Accountancy Students
10458 – Research in Higher Education Journal
Accounting students’ perceptions on employment opportunities
C. Shane Warrick Jackson State University Bobbie Daniels Jackson State University Cathy Scott Jackson State University ABSTRACT Understanding student perceptions of future employment opportunities is important to educators and recruiters. Knowledge of the student perceptions can be used to guide instruction, advice, and recruiting tactics. Prior research has identified that governmental accounting has a lower perceived value than public or private accounting. The current research addresses these three broad areas with a field experiment given at a small southern university. The current findings indicate that students prefer public accounting as their first choice of career while private industry accounting and working for the federal government offer desirable jobs as well. In choosing long-term career paths, private accounting and public accounting lead the way. One interesting finding reveals that the students perceive no difference in the work-life balance issues offered between public, private, and governmental accounting. Key Words: students, careers, public accounting, governmental accounting, private accounting
Accounting Students’ Perceptions, Page 1
10458 – Research in Higher Education Journal INTRODUCTION Employment opportunities abound for graduating accounting majors. According to government figures, 1.2 million jobs were held by accountants in 2004. Heading into 2014, the demand for accountants will continue to grow. Estimates show the number of accounting positions growing by 386,000 (U.S. Department of Labor). Evidence on whether the number of accounting graduates is increasing is mixed. Albrecht and Sack (2000) and a survey by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA 2000) reported graduates are declining while a new AICPA (2005) survey is showing the number of accounting graduates to be increasing. An increasing number of
Accounting students’ perceptions on employment opportunities
C. Shane Warrick Jackson State University Bobbie Daniels Jackson State University Cathy Scott Jackson State University ABSTRACT Understanding student perceptions of future employment opportunities is important to educators and recruiters. Knowledge of the student perceptions can be used to guide instruction, advice, and recruiting tactics. Prior research has identified that governmental accounting has a lower perceived value than public or private accounting. The current research addresses these three broad areas with a field experiment given at a small southern university. The current findings indicate that students prefer public accounting as their first choice of career while private industry accounting and working for the federal government offer desirable jobs as well. In choosing long-term career paths, private accounting and public accounting lead the way. One interesting finding reveals that the students perceive no difference in the work-life balance issues offered between public, private, and governmental accounting. Key Words: students, careers, public accounting, governmental accounting, private accounting
Accounting Students’ Perceptions, Page 1
10458 – Research in Higher Education Journal INTRODUCTION Employment opportunities abound for graduating accounting majors. According to government figures, 1.2 million jobs were held by accountants in 2004. Heading into 2014, the demand for accountants will continue to grow. Estimates show the number of accounting positions growing by 386,000 (U.S. Department of Labor). Evidence on whether the number of accounting graduates is increasing is mixed. Albrecht and Sack (2000) and a survey by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA 2000) reported graduates are declining while a new AICPA (2005) survey is showing the number of accounting graduates to be increasing. An increasing number of
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