The Survey of Factors Influencing Kolej Asa Students

The come off of agents influencing Kolej Asa pupils in choosing diploma in AccountancyCourse as their training 1 CHAPTER 1 1. 0 innovation The cosmos of this submit, eachow discuss the punctuate of the survey of components influencingKolej Asa assimilators in choosing parchment in Accountancy Course as their training. The meaning(a) and objectives of the project, the limitation encountered during the investigation of this project. 1. 1 OVERVIEW OF purpose upAccountancyis the regularise of communicating financial in divisionation roughly a ancestry entityto users such(prenominal)(prenominal) assh beh hoaryersandmanagers . The communicationis gener ally in the form offinancial risementsthat show in silver terms theeconomic resourcesunder the arrest of solicitude the prowess lies in selecting the aiming that is relevant to the user and is reli fit. Theprinciplesof method of explanation atomic g e very(prenominal)placenment issue 18 applied to cred it line entities in triad divisions of practical art, named account statement,bookkeeping, andauditing.TheAmeri groundwork Institute of demonstrate Public Accountants(AICPA) defines story strategy as the art of recording, companyifying, and summarizing in a signifi backt port and in terms of m bingley, transactions and events which be, in part at least, of financial character, and interlingual rendition the responses thitherof. 2 condescension family affinity is thousands of stratums old the earliest chronicle records, which date s prosecute much(prenominal) than 7,000 years, were piece inMesopotamia(Assyrians). The stack of that judgment of conviction relied on primitive score methods to record the growth of crops and herds. explanation evolved, up(p) over the years and advancing as wrinkle advanced.Early accounts served master(prenominal)ly to assist the memory board of the originpersonand the audience for the account was the possessoror record keepe r alone. Cruder forms of explanation were inadequate for the chores caused by a vocation entity involving multipleinvestors, sodouble-entry bookkeeping for the initiatory prison term emerged in northern Italy in the fourteenth century, where trading ventures began to require more(prenominal) detonatorthan a single individual was able to invest. The development ofjoint stock companiescreated wider audiences for accounts, as investors with forth stunnedgrowth fall in experienceshelf of theiroperationsrelied on accounts to suffer the requisite takeing.This development resulted in a split of history systems for inbred (i. e. management account statement) and external (i. e. financial) inclinationions, and subsequently as comfortably in be system and disclo certain(a) regulations and a growing need for autarkical assure of external accounts byauditors. 3 Today, account is called the language of traffic because it is the vehicle for character financial tuiti on to the amplyest compass bakshish a business entity to m any variant multitudes of plurality. chronicle more concentrates on account to people inside the business entity is calledmanagement score.It use to provide information to employees, managers, accepter-managersandauditors. Management write up is forethoughted primarily with providing a ass for making management or direct stopping locates. be that provides information to people outside the business entity is calledfinancial watchword reportand provides information to present and potential sh beholders,creditorssuch asbanksor vendors,financial analysts,economists, andgovernment agencies. Because these users rent different needs, the presentation of financial accounts is rattling structured and field of view to umteen more rules than management account statement.The body of rules that governs financial explanation in a given legal power is called commonplacely Accepted report Principles, or GAAP. 4 1 . 2 BACKGROUND OF STUDY chronicle is a portentous subject in the middle of pupils. Essentially history process involves record keepingrecording, carve upifying, reporting and interpreting economic events. However write upat the aftermath is somuch more. Currently, the accountant is an even more loved member of the corporate strategic congregation with involvement in the corporations planning, evaluating and forecasting of the incoming.According to Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib b TunRazak (Speech on The Occasion of the ICAEW Malaysia Achievers Ball, 2004) by the year 2020 in line to achieved residential coarse status it has been predictable that Malaysia needs 60,000 accountants. The operate wind now stands at 21,000. each(prenominal) the musical mode by Institute of Chartered Accountants in England &038 Wales (ICAEWs) hard work, and together with the Malaysian invoice system bodies, cornerstone show to scholarly persons the charisma of an b ill trading and lend a hand to correct any misconceptions on the life. For the parchment Accountancy words in Kolej Asa, pupils ar existence exposed to the importance of catamenia line of our country. Students require to completing 7semester in order to gain their parchment in Accountancy. Understanding savants perceptions of be is a really(prenominal) of import first step in the effort to attract the best to the invoice profession. This news motif publisher aims to strike the component parts such as individualised elements, fibre group and rent out related to factors that may possiblymanipulate Kolej Asa savants in choosing invoice phone line as their foremost. 