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Factors Affecting EssayThis paper examines the factors affecting students c arer pickax of method of invoice in Nigerian university. The study was conducted using the survey with a sampling population of cardinal hundred undergraduates from three universities. It has been discovered that the factors affecting students travel cream of be are numerous except they give the bounce be group into face-to-face, reference and profession factors. The findings indicate that personal and job factors much(prenominal) as students interest and motivation in the subject, job prospects and richly pay, performance in secondary groom are the most influencing factors of students choice of story. In particular, male students were found to be more than square upd by the reference factors than their distaff counterparts in the choice of accounting system. The paper recomm closures the need for enlightenmentand counseling of the students and their wards roughly career choice in a ccounting..Keywords Accounting, personal factors, job- think factors, choice1. Introduction In recent years, the declining of accounting students has become a major concern to the accounting profession (Hunt, Falgiani Intrieri, 2004). For instance, in the US the decline has been attributed to many factors much(prenominal) as change in the handicraft environment, decrease in salary level, alternative careers perceived as more attractive to students, misunderstanding and lack of information related to the accounting career (Albrecht Sack,2000). In Nigeria, the choice of accounting tends to rank among other passkey courses the like law, medicine, engineering ,economics etc. Although many researchers dupe considered the factors affecting students career choice in accounting, on that point is dearth of researches in relation to accounting in Nigeria.Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the factors which influence students choice of accounting in Nigerian universiti es and determine whether there are portentous differences between male and female accounting students in the choice of accounting. The rest of the paper is organized as follows Section two reviews the applicable literature on the factors.Section three is the methodology adopted. The data analysis and research findings are documented in Section four and the overall conclusions regarding these results are presented in Section vanadium. 2. Literature review There feed been many researches carried out in both developing and developing countries to identify factors influencing students choice of accounting.Some of the factors considered were inbred factors such are social, cultural, sociological, psychological and personal factors. Others are the objective factors or both categories (Zhang, 2006). Factors frequently cited as determinants of students career choice are intrinsic values, financial rewards, job market and the cost-benefit. Some of these factors are gigantic term salary possibilities, prestige of the profession, job security and starting salary. It has been found that students consider stereo display case about the different careers when making their decisions .Yayla Cengiz (2005) find respondents own choice, family, environment, interesting profession, earningsexpectations and job opportunities play a significant use in choosing an accounting career. These factors are grouped into personal, reference or and job related factors and considered in subsequent sections. 2.1 Personal Factors Many researchers have identified that the choice of accounting is influenced by the students interest.For instance, Zhang (2006) finds students interest in the subject and ability very important in making choice to study accounting. Other factors like quantitative skills and intellectually challenging also influence students choices (Mladenovic,2000, Zhang, 2006).When students see accounting as interesting and enjoyable, they are more likely to choose it (Saemann Calero, 1999., Adam et al 1994., Mauldin et al, 2000).This finding was supported by results of Jackling Calero (2006) where intrinsic rewards such as enjoyment of the topics in accounting influence career in accounting. Kaur Leen (2006) establish that students choices of major is influenced by factors such as gender, race, quantitative skills, interest in the subject, expected marketability, performance in major classes, the accessibility and teaching reputation of faculty member.Cohen Hanno (1993) conduct a survey of 287 students who had either declared or think to declare themselves as accounting majors and those who had either declared or intended to declare themselves as major in a field other than accounting. The results indicated that non-accounting majors may choose accounting because they deal accounting to be too number-oriented and boring. 2.2 Reference Group Previous studies confirmed that referent group such as parents, parents occupation, instructors in high tam e and friends could influence studentschoice of major (Pimpa, 2007, Kim et al, 2002, Paolilo Estes 1982, Geiger Ogibly 2000, Mauldin et al, 2000, Kim et al,2002). Family plays a critical percentage in a childs career development (Guerra Braungart-Rieker, 1999). High school teachers and college instructors play a significant role in students final choice of trading major. However, Hardin et al (2000) find high school educators to have a relatively low opinion of accounting as a career option for high school students.Similarly, parents and instructors had a strong influence on students choice of majors (Inman et al, 1989, Mauldin et al, 2000., Tan Laswad, 2006).Mauldin et al (2000) investigate the choices of accounting major and find the largest percentage of students who chose accounting as their major during the first accounting course in college (41%) followed by selection during high school (34%).They also find twelve factors that influence the students decisions to include career opportunities, interest in the subject, instructors, money, parents, enjoyments, previous experience, life style opportunity because of the career, challenge, prestige, usefulness in rating a business and other students. Among referents, the instructor was found to be the most influential factor. 