April 30th, 2019

By Nor Syafinaz Shaffee and Siti Mariam Mansor

Introduction

A quick survey was conducted among accountancy students at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) to understand their perception towards accountancy programmes offered by the university. This study focuses on the students to ascertain their views as an important stakeholder of the university. The study offers valuable input for the faculty members to leverage their strengths and address their weaknesses towards becoming great educators. Open-ended questions were asked in a google form format, and a total of forty-three students have responded. The reason for using this open-ended format is to allow respondents to include more information, including their sincere feeling and understanding of the subject matter. The respondents were third-year students of Bachelor of Accountancy at UiTM Puncak Alam Campus. Based on their responses, several common answers were identified, which are further discussed in the remainder of this paper.

The majority of the respondents agreed that the programmes offered by the Faculty of Accountancy, UiTM are comprehensive. The syllabus does not only cover accounting in detail but also includes other relevant domains such as law, statistics, and third languages. Students perceived that the comprehensiveness of the syllabus might help them to do well during their internship, discharging accounting related job and also preparing them to pursue professional accounting programmes. Furthermore, the comprehensive and well-structured syllabus has been proven to help students in building their accounting knowledge from semester to semester as well as motivate and encourage them to incorporate the knowledge gained with job-related skill. Students believed that their career prospects are brighter as they have been equipped with knowledges and practical skills during their study life. Below are some of the feedbacks obtained from the respondents:

“Accounting is one of the best programmes offered by the university. It had produced a huge number of accountants. The syllabus is updated and meets the market demand. I will recommend this programme to others.”

“In my opinion, the accounting courses offered are good because each course builds on the preceding course content, so I am constantly progressing.”

‘‘The courses also equip the students to pursue our studies in professional accounting examinations.”

Job Marketability

The accountancy programmes are perceived to be able to prepare the students for the job market. According to the respondents, there will be a high market demand for them as the graduates are equipped with updated accounting knowledge and relevant skills. The sound knowledge and relevant skills developed during their study help build their self-confidence thereby increase the chances to be hired by the industry. They are assured that the knowledge gained will make them more ready for the working environment, which will then be contributed back to the country. The quality of the programmes offered is also believed to be a key contributor in materializing the national agenda that is to achieve 60,000 Bumiputera’s accountants by the end of 2030. To quote from one of them:

“In my opinion, the accounting courses offered by UiTM are relevant and have a high degree in practicality in terms of both concepts and applications.”

Skilled and Qualified Lecturers

The respondents believed that the faculty employs skilled and qualified lecturers. They further believed that a creative teaching method combined with the lecturers’ in-depth technical knowledge of the course content help students understand better. The students also value the perseverance of the lecturers in continuously improving their teaching skills and methods. To quote from the responses:

“Teaching method that is being used is really efficient and effective for the students.”

Soft-skills Development

The accountancy programmes are perceived as facilitating the development of students’ soft skills. The tasks assigned to students such as group projects, case studies, simulations and oral presentations are viewed to have strengthened their critical thinking, leadership and communication skills as well as their confidence level. The assignments are also believed to have enhanced their ability to work in a team by working with different groups of people with diverse backgrounds and beliefs. Further, the respondents believed that the accounting, business and entrepreneurship courses have helped them to understand the attributes and skills demanded by the industries better. To quote from one of the students:

“There are also benefits of being assigned group projects; I was able to work with different groups of people, from diverse backgrounds, learning many practical and transferable skills for the future, while simultaneously improving my confidence”.

The Challenge

According to the respondents, accounting subject is known to be challenging and complex. Being part of the accounting community, respondents believed that they need to have sound knowledge in mathematics, and finance besides being attentive to detail. The accounting subjects are relatively difficult but worth to learn. The use of English language in all courses makes it much more challenging for them, but they believed that the provision of English classes and creativity of the lecturers helped them a lot. However, the respondents admitted that in some occasions they were unsure of the relevance and usefulness of certain topics that they have to learn. To quote from some of them:

“In my opinion, the accounting program is tough to get through, particularly towards the end of the program, as it gets harder.  Sometimes I feel a bit stressed when thinking about whether certain knowledge learned through this program will be useful or not in the real world. Nevertheless, I still enjoy studying this subject.”

“I think most of the courses are applicable in the industry, but somehow there are certain topics that I do not really understand why we need to learn them.”

Despite the challenges encountered by the accounting students during their study, the findings of our survey suggest students perceived that the accounting programmes offered by the Faculty of Accountancy, UiTM relevant and in demand. The programmes prepare students for a wide range of career opportunities and hence make them highly marketable. With the number of jobs for accountants expected to increase by 10% through 2026 (the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018), accounting knowledge acquired throughout the programme offered by the Faculty of Accountancy, UiTM is expected to position graduates in the right direction for a steady, well-paying career.

The respondents of this study believed that the programmes offered by the faculty are comprehensive and the faculty members are also highly skilled and qualified. The programmes also develop student’s soft skills in preparation to becoming successful future accountants. The accounting knowledge is important not only for accountants but also to other managerial positions as accounting information is critical in making economic decision for corporations of any size.