1. PROBLEM story Even though at that place argon many opportunities created in the be system profession, on that point be similarly many challenges the method of business relationship profession has to contend with (Mladenovic, 2000 Parker, 2001). In straightaways world news report pr ofession is facing one challenge that is rehabilitating the familiar perception of the be profession itself, peculiarly in the aftermath of the many mellow-profile s drive outdals in the United States involving corporate giants such as Enron, WorldCom and some new(prenominal)s. 6 Choosing a kind to weigh after Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) is non easy.On the one hand, it posterior be quite conf apply bring inable(p) to the plethora of eats and institutions pee(prenominal) to the learner to bring from. On the other hand there ar many pitfalls that a school daytime-age child should avoid in order to grass the right resource (Loke, 2008). Several programs and merchandise material atomic flesh 18 soma by The American Institute of Certified PublicAccountants (AICPA) and most state societies to attract scholars to account. According to AICPA interrogation conducted in 2002, the number of alumnas of bill programs, undergrad and graduate, declined by 21. 3%, from 59,140 in 1990/1991 to 46,555 in 2000/2001.In Canada, the UK and the US the decline in standard and or quality of scholarly persons field of battleing in account statement and entering the profession has been an issue of concern for several decades, (Adams et al. , 1994 Stice and Swain, 1997). Recent evidence from The USA, the UK, stark naked Zealand, Australia and Canada indicates that master key accountancy pull is beseeming less attractive to bill graduates and trainees from universities and colleges, and that professional person accountancy firms atomic number 18 concerned approximately losing bright history candidates to other professions (Ahmed et al. 1997 Albrecht and Sack, 2000 Felton et al. , 1994 Marriot and Marriot, 2003). 7 This query intends to find the alliance regarding the factors that mold students quality in accounting incline. According to Carolyn, Susan and Brian (2005) understanding students perceptions of accounting is an classic f irst step in the effort to attract the best to the accounting profession. more studies dumb build been done at universities on the universities level for example investigate by Cohen and Hanon (1993), Ahmed et al. (1994) and Saeman et al. (1999). 1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Based on the previous discussion, seek question is to protagonist out the looker to respond and crystallize the problem statement. The enquiry questions be i. Is there any fundamental family affinity among face-to-face factors and students prime(a) of accounting line? ii. Is there any material alliance amidst reference point group and students cream of accounting feast? iii. Is there any probatory relationship mingled with labor related factors and students extract of accounting run for? 8 1. 5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives of this look into are i.To suss out the relationship between individualised factors and the preference of the Kolej Asa students in accounting fall. ii. To inves tigate the relationship between reference group and the pick of the Kolej Asa students in accounting manakin. iii. To investigate the relationship between jobs related factors and the plectrum of the Kolej Asa students in accounting mark. 9 1. 6 large OF THE STUDY Accounting profession is fitting less attractive to accounting graduates and trainees from universities and colleges, and that professional accountancy firms are concerned active losing bright accounting candidates to other professions.The misinformation near accounting effects students ratiocinations in choosing accounting as a potential public life or field of record(ip). However, when students are exposed to more information well-nigh accounting, there is a pro set up improver in their pursuit in accounting (Saudagaran, 1996). The AICPA and most state societies fix introduced several programs and marketing materials banging to attract students to accounting. Employers and universities also have a sta ke in attracting students to accounting biographys (Hardin al. , 2000).Recruiting efforts should swallow early and should emphasize the challenging constitution of accounting work and provide specific information round scratch salaries. sort of than avoiding discussion of the recent accounting scandals e. g. Enron, recruiters should considering victimisation them as an illustration of the diminutive post accounting plays in our capital markets. 10 1. 6. 1 studentS A in effect(p) starting place is to listen to uplifted school students perceptions of theaccounting profession. In Malaysia, students have to make a decision in choosing a operate to study afterSPM.Business studies has become one of the main communication channels offered in many ordinalinstitutions be it public or tete-a-tete universities or colleges. Students choosing a business grad leave have to major in one the fields such as accountancy, finance, marketing,human resources or business administratio n. While there has been increasing effortsamong the universities and colleges in offering the courses that matches the studentsqualifications and needs, actually little look has been conducted on the factors thatactually licks the students survival of the fittest. 1. 6. KOLEJ ASA This seek leave subsequently help those producers to know more about the opinion of accounting students on fascinates on accounting course provided in Kolej Asa. 11 1. 6. 3 coming(prenominal) RESEARCHER This investigate pull up stakes also benefit future interrogationer sources of in information if they are in fasted to do the topic related with this study. They also can extend to the other factors that studied in this inquiry. 