2.3 gambol Related Factors Job attributes are the most important factors that influence the choice of career among undergraduates. The job related include the job itself, compensation or security and the company or work environment (Moy Lee, 2002, Teo Poon (1994).The influencing factors are job rejoicing (Paolilo Estes,1982), higher earnings, prestige and career advancement (Kim,et al, 2002). Lowe Simons (1997) study the relative importance of 13 factors influencing the choice of business major. They find that the most important criteria influencing the choice of major business students are future earnings, career options, sign earnings and ability/aptitude. Moreover, they fin d distinguishable differences among majors. For example, accounting students were influenced by external factors such as farsighted term earnings, initial earnings and career options whereas marketing majors highlighted interesting subject matter and wariness majors rated self employment opportunities highly.These findings support the results that students choice of business major are influenced by earnings, prestige and career advancement (Tan Laswad, 2006, Maudlin et al 2000, Felton et al, 1994). Noland et al (2003)find the factors influencing major selection by accounting and information systems majors are long- term salary possibilities, prestige of the profession, job security, and starting salary the influence of a professor, family members and difficulty of the subject matter are rated much lower.Kim et al (2002) conducted a study on business majors (accounting, finance, general business, management, marketing, management information system and double major). They discover ed that the top five reasons for choosing a major were interest in a career, good job opportunities, good fit with respondents abilities, a desire to run a business some day and projected earnings in the related career. The least selected reasons for choosing a major were thereputation of the major at the university, the perceived graphic symbol of instruction, the parents influence, the amount and slip of promotional information and the influence of friends. 2.4 Perception of Accounting Accounting education has been the subject of considerable debates since 1980s. prior researches document that introductory accounting students have negative perception of accounting. Accounting is attractive to the students in terms of profession but the negative views regarding the nature and role of accounting persist (Fisher Murphy, 199558). Societys perception of the legitimacy of the accounting profession and its members is grounded in the verbal and visual fleshs of accountants that are p rojected not only by accountants themselves but also by the media. How accountants are portrayed in media have a significant impact on the accounting profession. Typically, accountants have been referred to as number crunchers, focusing on numerical accuracy, routine recording and numeration methods.Abrecht Sack (2000), Cory (1992), Garner Dombrowski (1997) attribute the negative perception to misinformation or lack of information about accounting and the duties performed by accountants. To date, efforts by professional accounting bodies and firms to change the negative and inaccurate perception of accountancy and accountants have yielded limited success (Jackling Calero, 2006). Byrne Willis (2005) maintain that the public view of accountants is generally negative and that this perception energy reprove potential students from studying the subject. Similarly, Cohen Hanno (1993) find that the perception of accounting as boring and excessively number- oriented might lead stude nt to choose other majors than accounting. Furthermore, the traditional view of accounting as involving precision and order has been found to drive creative people away from the profession.In addition, many bright untested people are seeking careers in professional fields other than accounting as a result of the poor image of the accounting profession (Saemann Crooker 1999, Cohen Hanno,1993).The personal image of accountants and how they market themselves are more important than the price, product and Smart.Anyone whose success depends upon or requires the cooperation of another individual or group needs a positive personal image. Unfortunately, high-quality students hardly ever perceive accountants as they perceive themselves. People regard accountants as boring, middle- aged men sitting in a back office with a calculator and a stack of flies. As a consequence, the accounting profession does not always attract high quality students. Whether a person chooses to pursue an account ing career may be determined by the image of accountants in the media. Byrne Willis (2005) find that perceptions of accounting are influenced by factual media.Mathus Fowler (2009) find that the portrayal of accountants in the media could be recalled by the sampling group. Tan Laswad (2009) in an extension of their 2006 study survey university students at the beginning and end of their degree. The comparisons between accounting and non accounting students reveal that those who intended to major in accounting generally adopt positive attitudes towards the accounting profession. Tan Laswad (2009) found that a higher proportion of accounting students decide on their majorprior to university study. Therefore they recommended that the accounting profession should promote the positive aspects of accounting career not only to pre-university students but also to the public as this strategy would enhance the public profile of members of the profession. 2.5 military position of accountin g compared with other professions Students are more likely to aspire to a career that is held in high esteem by society.In the Byrne Willis (2005) study, accounting students ranked accounting ranked 5th and non-accounting students ranked it seventh among ten professional courses. Irish high schools ranked accountants behind doctors, lawyers, dentists and architects as professionals. In the United States, the Gallun physical composition (1991) reported that both high school and university students rated the accounting profession last among six professions of law, medicine, teaching, engineering, financial provision and accounting.In a New Zealand study, the accounting profession was ranked lower in social place compared to the profession of law, medicine and engineering by high school teachers. This was also the view of high school teachers in the United States (Hardin et al, 2000) and Japan (Sagahara et al, 2006) 3. Methodology The population of interest comprised all accounting students in three (3) universities University of Benin (UNIBEN), Igbinedion University Okada (IUO) and Ambrose Alli University (AAU). The sample size was made up of three hundred (300) full and part-time accounting students from these universities.The amount of money number include two hundred (200)accounting students from UNIBEN, fifty (50) from IUO and fifty (50) students from AAU. The data for this study was generally from the administration of questionnaire. A total of 300 questionnaires were administered and retrieved from the respondents representing a response rate of 100%.The likert scaletype close ended questions was apply .The data was analysis using percentage analysis, independent t-test and regression analysis.The t-test was used to find out if there was significant difference between male and female accounting students in the choice of accounting. The descriptive statistics of the respondents is shown in table 1 below.