Abstract

This study is a first attempt seeking to explore perceptions of accounting students regarding their interest in the management accounting profession. Furthermore, this study aims to discuss and clarify the main factors that have already influenced and may influence in future students’ interest to pursue a professional qualification in management accounting. The study has considered and used the theory of planned behaviour in examining the factors that influence students’ interest to major or not to major in a particular discipline. The sample of this exploratory study was final year accounting students of two reputable Jordanian universities. Based on a questionnaire survey, data of 118 respondents were used for analysis. The study's findings show that accounting students prefer public accounting as their first choice of career, rather than management accounting. Job opportunities and income were the most important factors that discouraged students to be interested in the management accounting profession. On the other hand, it was suggested that support from companies to pursue the management accounting profession was the most important factor suggested to enhance students’ interest in this branch of the accounting profession.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.