![]() Internships are thought to support students in terms of career analysis and preparation, recognizing the role of accounting within an organization, and integrating it into a professional network (Albu et al., 2016). Hence, the accounting internship program should offer significant benefits to accounting graduates to become more capable of transferring knowledge through working experience in the host organization. ![]() Accounting graduates are not only expected to be excellent in the academic performance, but they are also expected to possess team work and leadership skills, written and oral communication skills, analytical skills, time management skills, information technology skills, and interpersonal skills (Ismail et al., 2020). Nowadays, the accounting profession becomes more complex and requires accounting graduates to be more competent and to have job-related skills to enhance their market ability (Penafort and Ahmad, 1997 Abel & Su, 2014). It is common for an employer to have certain expectations of a graduate in terms of being ready with knowledge and related skills when entering the job market. It is acknowledged that an internship bridges the gap between the academic training and the practical application of theoretical understanding by providing practical on-the-job experience (Jawabri, 2017). The internship programs can help students connect classroom learning with real-world experience (Anjum, 2020). The internship program was highlighted as one of the blueprints in the Malaysian National Development Plan 2015-2025, with 2U2I (2 years in university and two years in the industry) and 3U2I (3 years in university and one year in the industry). In line with the Ministry of Higher Education’s policy related to the development of the national policy on internship, it has made it compulsory for all universities in Malaysia, including public and private universities, to embed the internship program in the curriculum design to comply with the requirement for the academic degree curriculum (Dasar Latihan Industri, IPT and KPT, 2010). ![]() The findings imply that the internship program is significantly affecting the academic performance, being able to prepare graduates with the necessary technical skills and soft skills to face challenges in the accounting profession.Īttitude, Soft Skills, Accounting Internship, Academic Performance. Female students showed better performance in all the dimensions based on a comparison between genders. The results provide evidence of an improvement in all the dimensions of attitudes and soft skills except for job competency when having an internship in audit firms rather than non-audit firms. The attitudes and soft skills assessed include general skills and motivation, job competency, interpersonal skills, responsibility, trainees’ knowledge and ability to communicate. Students’ attitudes and soft skills were assessed using structured questionnaires on 224 accounting students of the Malaysian Public University who had undergone their six-month internship period. ![]() The study also examines whether the attitudes and soft skills competencies acquired would affect the academic performance. Since the internship program is part of an accounting degree requirement, this study provides an insight on the differences in attitude and soft skills acquired through internship programs between different types of employers audit firms, and non-audit firms and between genders. The accounting program must address issues on technical, soft skills and ethical issues reflecting the graduates. Accounting practitioners have raised concerns that accounting graduates seem to possess sufficient technical knowledge, but somehow, they lack the required soft skills such as communication and analytical thinking. The evolution of financial reporting and information technology disruption has increased challenges in the accounting profession.
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