1. 7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1. 7. 1 SUBJECT This investigate is focus on the students figure outs factors on accountancy course in Kolej Asa. 1. 7. LOCATION Kolej Asa in Rawang town has been chosen. The curtilage of choosing is, Rawang town empyrean has more students com pare to rural region. 12 1. 7. 3 RESPONDENTS The student consists of accountancy course provided in Kolej Asa. The specific chosen precedent for this survey is in Kolej Asa. In this survey there are 50 students from accountancy course were world chosen. This research is essentiallyfocused on students who study accountancy course. 1. 8 terminal point I do aware that my research is non possible to accomplish collect avail aptitude of current resource. similarly that, shortage of duration is the main constraint to me. In sum total to that, the information that I obtain from secondary selective information might not be accurate. The subject area of my research is students satisfaction. in that locationfore, customer perception will not be included. As this research is conducted at Kolej Asa in Rawang, the result will not reflect the view of student in other state at bottom Malaysia. Alongside, the college authorities are not co-operate enough, disallowed survey on their stud ent. 13 1. 8. 1 TIMEIn my research, I realize that shortage of time is the main constraints to me due to the reason that we just provide 4 months to conduct the survey. With the given 4 month of time, it is actually very control amount of time for me to collect information and report abridgment. Therefore, due tom the reason above with deficiencying of time, I had to gentle this research for non-random sample of population. 1. 8. 2 apostrophize By conducting this survey, we realize that the semester holiday of Kolej Asa will be factor that will be the factor that will affect this research.From this, we know that semester holiday of Kolej Asa is different from other College. Therefore, it is very hard to estimate the holiday of Kolej Asa and due to this research, I have to waste few cost in order to do my research as well as some expenses in order to do the questionnaire typographys to conduct my survey. 14 1. 8. 3 RESPONDENT The dish upings are the student study in Kolej Asa at Rawang. Therefore, this research is conducted student at Kolej Asa Rawang town such as other colleges will not be the respondent of the research. 1. CONCLUSION The chapter 1 is the introduction to the reader on the topic of my research. It started out with a general introduction about the intended study in the lead deductively paltry towards narrowing down the research scope. I have given a picture introduction about accounting and the factors influencing them. Besides that, I had identified the subject area of my study students preferences towards in accounting course. Further, problem faced by the accounting course have been intelligibly stated and identified in the problem statement section.I had list out 3 research question related to this research and subsequently the research objective to the research question. Significant of the study have been distinctly mention in this chapter in which this research will benefit the students, Kolej Asa and future researchers. Th is study will be specifying on the students influencing in accountingcourse. 15 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEWAPTER 2 2. 1 Introduction This chapter reviews factors that are world-shattering to students cream in accounting majoring.Using quite a hardly a(prenominal) present literatures, we will talk about factors such as individual private factors, reference group, job related factors and institutional factors that manipulate students in choosing accounting course as their foremost. There were researches done in United States of America and Australia in severaliseing factors influencing students selection of business major. virtually of this research examined the subjective factors including social, cultural, sociological, psychological and face-to-faceised factors, some looked at the objective factors and many others withalk into consideration both categories.The dramatic cliff in both accounting graduates and enrollments prompted the AICPA to start a comprehensive survey o f the factors create the downturn in accounting major league. The AICPA active the Taylor Consulting and enquiry Group toconduct the survey and the report of the study can be lay out on the AICPA web site (AICPA, 2001, http//accounting. rutgers. edu/ raw(a)/aaa/aapg/spr01/spr01-6. htm). 16 The single-valued functions reveal that the accounting profession is facing several critical challenges, including the awareness and understanding by students about accounting locomotes as well as ostracise perceptions of the profession.High school educators have a relatively low opinion of accounting as a calling excerpt for gamy school gear school students (Hardin et al, 2000). Hardin et al. identified terce major hurdles in changing juicy school instructors and students perceptions of the accounting profession. First, it is grueling to get the message that accounting is a challenging and rewarding travel to the teachers who interact with the best and brightest students. Seco nd, when accounting is offered in extravagantly schools, it is offered as part of a vocational track.Third, many students say that their counselors had discouraged them from pickings high school accounting because it was not for college-bound students. Students who attend high schools that offer accounting courses and even students who take accounting in high school are no more resemblingly to take a college accounting class than those who attend high schools that do not teach accounting. It emerges that having a high school accounting class does not encourage students to study accounting in college. 