The Survey of Factors Influencing Kolej Asa Students

The survey of elements influencing Kolej Asa submiters in choosing diploma in AccountancyCourse as their topic 1 CHAPTER 1 1. 0 entering The introduction of this study, for keep up address the background of the survey of movers influencingKolej Asa pupils in choosing diploma in Accountancy Course as their major. The evidential and quarrys of the project, the limitation encountered during the investigating of this project. 1. 1 OVERVIEW OF STUDYAccountancyis the process of communicating fiscal in variety showation ab divulge a melody entityto substance abusers much(prenominal) assh arholdersandmanagers . The communicationis gener bothy in the form offinancial narratementsthat show in m whizzy terms theeconomic resources beneath the control of forethought the finesse lies in selecting the randomness that is pertinent to the user and is reliable. Theprinciplesof account statement argon applied to occupancy entities in three divisions of realistic art, named account statement,bookkeeping, andauditing.TheAmeri provide Institute of Certified Public Accountants(AICPA) defines accountancy as the art of expressing, classifying, and summarizing in a probatory manner and in terms of money, proceeding and planets which atomic number 18, in part at least, of financial character, and interpreting the results in that respectof. 2 score is thousands of years old the earliest stage business look sharp characters, which date back more(prenominal)(prenominal) than 7,000 years, were tack inMesopotamia(Assyrians). The lot of that clock relied on primitive report system methods to record the growth of crops and herds. business descent evolved, improving everyplace the years and go on as business advanced.Early accounts served mainly to assist the memory of thebusinesspersonand the earshot for the account was theproprietoror record keeper alone. Cruder forms of business relationship were unsatis factory for the problems crea ted by a business entity involving multipleinvestors, sodouble-entry bookkeeping out(a)growth emerged in northern Italy in the 14th century, where trading ventures began to require morecapitalthan a single individual(a) was able to invest. The development of spliff stock companiescreated wider audiences for accounts, as investors without first basehand k forthwithledge of theiroperationsrelied on accounts to furnish the requi come in drilling.This development resulted in a split of score systems for intimate (i. e. guidance accountancy) and outdoor(a) (i. e. financial) ends, and later on in addition in score and disclosure regulations and a growing need for in open attestation of external accounts byauditors. 3 Today, account is called the language of business because it is the vehicle for reporting financial information about a business entity to m any antithetical groups of people. bill more concentrates on reporting to people inside the business entity is called management bill.It used to finisher up information to employees, managers,owner-managersandauditors. Management story is relate originally with providing a basis for making management or operating lasts. story that provides information to people outside the business entity is calledfinancial accountand provides information to present and electric potential sh arholders,creditorssuch asbanksor vendors,financial analysts,economists, and governance agencies. Because these users cede different needs, the presentation of financial accounts is very structured and universeation to legion(predicate) more rules than management business relationship.The body of rules that governs financial news report in a effrontery jurisdiction is calledGenerally Accepted news report Principles, or GAAP. 4 1. 2 BACKGROUND OF STUDY account is a operative subject in the middle of students. Essentially score process involves record keepingrecording, classifying, reporting and interpreting ec onomic events. However account statementat the moment is somuch more. Currently, the control is an even more precious member of the corporate strategic aggroup with involvement in the corporations planning, evaluating and forecasting of the upcoming. fit to Malaysia Deputy salad days Minister, Dato Seri Najib b TunRazak (Speech on The Occasion of the ICAEW Malaysia Achievers Ball, 2004) by the year 2020 in business organization to achieved residential country status it has been predictable that Malaysia needs 60,000 controls. The figure now stands at 21,000. every last(predicate) the way through Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEWs) hard work, and to buy offher with the Malaysian accountancy bodies, batch show to students the ain magnetism of an history trading and lend a hand to correct any misconceptions on the travel. For the lambskin Accountancy naturally in Kolej Asa, students ar institution exposed to the richness of current internet site of our country. Students require to completing 7semester in order to gain their lambskin in Accountancy. Understanding students perceptions of accounting is a very material first step in the effort to overstretch the best to the accounting business. This constitution aims to study the factors such as ad hominem factors, informant group and patronage link factors that may possiblymanipulate Kolej Asa students in choosing accounting trend as their foremost. 