMARY AND 49 RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Summary 49 5.2 Recommendations 51 6.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY 54 7.0 APPENDIX v

LIST OF TABLE Table Page 1 Profile Of Respondents: Ethnicity And Locality Of School 16 2 Profile Of Respondents: Streaming And Locality Of School 16 3 Career Aspiration Based On Ethnicity And Locality Of School 17 4 Choice Of Accountancy Profession: Ethnicity Wise 20 5 Choice Of Accountancy Profession: Locality Of School Wise 21 6 Choice Of Accountancy Profession: Gender Wise 22 7 Reasons For Choosing Accountancy As A Career 24 8 Taking Of Accounting Subject V s Ethnicity 25 9 Taking Of Accounting Subject V s Locality Of School 27 10 Reasons For Not Taking Accounting In SPM: Ethnicity Wise 28 11 Sources Of Encouragement For Career Choice 30 12 Membership Of Career Guidance Club 33 13 Seminar On Career Guidance 36 14 Reasons For Taking Accounting In Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia: 37 Ethnicity Wise VI ;

15 Science Stream Students Takng Accounting In 38 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia 16 Avenues For Studying Accounting 40 17 Percentage Of Respondents Who Have Heard Of Accountancy 42 Courses And Accountancy Bodies: Locality Of Schools Wise 18 Percentage Of Respondents Who Have Heard Of Accountancy 45 Courses And Accountancy Bodies: Ethnicity Wise 19 Percentage Of Respondents Who Aspire To Be An Accountant 47 And Have Heard Of Accountancy Courses And Accountancy Bodies Vll

CHAPTER 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study Accountants need to have financial quality and managerial skills, to help in building the economic development of the country. Accountants play a major role in all aspects of business activities. They are responsible for controlling and maintaining the financial discipline of companies, serve as advisers to entrepreneurs on business expansion, restructuring, financing etc. Every business enterprise whether large or small needs an accountant. The job of an accountant is not only to keep track of the accounts of a business or entity but also to provide financial and business information and advice to its management. The growth of an enterprise will eventually build up the nation as well. The rapid growth in the Malaysian economy in the last 39 years of independence has increased the demand for accountants. However, the increase in supply was not fast enough despite having more institutions offering accounting education in the country. With the robust economic expansion in Malaysia, it can be seen that the demand or accountants is expected to increase in parallel with the rate of economic growth and industrial development and towards achieving the country's Vision 2020.

Statistics show that currently there is only one accountant to every 3000 people in Malaysia as compared to the ratio of 1 : 500 in Singapore and Australia (Akauntan Nasional, September 1991). It is therefore essential for the nation to produce more accountants to meet the expanding demand for financial skills created by the industrialization process. The inability of the slowly increasing supply to meet the accelerating demand has laid focus on the supply side rather than on the demand. A lot of efforts are made to increase supply without sacrificing quality. There is a need for some research into this and a closer rapport between the supply and the demand side. Admittedly, the basic aim of accounting education is not to produce technicians but to educate the students to think, to rationalize and to have an overview of the profession. It is therefore important for the professional accountancy bodies in Malaysia and the relevant authorities to be alert on this matter. Their job is not only to look into the production of more accountants but the right kind with the appropriate training and experience as well as the right values. As mentioned earlier, shortage can be overcome by increasing the supply. The question is what methods can be applied to increase the supply without sacrificing quality? 2

The biggest source of supply of accountants is the upper secondary schools. It is here where we can tap potential students to be trained as accountants. As the supply here is huge, increasing the intake of students to study accounting will not sacrifice the quality of future accountants. However, this is not an easy task. Where students are given alternative disciplines. they tend to choose courses or subjects which favor them most. Quite unfortunately, with the lack or absence of career guidance in schools, being an accountant does not always appeal to many schoolleavers compared to being a doctor, lawyer or engineer. According to Zainal A. Putih (1994), schoolleavers are unaware of the accounting profession and many are lured into other careers. He feels that students do not seem to think accounting is an interesting profession. In fact, accounting procedures and job functions keep changing and it can be a challenging job. In Malaysia, there are several avenues whereby a person can pursue accounting education locally for the purpose of entering into the accounting profession. Firstly, there are five local universities namely, University of Malaya, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, University Pertanian Malaysia, University Utara Malaysia and University Islam Antarabangsa that offer bachelor's degree in accounting. The School of Accountancy, Institut Teknologi MARA also offers the Diploma in Accountancy as well as the Advanced Diploma in Accountancy Courses to the bumiputras. 3