17 Accounting training has been the subject of considerable debate since 1980s.Prior research documents that prefatorial accounting students study accounting with banish perception on accounting. Accounting is attractive to the students in terms of professional, solely negative views regarding the nature and role of accounting persist (Fisher and Murphy, 1995, p56). Similar findin gs have been document by other researchers. The accounting majors also because of less attractive in accounting commandment. According to Albrecht and Sach (2001), most introductory accounting classes often focus on the preparation of financial data rather than on its use.In that case Students are not exposing to the business operation financially and they find that accounting course are too hard and need more time to study. Nowadays preparation and dissemination will be faster, easy and not an high-ticket(prenominal) process due to advance in technology. In Malaysia, business studies has become one of the main courses offered in many tertiary institutions be it public or private universities or colleges. Students choosing a business course will have pack to major in one the fields such as accountancy, finance, marketing, human resources or business administration.While there has been increasing efforts among the universities and colleges in offering the courses that matches the students qualifications and needs, very little research has been conducted on the factors that actually sours the students option of major. 18 inquiry in other countries such as United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia have established that students plectron of major appear to be functiond by several factors ranging from private to job related factors.Gender, consort, their denary skills, students involution in the subject, expected market might, performance in major classes, the approachability and teaching reputation of the faculty are among the factors that have some capture on the students choice. 2. 2 Factors influencing students choice 2. 2. 1 adduce Group Students norms, attitudes, and value through direct interaction are providing by reference group including family and non-family groups. preceding studies support that reference groups each family or non-family groups who have significant amount of interaction could form students choice of major. other(a) studies have found that students decision to major is bring by referents. Study confirmed that evokes do influence students choice of business major except for those who chose accountancy as their major. adverts, followed by instructors had a strong influence on students choice of majors. 19 Parents production lines are also influence students choice of business major. Research has showed that the instructors including high school teachers and college lecturers play a significant role in influencing a students final choice of business major.This study aims to explore if Malaysian students with a different cultural background are influence by either parents or educators in choosing their business major. 2. 2. 2 face-to-face factors An important selection factor is the existent invade in the subject. many a(prenominal) research revealed that one of the significant factors identified that influences their choice of major are students take in the subject found t hat factors such as delight in the subject, ability to do the major is important for the students in making such choice. Other factor such as quantitative skills and intellectually challenging also influences students choice.When students considered that accounting is interesting and pleasurable they are more likely to get accounting as a major. This finding was promote supported by results of where intimate rewards such as effment of the study of the topics studied in accounting, were a prognosticator of intention to undertake a career in accounting. 20 Other research findings indicated that students with purify quantitative skills tended to engage either accountancy or finance as business major whereas those who chose to major in marketing, management and management information system were those with weaker quantitative skills.This is consistent with the finding of who apprise that accounting requires good number skills. 2. 2. 3 product line related factors A number of studies have indicated that in accounting students take choice, a job satisfaction is important. Many research indicated that students choice of business major are influenced by high allowance, prestigiousness and career overture discover students who chose other business major were more influenced by ain and normative factors and students who pack accounting as their major feel that net profit, career opportunities and prestige were significant factors that influence them.The findings from many other studies also support the result that students choice of business major are influenced by high earnings, prestige and career overture. This means that accounting students discipline choice has traditionally been heavily influenced by earnings potential and job market check outs or opportunities. 21 There should be a general awareness among students on the career opportunities available in Malaysia and overseas and level of compensation for accountants as it has been widely print in the local newspapers.With the amount of news publicity given to a limited profession, it is interesting to find out if these job-related factors are the key factors influencing student in choosing accountancy as a major in Kolej Asa. 2. 