The Accounting Profession as a Career Choice for Tertiary Business Students in Japan-A Factor Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the major factors that influence Japanese tertiary business students' vocational choice. A questionnaire-based survey was administered to both accounting and non-accounting students in Japanese tertiary institutions at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The results of two individualized factor analyses indicated significant differences between factors influencing the career profiles of both these groups of students. It further shows that the major influence affecting vocational choice for accounting students was based on intrinsic values. Non-accounting students indicated career prospects as the major contributing factor when choosing a career. These results are very important for accounting educators in Japan as they attempt to address the current unpopularity of the accounting profession.

Keywords:

• Career choice
• accounting profession
• certified public accountants (CPA)
• accounting students

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Professor Richard M. S. Wilson (Editor of Accounting Education: an international journal) for his enormous assistance in connection with the publication of this paper. The authors also wish to acknowledge the countless comments on earlier drafts received from an Associate Editor, the two anonymous reviewers, and Professor Nan Zhang from Hiroshima Shudo University. As for the coordination of collecting the dataset, we wish to thank Professor T. Kurushima of Yokohama National University; Professor K. Hiramatsu of Kwansei Gakuin University; K. Suzuki of Kobe University; Professor K. Suda of Waseda University; and N. Koudabashi of Chuo University.