Motivations, Exposure on Accounting Students’ Career Path of a Malaysian Private University

Abstract

Malaysia needs 60,000 qualified professional accountants by 2030 to meet the government demand to transform Malaysia into a developed nation. There are around 37,000 registered Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) members, currently. The shortage of professional accountants in Malaysia is due to decrease in number of accounting students in Malaysia to develop their career in accounting profession upon graduation. This study investigates whether intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as career exposure influence accounting students in deciding their career path. Data was obtained through questionnaire surveys from penultimate and final year accounting students in a Malaysian private university and 253 usable questionnaires are applicable for data analysis. The results of the study show that intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and career exposure significantly positively related to the accounting students' career path. Perhaps, factors motivate the accounting student's career path are their personal interest, high salary paying offered and adequate knowledge about accounting profession. Additional analysis reveals there is variation in intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, career exposure and career path across the students' rank of choice of accounting program.