3 Summary Based on the literature discuss above, this paper investigates if the personal factors, reference group and job related factors have significant influence to the KOLEJ ASA students in choosing accounting course as their major. 22 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3. 1 IntroductionThe purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influencing Kolej Asa students in choosing parchment Accounting course as their major. subject field base methodology was used in this research to obtain data from the respondents videlicet first semester diploma Accountancy students from KOLEJ ASA. It was a sanctioned question regarding their choice of choosing Diploma Accountancy course in KOLEJ ASA. The questionnaire was authentic to study the factors that influence students in choosing Diploma Accountancy course as their major. The data for this study was collected through a self-administered questionnaire.In the survey, respondents were asked to indicate the influence of four different factors on their selection of Diploma Accountancy. The localize of four possible influences on decision to necessitate Diploma Accountancy course were determined from internal and external factors. 23 3. 2 Research Theoretical textile ? The research theoretical framework is presented in the figure 1 beneath return 1 Research Theoretical simulation Personal Factors abduce Group STUDENTS CHOICE Job associate Factors In this framework the reliant protean is a students choice while the indie variables are personal factors, reference group and job related factors. 24 3. 3 Hypotheses Development Paolillo and Estes (1982), Zhang (2006), Malgawi et al. (2005) and Pimpa, (2007) studied on the factors which influence the choice of course. From these previous researcheshypotheses were developed in finding the relationship of the triplet factors influencing students in choosing accounting course as a major. 3. . 1 Personal factors Personal factors such as interest in the subject, ability to do the major quantitative skills and intellectually challenging and not boring were examined. Many research revealed that students interest in the subject is one of the significant factors identified that influences their choice of major. Research findings indicated that students with break quantitative skills tended to adopt either accountancy or finance as business major whereas those who chose to major in marketing, management and management information system were those with weaker quantitative skills.Many research revealed that students interest in the subject is one of the significant factors identified that influences their choice of major. It was conclude that personal factors have a relationship with students choice. 25 Based on these previous researches, it can be suggested that personal factors has a relationship with students choice in choosing accounting course. Therefore, for the purpose of the current research, the hypotheses built will be H1 There is a significant relationship between personal factors and students choice on their major. 3. 3. 2 REFERENCE group There was a positive relationship between reference group and the choice of student which indicates that parents, high school teachers and college lecturers play significant role in influencing students choice. Other than that, parents occupation could also influence student choice on accounting course as a major.Therefore, the hypothesis built for this paper is H2- There is a significant relationship between reference group and students choice in accounting course. 26 3. 3. 3 Job related factors The Albrecht and Sach (2001) study asked participants to identify the most important reason students choose to major in ac counting. A study conducted by Doran also found that the most important action that would attract more high-quality students to the accounting profession would be to deliver higher(prenominal)(prenominal) starting salaries (Doran, 2001). H3 There is a significant relationship between job related factors and students choice in accounting course. Zhang (2006), found that job-related factors including potential job opportunities and compensation are ii keyfactorsthat influence the students choice. The research by Giladi, Amoo and Friedman (2002) found that higher earnings, prestige and career advancement influence the choice of student. From the previous researches, it was found that job related factors do have significant effect on students choice. Therefore, the hypothesis build for this paper is 7 3. 4 Variables Definition 3. 4. 1 Personal factors ? Including interest in the subject, ability to do the work, workload and challenge. 3. 4. 2 Reference group ? Including parents, re latives, friends, school teacher and counselor. 3. 4. 3 Job related factors ? Including job opportunities, higher earnings, career advancement and prestige. 28228 3. 5 in operation(p) Definition 3. 5. 1 Personal factors ? The degree to which the students believes that the interest in the subject, ability to do the workload and challenge can influence them in choosing accountancy course. . 5. 2 Reference group ? The degree to which the students believes that parents, relatives, friends, school teacher and counselor can help them in making decisions. 3. 5. 3 Job related factors ? The degree to which the students believe that job opportunities, higher earnings, career advancement and prestige can influence them in choosing accountancy course. 29 3. 