Career paths of Accounting students in audit firms and industry : the perceptions

Abstract

Purpose - The study’s goal is to explore accounting students’ perceptions and awareness towards a career in audit firms/ public accounting and a career within the industry/ private accounting and employers’ views on such findings. Students’ perceptions could be very beneficial for employers, in implementing appropriate recruitment strategies, whilst students’ awareness could help in identifying whether students are adequately informed about their career choices. Design – In achieving the objectives of the study, questionnaires were distributed to a sample of Masters in Accountancy, ACCA and ACA students, whilst semistructured interviews were held with employers within the public and private accounting fields, particularly two Big Four audit firms, one mid-tier accounting firm and two listed entities. Findings - The study reports that differences are perceived by students towards public and private accounting. Employers seem to agree with some of the perceptions, however they have mixed views regarding others. Accounting students in Malta were found to be aware of the two career paths, however in further exploring their extent of awareness, it was found that there were students who were not entirely aware of all the information on the two career paths. Likewise, employers agreed with the finding that students are aware, however they added that misconceptions might still exist and that more awareness needs to be raised by both sectors. Conclusions - Student perceptions are useful for employers and can aid them in designing appropriate recruitment strategies and changing any misconceptions that exist. They may also help in partially but not fully addressing employment and retention problems within firms. Accounting students in Malta are more likely to make a career choice based on their personality and career objectives. Nonetheless, more needs to be done by accounting educators and businesses in both sectors to better inform accounting students about their career choices. Value - Locally, this is the first study to be addressing this topic. It is hoped that it will provide valuable information to employers within such sectors and enables students to be better informed about the career paths available to them.