Secondly, the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA), a local professional body, also conducts the MACPA examinations. It currently has arrangements with two private colleges (Tunku Abdul Rahman College and Damansara Utama College) and one government institution (Mara Institute of Technology) to provide the training for its examinations. Students can also undergo articleships in any public accounting firm and sit for the MACP A examinations. In addition, individuals can also attend courses on a full-time or part-time basis in various private colleges which offer the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA) and sit for the professional examinations locally. Only after passing the approved examinations and undergoing relevant years of practical experience, can a person be admitted as a member of a professional body. With the qualifications and experience obtained, the accountants are able to contribute their expertise to the nation. However, not many students are aware of the prospects or are ready to take up the challenge (Megat Abdul Rahman, 1981). Apparently, with the government policy to achieve Vision 2020, it needs more than 50,000 accountants by the year 2020. Right now we only have a mere 8,000 qualified accountants registered with the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (The Minister of Education, 1995). From there statistics we can calculate that Malaysia needs to produce an average of more than 2000 'accountants yearly. 4

This is a very good opportunity for students. The moment they decide to make accountancy a career, they are on a right path to success. Besides good prospects, the job market is very wide. But, how many of them are really aware of this? The most important values, objectives and concerns of individuals involved in practicing accounting are shared by those involved in accounting education. According to Iincus, Karen V (1990), there are 5 areas of concern common to both groups: a) Improving accountant's contribution to society. b) Broadening the educational foundation for those contempfating a career in accountancy. c) Putting the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination in its proper perspective. d) Using the accounting standards as illustrations of practical applications of fundamental concepts in accounting. e) Sharpening the awareness and responsiveness of accounting teachers and students towards accountancy as a career. 5

It is hoped that the continued synergistic cooperation and mutual understanding of both groups will lead to progress in increasing the number of accountants in Malaysia. In light of the above discussion, a survey is important in order to find out students' career aspirations and to find out the general problems facing students in upper secondary schools or factors which hinder them from taking up accountancy. What really concerns us is students' awareness and unwillingness in taking up accountancy as a career. 6

1.2 Objectives Of Study The objectives of this study are as follows: 1) To differentiate the career aspirations of the secondary school students of different ethnicity and from different locality. 2) To find out the reasons for choosing accountancy as a career. 3) To enumerate the reasons for taking and not taking accounting in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) Examination. 4) To differentiate the awareness of students of different ethnicity anq from different locality towards accountancy courses and accountancy bodies in Malaysia. 7

1.3 Significance Of The Study Planning for human resource development of a nation is not an easy task. One has to consider various factors in order to formulate a strategic plan in line with government policy. Human resource development should be planned when students are still in their school days. The relevant authorities should be able to see what opportunities and problems lie ahead of them. The various problems and opportunities should be synchronized to find the best possible solution. This will help to overcome shortages in human resource supply. This study is done in the light of the acute shortage of accountants in Malaysia. The success of the process of education depends not only on the physical facilities and qualified teachers, but also as much upon attitudes, aspirations and awareness of students themselves. The students' aspirations and awareness must therefore be taken into consideration in the future planning of the education needs. If it is found that the awareness of the secondary schools students towards accountancy as a career is low, then proper guidance and counseling can be arranged to help students to see clearly what opportunities lie ahead of them and to expose them to accountancy. 8

It is hoped that this study will be helpful to the School of Accountancy, ITM in promoting its Diploma in Accountancy and the Advanced Diploma in Accountancy programs to the secondary school students. Finally, this study might be useful to the Ministry of Education in planning and implementing educational policies in Malaysian schools. 9

