Available online at www.sciencedirect.

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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 59 (2012) 541 – 549

UKM Teaching and Learning Congress 2011

Enhancing soft skills of accounting undergraduates through

industrial training
Ruhanita Maelah*, Aini Aman, Zakiah Muhammadun Mohamed & Rosiati Ramli
School of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Abstract

Although Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) requires a six months industrial training for accountancy degree programme
offered in any university in Malaysia since 2005, to date there is no study on its contribution to the development of student’s
skills, in particular the soft skill. This study discusses the outcomes obtained from a survey of 137 accounting students at
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Overall, this study shows that students develop various soft skills including time
management, oral communication and working in group. Theoretically, this study contributes to the existing line of research in
industrial training. In addition, finding from this study provides guidance to policy makers such as MIA and university’s
administrators to enhance future industrial training programme.
© 2011
© 2011Published
PublishedbybyElsevier
Elsevier
Ltd.Ltd. Selection
Selection and/or
and/or peer peer reviewed
reviewed underunder responsibility
responsibility of theTeaching
of the UKM UKM Teaching
and and Learning
Congress 2011.
Learning Congress 2011 Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Keywords: Accounting undergraduates in Malaysia; industrial training; soft skills

1. Introduction

There is a need for enhancing soft skills among Malaysian accounting graduates due to increasing competitions
and highly mobile careers in the ever-changing global market place. Similar needs and shortcomings have been
identified among American (Albrecht & Sack, 2000) Australian and British accounting students (Gammie, Gammie
& Cargill, 2002; Howieson, 2003) as well as South African accounting graduates (Barac, 2009; Coetzee and
Oberholzer, 2009; Stainbank, 2009). Schools of accounting should provide appropriate soft skills’ orientation,
attitudes, attributes and competencies to future accounting graduates and business managers. In this study, soft skills
are defined as the “interpersonal, human, people or behavioural skills needed to apply technical skills and
knowledge in the workplace” (Weber, Finely, Crawford, & Rivera, 2009:356), while hard skills refers to technical
aspects that deal with data and administrative skills. Weber et al. (2009) explained that a graduate posses soft skills
when they demonstrate the ability to communicate with others and understand others.
In Malaysia, the accountancy profession is regulated by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and
accounting courses are offered both by the public and private higher education institutions. Prior to 1996, only
public universities were allowed to offer recognised accountancy courses. Presently, accountancy degree from 11

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +6-03-8921-5731; fax: +6-03-8921-3162

E-mail address: ruhanita@ ukm.my

1877-0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer reviewed under responsibility of the UKM Teaching and Learning Congress 2011
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.312
542 Ruhanita Maelah et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 59 (2012) 541 – 549

institutions of higher learning are recognised for the purpose of admission to the membership of MIA. In order to
expose accounting students with considerable knowledge and experience in real audit and accounting-related
working environment, MIA requires accountancy degree programme in Malaysia to have at least six months
industrial training in an audit firm or institutions.
The main question is does industrial training programme for Bachelor of Accounting programme in UKM really
enhance soft skills of accounting graduates?. This study examines the perceptions of students on the benefits gained
from industrial training especially in enhancing their soft skills. Specifically the objectives of this study are: (1) to
determine the benefits and soft skills gained from industrial training, and (2) to determine the extent the industrial
training develops the trainee attributes on course outcomes. This study is part of a bigger study that combines the
work of Paisey & Paisey (2010) and Omar, Kofli, Mat, Darus, Osman, & Rahman (2009). We refer to the
framework used by Paisey & Paisey (2010) to capture the benefits and skills developed through industrial training.
This study also extands the framework by taking Omar et al. (2009) approach to measure the course outcomes.
The reminder of the paper is structured as follows. Next, a literature review is presented. Subsequent sections
present methodology, findings and discussions of the results. At the end of this paper, we present the limitation of
this study and suggest future work.

2. Literature Review

Industrial training sometimes referred to ‘internship’, ‘work placement’ or ‘practical’. It is a bridge from
classroom to workplace (Collins, 2002). Studies have shown that both students and employers believed that they
benefit from industrial training arrangement. Students see industrial training as a mean to get a job (Cannon &
Arnold, 1998); effectively develop soft skills such as communication teamwork and problem solving (Allen 1991;
Marshall & Mill 1993) and receive valuable experience and compensation (Hite & Bellizi, 1986). Employers benefit
through treating industrial training as a pre-recruitment period (Neuman, 1999; Cates-McIver, 1999), source of
inexpensive labour (Miner and Crane, 1995), cost effective (Culshaw, 1987; Richardson & Blakeney, 1998),
contribute to community (Sharp & Shieff, 1992) and flexible human resource (Busby, Brunt & Baber, 1997). On the
other hand, disadvantages of industrial training include operational difficulties such as students feeling isolated and
remote from the university (Hall, Harris, Bakewell and Graham, 2000); variable work experiences and conditions
(Fraser, Storey & Westhead, 2006); and difficulty to re-adjust to academic life or face problem with particular
placement (Paisey & Paisey, 2010).
Omar et al. (2009) surveyed on the outcomes obtained by engineering and architecture students from a university
during their industrial training. The evaluation was done by the employers on 383 students; 359 from engineering
and 24 from architecture programmes. Attributes of students were measured according to own programme outcomes
using five point likert scale ranging from very weak to excellent. The study showed that Engineering trainees
performed better; more than 80 percent received good rating on all attributes whereas Architecture trainees scored
above 80 percent on two attributes only. The study then suggested a possibility that architecture students should
have their industrial training after completion of three academic years, instead of two.
Paisey & Paisey (2010) surveyed the benefits of industrial training from the perspective of students and
employers. The study involved two Scottish universities, University A offered a four year honours degree in
Accounting and Finance with a full year industrial training in the third year. University B offered similar programme
without an industrial training. Questionnaires for University B was modified and answered by students only. The
study showed that there was a widespread support for a degree with industrial training. Even though the study was
only for two universities, Paisey & Paisey (2010) argued that the finding had international relevance and similar
issues raised in other countries. Paisey & Paisey (2010) presented literature reviews of soft skills required in
industrial training (refer Table 1). The literatures and focus group were used in Paisey & Paisey (2010) to design a
questionnaire to understand the extent that a variety of skills developed during an industrial training.
 Ruhanita Maelah et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 59 (2012) 541 – 549 543