6 Sampling and Data accretion The population or the unit of analytic thinking for this research will be the first and second semester of Diploma Accountancy Students in KOLEJ ASA.At Kolej Asa there are 5accounting classes and total of the students are speed of light. From the total population, the researcher tried to achieved 100% result rate, however, due to true limitation, response rate that were obtained was only 50 students. A set of questionnaire were given to the class exemplar and he was responsible to distribute the questionnaires to the respondents and to collect the questionnaire after being filled by the respondents. The respondents were given 15 minutes to repartee the questionnaire and returned it to the class representative.The next day, researchers collect the questionnaire from the class representative from each class. 30 3. 7 puppetation and measurement of variables The questionnaire was divided into two parts. severalize 1 of the questionnaire solicited demographic information such as gender, race and basic qualification. In Part 2 of the questionnaire was come along divided into section A, B and C. function A contains 10 questions on respondents personal factors that would influence the m in choosing accounting course using a five point Likert surpass (1= potently agree to 5 = strongly resist).Section B contains 9 questions on respondents referent group view of their choice and the degree of importance they placed on the referents view. Using a five point Likert scale (1= strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree), respondents were asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement with the statement that their parents/relatives/friends/counselor think that they should choose accounting course. Section C is set out to ascertain the job related factors that would influence them in choosing accounting course.Respondents were asked to indicate the extent of their agreement on a Likert scale of 1 to 5 (1= strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree). In this section there were 9 questions to be answered. The questionnaire used was adapted from Tracy (2003) and Marriot (2003), however, certain alteration has been made to suit the condition of this research. Refer Appendix B . 31 3. 8 Validity and reliableness of measurement In determining the hardship of the measurement used, pretest had been conducted.According to ASA (1997), pre scrutiny a questionnaire is central to planning a good survey and is critical for identifying questionnaire problems. The problems can decease for both respondents and interviewers regarding question content, patterns, or formatting. to begin with the questionnaire was distributed to the respondents, the researcher firstly sent the questionnaires to 6 pretest respondents consisting of colleagues and friends to signalise on the questionnaires. The purpose of pretesting is to get the experts view on the questions. After the comment was obtained, modification was made to the questionnaire.For the purpose of testing the reliability, Cronbach important was used to determine the reliability of each the data collected for each factor. The analysis was done using SPSS package. Cronbach important are widely used to sop up relia bility of tests and measurements (Kistner and Muller, 2004). A high alpha indicates that the factors has a high reliability and immorality versa. According to tracelines by Sekaran (2003), a coefficient of below 0. 6 is considered to be poor, 0. 7 is acceptable, and over 0. 8 is good. Therefore, from the alpha score, the conclusion on whether the data is reliable can be concluded.If the alpha is low, this indicates that some of the items for a factor might not consistent with other items for the same factor. To overcome this problem, the items which are not consistent with other items will be eliminated. 32 3. 9 Data analysis The analysis was done by using SPSS package and was divided into several phase. The first phase of analysis concern the analysis of central tendency. In this research, mean was used, which change the interpretation of data where the point of sterling(prenominal) concentration can be obtained.Therefore, it can be observed on which factor the respondents w ill be in choosing Diploma Accounting course. The next phase involved the analysis of standard deviation. This was done to study the spread of dispersion of data. Therefore, interpretation of data involved in seeing whether the choices of respondents were disperse or their choices were converged to certain point. The final phase involves the analysis on the relationship between the in leechlike variables (Personal factors, Reference group and Job related factors) with the dependant variable, which is students choice. These were one through the analysis of multiple regressions and enable the data interpretation to see the strength and explosive charge of each sovereign variable with dependent variable. Therefore, it can be identified on whether the self- satisfactory variables have a significant relationship to dependent variables as being hypothesized previously. The analysis had also identified the independent variable that have the most influence on choosing Diploma Accounting course. 33 In determining the regressions among the independent variables and the dependent variables, the impact of multi co linearity should not be neglected.Multi co linearity results from the situation where exists the correlation amongst predictor variables or the independent variables (Polhemus, 2005). When this situation happens, the regression results between the independent and dependent variables might be imprecise. 34 CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS 4. 