CHAPTER 2 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW A research done by Goon (1975), revealed that accountancy is the most popular career" selection among secondary school students. However, the scope of her research only covers female students in urban schools in Kuala Lumpur (Bukit Bintang Girls' School and Convent Girls' School). This research can be classified as a research of urban school students' career aspirations. According to her, there is a significant divergence from a patte(ll of popular career as revealed in earlier studies in this country. This unusual divergence represents a development that can be traced to the aspects of the changing Malaysian environment. This is in line with the increased educational opportunities and the change in the attitude of students. This in turn has led to an increase in career consciousness among students. It is also due to the changing structure of the Malaysian economic environment towards the broadening of the industrial and services sector (Malaysia Second Plan 1971, Page 103). It has also been mentioned that there is an increasing demand for accountants among other skilled human resources. 10

Furthermore, the nature of the training as well as the work of accountants are another probable contributing factor to its high frequency of preference. The work does not demand physical ability. Moreover, the different types of certification of professional accountants provides for entry training at different levels of educational attainment. Finally, accountancy represents a skilled profession that does not discriminate against students from the different streams of training. Hence all these factors contribute to make accountancy the most popular career choice among secondary school students. On the other hand, another research relating to the career aspirations and expectations of secondary school students in rural areas was done by Mohd. Ridzwan Abd. Rahman, (1974175). The result of the survey revealed that the niost popularly chosen high status profession was graduate teachers (20.92% of the respondents), followed by economists (5.19%), engineers (3.24 %) and architects (3.24 %). Accountancy as a career does not really attract students from rural areas. They are not exposed to the career and therefore lack knowledge of its prospects. There are many factors that affect the career choice of a student. Among them are individual personality characteristics, family attributes, economic status and ethnicity of students. Furthermore the social environment and context in which the individual lives such as rural or urban residence, parental pressure, peer group and the socia-economic composition of the community plays an important factor. These factors directly or indirectly have strong influence on students' knowledge and exposure to the choic~ of career decision later on. 11

CHAPTER 3 3.0 RESEARCH DESIGN AND ANALYSIS 3.1 Sampling For the purpose of this study, a sample of 1,500 students was selected. The method of selection adopted was cluster sampling, where 450 students are from four (4) urban schools and 1,050 students are from four (4) rural schools. 3.2 Instrumentation The questionnaire method was employed to obtain the necessary data and information for this study. Most of the questions are close-ended to facilitate quantitative analysis of the data. The questionnaire was designed to investigate: 1) the profile of the respondents 2) the respondents' career aspiration 3) the respondents' current avenues for studying accounting subject 4) the respondents' aware.ess on accounting courses and accountancy bodies In Malaysia 12

In addition, interviews were also conducted with the teachers teaching accounting subjects in the selected schools. This is done to obtain a better understanding and to verify some of the information provided by the students. The collection of data was carried out personally by the researchers. 3.3 Pilot Study A pilot study was conducted with 50 sets of the original questionnaire distributed to the students at one of the urban schools in Klang. After checking the data from the pilot study, the following were improved: 1) the instructions given to the respondents 2) the clarity of the language used 3) a few questions were added to obtain more data 3.4 Scope And Limitations The sample for this study came form form four (4) and five (5) students for the years 1994 and 1995 of the following schools: (1) Sekolah Menengah Telok Gadong, Klang (2) Sekolah Tinggi Klang (3) Sekolah Menengah Perempuan Methodist Klang (4) Sekolah Menengah Meru Klang (5) Sekolah Menengah Sultan Abdul Aziz Kuala Selangor 13

(6) Sekolah Menengah Sultan Sulaiman Shah (7) Sek()lah Menengah Seri Tanjong and (8) Sekolah Raja Muda Musa. For the purpose ()f this study, the above first four (4) schools (situated in Klang town) are classified as urban schools while the latter four (4) schools (situated in Kuala Selangor) are classified as urban schools. The classification is based on the criteria made by the Ministry of Education. An Urban school is defined as a school located in town centres, whereas a rural school is defined as a school located in areas more than 30 kin from town centres. Since the study concentrated on four (4) schools in Klang and four (4) schools in Kuala Selangor, the sample may not be necessarily representative of the form four (4) and form five (5) students in general. 3.5 Analysis The data was analyzed using the following statistical tools: 1) Frequency count and descriptive statistics 2) Cross-tabulation 3) Chi -square test 14