Table 1. Summary of skills

Skill Source
Ability to extract and analyze information Weil, Oyelere & Rainsbury (2004), Ballantine & Larres (2004), Jackson & Durkee
from variety of sources (2007).
Ability to generate practical ideas Adler, Whiting, & Wynn-Williams (2004), Cullen, Richardson, & O’Brien (2004),
Weil et al. (2004).
Ability to interpret financial information Montano, Cardosa & Joyce (2004) Weil et al. (2004), Kennedy & Sorensen
(2006).
Computer ability Paisey & Paisey (2005), Potter & Johnston (2006).
Coping with stress Bay & Mckeage (2006), Cantopher (2008).
Creative thinking Wynder (2004), Samkin & Francis (2008).
Critical thinking Ferguson, Collison, Power & Stevenson (2005), Kealey, Holland & Watson
(2005).
Listening Tan, Fowler and Hawkes (2004), Weil et al. (2004), Carr, Chua & Perera (2006).
Meeting deadlines Robertson (2007).
Oral communication Grace & Gilsdorf (2004), Gardner, Milne, Stringer & Whiting (2005).
Problem solving skills Clayton & Still (2004), Kennedy & Sorensen (2006).
Time management Carr et al. (2006).
Working in group Weil et al. (2004), Bryant & Albring (2006), Ballantine & Larres (2007), McVay,
Murphy & Yoon (2008).
Written communication Cleaveland & Larkins (2004), Gardner et al. (2005).
Source: Paisey & Paisey (2010)

3. Research Methodology

This study used a survey using structured questionnaire to determine the perception of trainees on benefits of
industrial training to students, development of skills through industrial training, and attributes of trainees in relation
to course outcomes. The questionnaire consists of four parts (1) Background of organisations; (2) Background of
respondents (trainees); (3) Benefits of industrial training and (4) Learning outcomes. Questionnaires were
distributed to 160 students who had undertaken industrial training. A total of 137 questionnaires were collected and
processed. 136 questionnaires were usable for further analysis.
As for the measurement of variables, this study used the instrument by Paisey & Paisey (2010) to identify the
benefits for students undertaking industrial training and the soft skills developed during the training. The response
was indicated using 3 point likert scale with 1 equivalent to “not developed” and 3 equivalents to “strongly
developed”. Omar et al. (2009) used 20 programme outcomes for engineering and 15 programme outcomes for
architecture to determine attributes of students in respective programmes. Similar approach was adopted in this
study using Industrial Training course outcomes and Bachelor of Accounting programme outcomes. Respondents
indicated the extent that industrial training had developed their attributes towards the course outcomes using a 5
point likert scale with 1 equivalent to “very weak” and 5 equivalents to “excellent”.

4. Data Analysis

The actual number of students registered in the industrial training programme in the period under study is 160. A
total of 137 answered the questionnaires, representing 85.6 percent of the sample. Of the responses received, 136
questionnaires were usable and analysed. The descriptive analysis on the background of the organisation,
background of the respondents (trainees), training policies and learning objectives and outcomes are discussed in
this section. Most organisations that provided the industrial training to UKM Bachelor of Accounting students were
situated in the central region of Malaysia (89 percent). Only 2.94 percent of the organisations were located in the
Western region, while others were about equally spread in the Northern and Southern regions of Malaysia. In terms
of size, small and medium enterprises with 5-50 staffs representing 64.71 percent of the respondents. On the other
hand, 10.29 percent represented micro enterprise. These organisations have clients from various sectors and offer
variety of accounting related services. A summary of organisation background is shown in Table 2 below.
544 Ruhanita Maelah et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 59 (2012) 541 – 549

Table 2. Background of organisations

Item Description Frequency Percentage

(N=136)
Location Central region 89 65.44%
Northern region 13 9.56%
Southern region 19 13.97%
Eastern region 11 8.09%
Western region 4 2.94%
Number of staffs Less than 5 14 10.29%
5 -50 88 64.71%
51- 150 17 12.50%
More than 150 17 12.50%
Service revenue Less than RM200,000 40 29.41%
RM200,000 – RM 1 million 54 39.71%
RM1 million – RM5 million 27 19.85%
More than RM5 million 15 11.03%

The respondents in this study were students from one cohort of Bachelor of Accounting programme at UKM who
had completed their six months industrial training. Most of the trainees participated in this study are female, Malay,
former matriculation programme students, with cumulative grade point average between 3 to 3.5 point, and with less
than one year work experience. Table 3 further summarizes the background of the trainees.