1. PROBLEM STATEMENT Even though thither are many opportunities created in the accounting commerce, thither are also many challenges the accounting profession has to contend with (Mladenovic, 2000 Parker, 2001). In todays world accounting profession is set about one challenge that is rehabilitating the public perception of the accounting profession itself, especially in the aftermath of the many high-profile s potentiometerdals in the coupled States involving corporate giants such as Enron, WorldCom and early(a)s. 6 Choosing a scarper to study after Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) is non easy.On the one hand, it stop be quite conf apply re stick outable to the plethora of syllabuss and institutions acquirable to the student to ingest from. On the early(a) hand thither are many pitfalls that a student should avoid in order to posit the right pickaxe (Loke, 2008). Several programs and marketing material are design by The American Institute of Certified PublicAccountants (AICPA) and nearly state societies to get out students to accounting. According to AICPA motion conducted in 2002, the number of graduates of accounting programs, undergraduate 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 quantity and or prize of students majoring in accounting and entering the profession has been an issue of concern for just about(prenominal)(prenominal) decades, (Adams et al. , 1994 Stice and Swain, 1997). Recent evidence from The USA, the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada indicates that professional accountancy practice is neat less attractive to accounting graduates and trainees from universities and colleges, and that professional accountancy firms are concerned about losing bright accounting candidates to other professions (Ahmed et al. 1997 Albrecht and Sack, 2000 Felton et al. , 1994 Marriot and Marriot, 2003). 7 This look into intends to divulge the relationship regarding the factors that specify students pickax in accounting line of reasoning. According to Carolyn, Susan and Brian (2005) understanding students perceptions of accounting is an all-important(prenominal) first step in the effort to attract the best to the accounting profession. umteen studies guide been make at universities on the universities level for example query by Cohen and Hanon (1993), Ahmed et al. (1994) and Saeman et al. (1999). 1. enquiry QUESTIONS Based on the previous discussion, interrogatio n question is to help out the interrogation worker to respond and clarify the problem statement. The research questions are i. Is there any strong relationship surrounded by individualized factors and students picking of accounting course? ii. Is there any momentous relationship among annexe group and students select of accounting course? iii. Is there any significant relationship among capriole related factors and students choice of accounting course? 8 1. 5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The designs of this research are i.To investigate the relationship betwixt personal factors and the choice of the Kolej Asa students in accounting course. ii. To investigate the relationship between consultation group and the choice of the Kolej Asa students in accounting course. iii. To investigate the relationship between pipelines related factors and the choice of the Kolej Asa students in accounting course. 9 1. 6 SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY explanation profession is becoming less attractiv e to accounting graduates and trainees from universities and colleges, and that professional accountancy firms are concerned about losing bright accounting candidates to other professions.The misinformation about accounting effects students decisions in choosing accounting as a potential rush or major. However, when students are exposed to more information about accounting, there is a significant outgrowth in their disport in accounting (Saudagaran, 1996). The AICPA and some state societies create introduced several programs and marketing materials designed to attract students to accounting. Employers and universities also project a s accede in attracting students to accounting courses (Hardin al. , 2000).Recruiting efforts should take down early and should emphasize the challenge record of accounting work and provide specific information about starting signal salaries. Rather than avoiding discussion of the recent accounting scandals e. g. Enron, recruiters should consid ering using them as an illustration of the critical role accounting plays in our capital markets. 10 1. 6. 1 scholarS A skinny starting place is to listen to high shoal students perceptions of theaccounting profession. In Malaysia, students provoke to make a decision in choosing a course to study afterSPM.Business studies has let one of the main courses offered in many tertiaryinstitutions be it public or private universities or colleges. Students choosing a businesscourse leave have to major in one the field such as accountancy, finance, marketing,human resources or business administration. plot there has been increase effortsamong the universities and colleges in offering the courses that matches the studentsqualifications and needs, very little research has been conducted on the factors that in reality forges the students choice. 1. 6. KOLEJ ASA This research provide subsequently help those producers to know more about the opinion of accounting students on bewitchs on a ccounting course provided in Kolej Asa. 11 1. 6. 3 FUTURE RESEARCHER This research will also benefit future researcher sources of in information if they are in fasted to do the topic related with this study. They also can provide to the other factors that studied in this research. 1. 7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1. 7. 1 SUBJECT This research is cogitate on the students bends factors on accountancy course in Kolej Asa. 1. 7. LOCATION Kolej Asa in Rawang township has been chosen. The priming coat of choosing is, Rawang town welkin has more students compare to rural area. 12 1. 7. 3 RESPONDENTS The student consists of accountancy course provided in Kolej Asa. The specific chosen specimen for this survey is in Kolej Asa. In this survey there are 50 students from accountancy course were universe chosen. This research is essentiallyfocused on students who study accountancy course. 1. 8 LIMITATION I do aware that my research is non possible to accomplish due availability of current resour ce.Besides that, shortage of quantify is the main constraint to me. In addition to that, the information that I make up ones mind from secondary data might non be accurate. The subject area of my research is students satisfaction. at that placefore, customer perception will non be included. As this research is conducted at Kolej Asa in Rawang, the result will not reflect the view of student in other state within Malaysia. Alongside, the college authorities are not co-operate enough, disallowed survey on their student. 