1 Respondents background The main objective of this research is to find out if there is a significant relationship between reference groups, personal factor, job related factor and institutional factor of KOLEJ ASA accounting students in choosing accounting course as being hypothesized before.As rationalizeed in the earlier chapters, the scope of this research is limited to KOLEJ ASA accounting students. The population for this research is 50, and from this total population, the data gathered was from 50 respondents, which repres ents 25% of the total population. get a move through 1 shows the respondents backgrounds which represent 78 % are pistillate and male 22%. They are from dissimilar races where, 44% is Chinese, 38% is Indian, 16% Malay and 2% others. All the respondents are students shortly studying in KOLEJ ASA. 35 Table 1 Respondents Background Respondents Frequency part Gender Male 11 22% Female 39 78% execute Chinese 22 44% Indian 19 38% Malay 8 16% Others 1 2% turn 1 Distribution of genderpic 36 bod 2 Distribution of type of race pic 37 QUESTIONAIRE STRONGLY equip AGREE UNSURE protest STRONGLY DISAGREE (5) (1) (4) (3) (2) 2. Accounting is interesting 32 14 3 1 3. I would have intercourse being an accountant 42 7 1 4. I am impulsive to learn accounting subject 32 18 5. I am unbidden to spend a circularize of time studying accounting 40 7 2 1 6.I can do better in calculation 42 7 1 7. I like to answer question in figures 43 4 3 8. Accounting is a course with copes of classwork 18 29 3 9. breeding accounting is very challenging 31 17 2 10. I can maintain high greed point average (GPA) 28 19 3 11.My family fates me to choose accounting course 13 29 3 5 12. My friends think I should choose accounting course 29 15 5 1 13. Other students root on accounting course to me 32 15 3 14. My teacher thinks that I should take accounting course 45 5 15. My own motivations for choosing accounting course 35 15 16.My counselor at school recommend accounting course to me 35 12 3 17. Performance in secondary school subjectmatter makes me choose accounting course 39 11 18. My parents occupation encourage me to choose accounting 12 21 15 1 1 19. My parent wants me to choose accounting course 40 10 20.If I choose accounting course,there will be job 26 24 available for me when I graduate 21. If I choose accounting course,there will be a with child(p) job 39 8 3 market strike for people like me 22. I can get a high nonrecreational job if I graduate with accounting36 14 23.My starting wages will be satisfying if I graduate with 27 23 accounting 24. Accountants are boring people 6 19 2 8 15 25. universe an accountant has a lot of prestige 42 8 26. The accounting profession is well respected 31 17 2 27. Accounting is a profession on par with treat and law 45 5 28. Accounting is a field with broad pictorial matter to business 39 11 39 4. 2 Validity and Reliability of the Instrument Earlier chapter explain that to increase the validity of the instrument, the researcher has conducted pretest, where the questionnaires are distribute to the experts who gave their comments. The questionnaires are then being amended to increase the validity.Apart from that, the questions are also being design to include both positive and negative questions. In managing the data, the negative questions are being transformed and record into d ifferent variables before being analyzed. In other words, the negative questions were being transformed to positive questions. 40 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS 5. 1 Discussions The purpose of this paper is to find out factors influencing Kolej Asa students in choosing Diploma Accounting course as a major. From the data analysis gathered from 50 respondents, as explained in Chapter 4 the three factors have been supported by the findings which is significantly influence the students choice.Reference group, personal factors and job related factors indicate a significant correlation with students choice, which means that all the factors had a relationship which will influence the respondents to choose accounting course. However, the strength of influence by reference group is considered harden compared to personal factors and job related factors. This showed that the respondents comprehend personal factors, although significant and to be a huge influence to the students choice. 41 Among all the three factors, personal factors is seen to have the strongest influence over students choice which is consistent with the result found in Adams, Pryor and Adams (1994)Doran ( 2001), and Pritchard et al. , (2004).Therefore, it can be concluded that the respondents perceived that their choice in choosing accounting course will be determined more by independents, higher earnings, career advancement and prestige, followed by the job related factors which influence them to choose accounting course which consistent with the finding in Adams, Pryor and Adams (1994), Doran ( 2001), and Pritchard et al. , (2004). 5. 2 Conclusions The above discussion is based on the objective of the research, which is to find out if there is any significant relationship between the personal factors, reference group and job related factors and the students choice in choosing accounting course at KOLEJ ASA. All the factors indicated a significant relationship to the students choice. 42 5. 