A study on the accounting education system in UiTM : evidence from accounting educators from the east coast branches / Che Ku Hisam Che Ku Kassim and Siti Rokyah Md Zain

Decreasing quality of accounting graduates has been raised by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and consequently, the accounting education system has been called for a revamp. Numerous researchers, particularly those from developed countries, suggest that accounting education should be broadened so that a broad array of skills and professional attributes can be developed in students. In Malaysia, to researchers’ knowledge, there has been little attempt made in investigating the content of current accounting education. Thus, the present study seeks to examine the existing accounting curriculum and pedagogy in the effort to improve the quality of future accountants. A self-administered questionnaire survey is conducted in three UiTMs situated in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Generally, the results indicate that changes (but not fundamental changes) are needed in both the content of accounting curriculum and the delivery methods. Majority of the respondents perceived that generic skills should be developed for accounting graduates so as to ensure that they can perform exceptionally well when they enter the profession. The study also presents several alternatives of pedagogies that can be applied in the attempt to reinforce the learning process. In addition, some interesting findings related to demographic profiles are also observed.