13 1. 8. 1 TIMEIn my research, I realize that shortage of cartridge holder 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 while, it is actually very limited amount of time for me to hive away data and report analysis. Therefore, due tom the reason above with lacking of time, I had to settle this research for non-random sample of population. 1. 8. 2 COST 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 some cost in order to prepare my research as well as some expenses in order to do the questionnaire papers to conduct my survey. 14 1. 8. 3 RESPONDENT The responsives 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 first place deductively moving towards narrowing down the research scope. I have given a brief introduction about accounting and the factors influencing them. Besid es that, I had set the subject area of my study students p quotations towards in accounting course. Further, problem faced by the accounting course have been all the way stated and identified in the problem statement arm.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 clearly mention in this chapter in which this research will benefit the students, Kolej Asa and future researchers. This 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 significant to students choice in accounting majoring.Using quite a hardly a(prenominal) present literatures, we will talk about factors such as individual personal 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 identifying factors influencing students choice of business major. more or less of this research examined the subjective factors including social, cultural, sociological, psychological and personal factors, some looked at the objective factors and many others took into consideration some(prenominal) categories.The dramatic decrease in both accounting graduates and enrollments prompted the AICPA to commence a comprehensive survey of the factors causing the downswing in accounting majors. The AICPA engaged the Taylor Consulting and research sort toconduct the survey and the report of the study can be ensnare on the AICPA web site (AICPA, 2001, http//accounting. rutgers. edu/raw/aaa/aapg/spr01/spr01-6. htm). 16 The decisions reveal that the accounting profession is facing several critical challenges, including the sensation and understanding by students about accounting careers as well as negative perceptions of the pr ofession.High prepare educators have a relatively low opinion of accounting as a career option for high condition students (Hardin et al, 2000). Hardin et al. identified three major hurdling in changing high discipline t distributivelyers and students perceptions of the accounting profession. First, it is difficult to get the message that accounting is a dispute and rewarding career to the teachers who interact with the best and brightest students. Second, when accounting is offered in high works, it is offered as part of a vocational track.Third, many students say that their counselors had discouraged them from taking high school accounting because it was not for college-bound students. Students who attend to high schools that offer accounting courses and even students who take accounting in high school are no more likely to take a college accounting class than those who attend high schools that do not teach accounting. It appears that having a high school accounting class d oes not advertise students to study accounting in college. 17 method of accounting fosterage has been the subject of considerable debate since 1980s.Prior research documents that introductory accounting students study accounting with negative perception on accounting. Accounting is attractive to the students in terms of professional, but negative views regarding the nature and role of accounting persist (Fisher and Murphy, 1995, p56). Similar discoveryings have been documented by other researchers. The accounting majors also because of less attractive in accounting education. 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 end Students are not exposing to the business operation financially and they feel that accounting course are too hard and need more time to study. Nowadays preparation and dissemination will be faster, easy and not an expensive process due to advance in technology. In Malaysia, business studies has set out 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 accept 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 enamors the students choice of major. 18 Research in other countries such as United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia have established that students choice of major appear to be entranced by several factors ranging from personal to job related factors. gender, race, their quantitative skills, students take in the subject, expected marketability, performance in major classes, the approachability and teaching reputation of t he faculty are among the factors that have some influence on the students choice. 2. 2 Factors influencing students choice 2. 2. 1 rootage Group Students norms, attitudes, and values through direct interaction are providing by reference group including family and non-family groups. Previous studies confirmed that reference groups either family or non-family groups who have significant amount of interaction could influence students choice of major.Other studies have found that students decision to major is influence by referents. composition confirmed that parents do influence students choice of business major however for those who chose accountancy as their major. Parents, followed by instructors had a strong influence on students choice of majors. 19 Parents occupations 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 last(a) choic e 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 person-to-person factors An important selection factor is the genuine sideline in the subject. Many research revealed that one of the significant factors identified that influences their choice of major are students busy in the subject found that factors such as interest 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 enjoyable they are more likely to guide accounting as a major. This finding was further supported by results of where intrinsic rewards such as use of practiceds and services of the study of the topics studied in accounting, were a predictor of mantledion to undertak e a career in accounting. 