Career choice factors of Indonesian accounting students

Abstract

This research aims to define factors that influence accounting students in choosing their careers after graduated. There are two gaps of previous studies that we try to cover in this study. Firstly, previous studies only focused on one university or one region in a country. Secondly, they only examined a specific career choice, mostly as public accountants. This study is conducted on Indonesian accounting students and it set the respondents to choose their careers in the beginning and fill the questionnaire based on that career choices. The output of this study is career choice factors of Indonesian accounting students’. By understanding those factors, this study provide awareness and insights for parents, lecturers, and universities to prepare students for their future careers. The results imply the need for collaboration between family and university. On one side, parents should not push a certain career path to students, rather they should encourage students to choose careers suitable for needs and expectations. On the other side, university should ensure that the quality of their graduates suits to the needs and the expectation of users. Data were collected by conducting an online survey to the population of final-year accounting students in Indonesia. Three hundred and fifty-eight respondents participated in this survey. Factor analysis was used for data analysis. The result of this research confirmed all factors that determine career choices of accounting students. Those factors are social values, rewards, job market certainty, professional recognition, work environment, and family. Interestingly, the family factor is divided into two factors: family support and family environment.