3 Implications Th e implications of this findings suggest the importance of career counseling road shows and career fairs to create awareness and understanding among young high school leavers who intent to pursue an accounting course in higher education institution.This will rectify the problem of students enrolling into other courses of which they have no knowledge of the subjects taught and future career options thus minimizing the number of students dropping out when they found out they are not interested in the subjects taught at all. The awareness and understanding of subjects taught and career options available are important to high school leavers who intent to pursue an accounting course as this research found that the outcome important factors influencing their choice of courses include interest in the subject, career advancement and career opportunities available. Another implication derived from this research is the violence of factor influencing undergraduates choice of courses.It is vit al to highlight to undergraduate who intent to pursue a particular course on the possibility of the existence of factor influencing them to choose a particular course. This research hopes to highlight the importance of the role of the higher education institutions in offering sufficient and relevant information to potential students who want to pursue an accounting course so that these young high school leavers are able to make informed decision about their future career. 43 5. 4 Limitations This study has the following limitations. Firstly the study has a limited reference from local researchers so it is more depend on research that had been done abroad.It is also lack of accounting research which could help to explain on local situation. Secondly the study selected only four variables because of time constrains. thirdly the questionnaire was only administered at one institution. The limitations of this study provide a pathway for further research in this area. 44 References ? How to uphold Pretesting. 1997. American Statistical Association. ? Speech on The Occasion of the ICAEW Malaysia Achievers Ball, 2004 ? Brown, J. W. 2004. Techniques of Multivariate Data digest ? Adams, S. J. , L J. Pryor, and S. L. Adams. 1994. Attraction and retention of high altitude students in accounting An explorative longitudinal study. Issues in Accounting instruction. Ahmed, K. , K. F. Alam, and M, Alam. 1997. An experimental study of factors affectingaccounting students choice in bare-ass Zealand. Accounting command an international journal. ? Albrecht, W. S. , and R. J. Sach, 2001 . The uncertain future day of Accounting Education. The CPA ledger. ? Auyeung, P. and J, Sands. 1997. 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Howe and P. A. Burnaby. 2005. Influences on students choice of college major, Journal of education for business. ? Marriott, P. and N. Marriott. 2003.Are we turning them off a longitudinal study of undergraduate accounting students attitudes toward accounting as a profession, accounting Education an international journal. ? Mauldin, S. , J. L Crain and P. H. Mounce. 2000. The accounting princ iples instructors influence on students decision to major in accounting, Journal of Education for Business. ? Sekaran. (2003) Measurement Scaling, reliability, validity. In Research methods for business A skill building Approach. John Wiley. ? Zickmund, W. G. 2003. Business Research Methods. Thomson South Western, Ohio 48 QUESTIONNAIRE GENERAL training 1. Gender ? Male ? Female 2. festinate ? Malay ? Chinese ? Indian ? Others 3. staple fibre qualification ? SPM ? STPM Other institution verbalise below are a number of questions to test on the factors that influence the respondent in choosing Diploma Accountancy course in KOLEJ ASA. Circle the best answer for each question according to the scale provided below Strongly add together (5) Agree (4) Unsure (3) Disagree (2) strongly disagree (1) Part 1 PERSONAL FACTORS 1. I like accounting 5 4 3 2 1 2. Accounting is interesting 5 4 3 2 1 3. I would enjoy being an accountant 5 4 3 2 1 4. I am willing to learn accounting subject 5 4 3 2 1 5. I am willing to spend a lot of time studying accounting 5 4 3 2 1 6. I can do better in calculation 5 4 3 2 1 7.I like to answer question in figures 5 4 3 2 1 8. Accounting is a course with oodles of class work 5 4 3 2 1 9. Learning accounting is very challenging 5 4 3 2 1 10. I can maintain high gred point average (GPA) 5 4 3 2 1 Part 2 REFERENCES GROUP 1. My family wants me to choose accounting course 5 4 3 2 1 2. My friends think I should choose accounting course 5 4 3 2 1 3. Other students recommend accounting course to me 5 4 3 2 1 4. My teacher thinks that I should take accounting course 5 4 3 2 1 5. My own motivations for choosing accounting course 5 4 3 2 1 6. My counselor(s) at school recommend accounting course to me 4 3 2 1 7. Performance in secondary school subject matter makes me choose accounting course 5 4 3 2 1 8. My parents occupation encourage me to choose accounting 5 4 3 2 1 9. My parent wants me to choose accounting course 5 4 3 2 1 Part 3 JOB RELATED FAC TORS 1. If I choose accounting course, there will be job available for me when I graduate. 5 4 3 2 1 2. If I choose accounting course, there will always be a great job market involve for people like me. 5 4 3 2 1 3. I can get a high paying job if I graduate with accounting 5 4 3 2 1 4. My starting salary will be satisfying if I graduate with accounting 5 4 3 2 1 5.Accountants are boring people 5 4 3 2 1 6. Being an accountant has a lot of prestige 5 4 3 2 1 7. The accounting profession is well respected 5 4 3 2 1 8. Accounting is a profession on par with medicine and law 5 4 3 2 1 9. Accounting is a field with broad exposure to business 5 4 3 2 1 Suggestions / Comments _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for your time in completing the questionnaire. I am sure that the responses will be a great help and useful for the purpose of this research. picpic