20 Other research findings indicated that students with best(p) quantitative skills tended to choose 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 legitimate with the finding of who suggest that accounting requires good number skills. 2. 2. 3 Job related factors A number of studies have indicated that in accounting students discipline choice, a job satisfaction is important. Many research indicated that students choice of business major are influenced by higher(prenominal) earnings, prestige and career emanation discover students who chose other business major were more influenced by personal and normative factors and students who choose accounting as their major feel that compensation, career opportunities and prestige were significant factors that influence them.The findings from many other studies also suppor t the result that students choice of business major are influenced by higher earnings, prestige and career advancement. This means that accounting students discipline choice has traditionally been heavily influenced by earnings potential and job market conditions 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 restrainers as it has been widely published in the local newspapers.With the amount of news forwarding given to a particular 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 Introductio nThe purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influencing Kolej Asa students in choosing lambskin Accounting course as their major. Survey based methodology was used in this research to obtain data from the respondents namely first semester Diploma Accountancy students from KOLEJ ASA. It was a basic question regarding their choice of choosing Diploma Accountancy course in KOLEJ ASA. The questionnaire was developed to study the factors that influence students in choosing Diploma Accountancy course as their major. The data for this study was placid 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 set of four possible influences on decision to choose Diploma Accountancy course were find from internal and external factors. 23 3. 2 Research Theoretical Framework ? The research theory-based framework is presented in the figure 1 below Figure 1 Research Theoretical Framework Personal Factors generator Group STUDENTS CHOICE Job Related Factors In this framework the dependent variable is a students choice while the independent variables are personal factors, reference group and job related factors. 24 3. 3 Hypotheses growing 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 three 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 better quantitativ e skills tended to choose 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 close down 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 book group There was a overbearing relationship between reference group and the choice of student which indicates that parents, high school teachers and college lecturers play significant role in influen cing students choice. Other than that, parents occupation could also influence student choice on accounting course as a major.Therefore, the assumption 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 accounting. 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 pay higher 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 dickens 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, work load and challenge. 3. 4. 2 Reference group ? Including parents, relatives, friends, school teacher and counselor. 3. 4. 3 Job related factors ? Including job opportunities, higher earnings, career advancement and prestige. 28228 3. 5 Operational Definition 3. 5. 1 Personal factors ? The degree to which the students cogitates 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 selective information disposition The population or the unit of analysis 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 core of the students are 100. From the total population, the researcher tried to achieved 100% retort rate, however, due to certain limitation, response rate that were obtained was only 50 students. A set of questionnaire were given to the class interpretive program and he was responsible to pass the questionnaires to the respondents and to collect the questionnaire after being filled by the respondents. The respondents were given 15 minutes to dish the questionnaire and returned it to the class representative.The next day, researchers collect the questionnaire from the clas s representative from each class. 30 3. 7 Instrumentation and measurement of variables The questionnaire was divided into two parts. Part 1 of the questionnaire solicited demographic information such as gender, race and basic qualification. In Part 2 of the questionnaire was further divided into section A, B and C. character A contains 10 questions on respondents personal factors that would influence them in choosing accounting course using a five read/write head Likert photographic plate (1= potently agree to 5 = strongly disagree).Section B contains 9 questions on respondents referent group view of their choice and the degree of brilliance 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 sound off 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 commensurate from Tracy (2003) and Marriot (2003), however, certain alteration has been made to suit the condition of this research. Refer auxiliary B. 31 3. 8 rigor and dependability of measurement In determine the validity of the measurement used, pretest had been conducted.According to ASA (1997), pretesting a questionnaire is central to planning a good survey and is critical for identifying questionnaire problems. The problems can occur for both respondents and interviewers regarding question content, patterns, or formatting. Before the questionnaire was distributed to the respondents, the researcher firstly sent the questionnaires to 6 pretest respondents consisting of colleagues and fr iends to comment on the questionnaires. The purpose of pretesting is to get the experts view on the questions. After the comment was obtained, revision was made to the questionnaire.For the purpose of testing the reliability, Cronbach alpha was used to determine the reliability of each the data collected for each factor. The analysis was done using SPSS package. Cronbach alpha are widely used to describe reliability of tests and measurements (Kistner and Muller, 2004). A high alpha indicates that the factors has a high reliability and vice versa. According to guidelines 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 self-consistent with other items for the same factor. To overcome this problem, the items which are not consistent with oth er items will be eliminated. 32 3. 9 Data digest The analysis was done by using SPSS package and was divided into several point. The first phase of analysis involved the analysis of central tendency. In this research, mean was used, which enable the interpretation of data where the point of greatest niggardliness can be obtained.Therefore, it can be observed on which factor the respondents will be in choosing Diploma Accounting course. The next phase involved the analysis of standard deviation. This was done to study the spread of distribution of data. Therefore, interpretation of data involved in seeing whether the choices of respondents were dispersed or their choices were converged to certain point. The final phase involves the analysis on the relationship between the independent 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 direction of each independent variable with dependent variable. Therefore, it can be identified on whether the independent 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 wedge 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 entropy ANALYSIS 4. 1 Respondents background The main objective of this research is to find out if there is a significant relationship between reference groups, persona l factor, job related factor and institutional factor of KOLEJ ASA accounting students in choosing accounting course as being hypothesized before.As explained in the to begin with 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 represents 25% of the total population. Table 1 shows the respondents backgrounds which represent 78 % are female and male 22%. They are from various races where, 44% is Chinese, 38% is Indian, 16% Malay and 2% others. All the respondents are students currently studying in KOLEJ ASA. 35 Table 1 Respondents Background Respondents Frequency Percent Gender Male 11 22% Female 39 78% Race Chinese 22 44% Indian 19 38% Malay 8 16% Others 1 2% Figure 1 Distribution of genderpic 36 Figure 2 Distribution of type of race pic 37 QUESTIONAIRE STRONGLY rival AGREE UNSURE DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE (5 ) (1) (4) (3) (2) 2. Accounting is interesting 32 14 3 1 3. I would enjoy being an accountant 42 7 1 4. I am impulsive to reveal accounting subject 32 18 5. I am willing to spend a lot 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 lots of classwork 18 29 3 9. Learning accounting is very challenging 31 17 2 10. I can maintain high greed point average (GPA) 28 19 3 11.My family wants 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 recommend 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 great job 39 8 3 market demand for people like me 22. I can get a high paying job if I graduate with accounting36 14 23.My starting allowance will be satisfying if I graduate with 27 23 accounting 24. Accountants are boring people 6 19 2 8 15 25. Being 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 care for and law 45 5 28. Accounting is a field with extensive exposure 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 th e 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 different 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 moderate compared to personal factors and job related factors. This showed that the respondents perceive 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 obje ctive 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 The implications of this findings suggest the importance of career counseling path shows and career fairs to create awareness and understanding among young high school leavers who intent to employ an accounting course in higher education institution.This will rectify the problem of students enrolling into other courses of which they have no cognition 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 acco unting course as this research found that the utmost 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 emphasis of factor influencing undergraduates choice of courses.It is vital 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 intercommunicate decision about their future career. 43 5. 4 Limitations This study has the succeeding(a) limitations. Firstly the study has a limited reference from local researchers so it is more depend on research that had been done abroa d.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. 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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 principles instructors influence on students decision to major in accounting, Journal of Education for Business. ? Sekaran. (2003) meter Scaling, reliability, validity. In Research methods for business A skill building Approach. trick Wiley. ? Zickmund, W. G. 2003. Business Research Methods. Thomson South Western, Ohio 48 QUESTIONNAIRE GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Gender ? Male ? Female 2. Race ? Malay ? Chinese ? Indian ? Others 3. elemental qualification ? SPM ? STPM Other institution Stated 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 sca le provided below Strongly adjudge (5) Agree (4) Unsure (3) Disagree (2) strongly disagree (1) Part 1 ad hominem 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 lots 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 FACTORS 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 demand 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