Table 3. Background of trainees

Item Description Frequency Percentage

(N= 136)
Gender Male 32 23.53%
Female 104 76.47%
Race Malay 79 58.09%
Chinese 54 39.71%
Indian 2 1.47%
Others 1 0.74%
Current CGPA Less than 2.50 2 1.47%
2.50 – 2.99 42 30.88%
3.00 – 3.50 64 47.06%
More than 3.50 28 20.59%
Highest qualification STPM 43 31.62%
Matriculation 88 64.71%
Diploma 5 3.68%
Years of work experience Less than 1 126 92.65%
1-3 9 6.62%
More than 3 1 0.74%

Table 4 shows the frequency and percentage of responses to the extent of benefits industrial training provides to
trainees. More than 80 percent of the trainees perceived that the industrial training strongly developed their real life
experience and chance to try accountancy work. However, 11.76 percent considered industrial training as not giving
them the opportunity to earn money. This study ranked the benefits and skills achieved through industrial training
using the mean score. The mean score for benefits were between 2.12 and 2.87, indicating that in general the
trainees perceived industrial training provided great benefits and sharpened their skills. Having a real live working
experience was ranked as the most important benefit through industrial training.
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Table 4. Benefits of industrial training

Benefits
Not Strongly
developed developed Mean Rank
Getting ‘real life’ experience 0 18 118 2.87 1
0.00% 13.24% 86.76%
More employable 1 62 73 2.53 3
0.74% 45.59% 53.68%
Chance to try accountancy work before committing 1 26 109 2.80 2
yourself to permanent job 0.74% 19.12% 80.15%
Opportunity to earn money 16 88 32 2.12 4
11.76% 64.71% 23.53%

Table 5 shows the frequency and percentage of responses to the extent of skills developed during the trainee’s
placement experience. All trainees found that they at least moderately developed skills such as the ability to extract
and analyze information from variety of sources, time management, problem solving and the ability to interpret
financial information. Less than three percent of trainees found that they did not develop skills such as working in
group, computer ability, meeting deadlines, oral communication, listening, written communication, critical thinking,
coping with stress, ability to generate practical ideas, and creative thinking. Based on the mean score, time
management, oral communication, and working in group were seen as the three most developed skills during the
industrial training period.

Table 5. Skills of industrial training

Skills Not Strongly

developed developed Mean Rank
Ability to extract and analyze information from 0 (0.00%) 52 (38.24%) 84 (61.76%) 2.61 5
variety of sources
Working in group 1 (0.74%) 46 (33.82%) 89 (65.44%) 2.65 3
Computer ability 4 (2.94%) 41 (30.15%) 91 (66.91%) 2.64 4
Meeting deadlines 4 (2.94%) 50 (36.76%) 82 (60.29%) 2.58 7
Oral communication 2 (1.47%) 42 (30.88%) 92 (67.65%) 2.66 2
Time management 0 (0.00%) 35 (25.74%) 101 (74.26%) 2.74 1
Problem solving skills 0 (0.00%) 58 (42.65%) 78 (57.35%) 2.57 8
Ability to interpret financial information 0 (0.00%) 69 (50.74%) 67 (49.26%) 2.49 11
Listening 2 (1.47%) 49 (36.03%) 85 (62.50%) 2.61 5
Written communication 3 (2.21%) 74 (54.41%) 59 (43.38%) 2.42 13
Critical thinking 1 (0.74%) 68 (50.00%) 67 (49.26%) 2.49 11
Coping with stress 4 (2.94%) 51 (37.50%) 81 (59.56%) 2.57 8
Ability to generate practical ideas 1 (0.74%) 66 (48.53%) 69 (50.74%) 2.50 10
Creative thinking 4 (2.94%) 71 (52.21%) 61 (44.85%) 2.42 13

According to course outcome, trainees were expected to develop six attributes during the industrial training
period. Table 6 shows the frequency and percentage of responses provided by the trainees regarding the extent of
attributes they developed during the placement period. All trainees found that they developed at least average level
of the following attributes; (1) behave in accordance with professional ethics and social responsibilities, and (2)
demonstrate a commitment towards lifelong learning and professional development. Less than three percent
perceived they developed less than average level of the following attributes; (1) apply accounting knowledge into
practice, (2) use technology to assist work assigned by the organisation, (3) work in groups and (4) communicate
effectively orally and in writing with various interest groups.
546 Ruhanita Maelah et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 59 (2012) 541 – 549

Table 6. Attribute development according to course outcome

Course Outcome Very

Weak Excellent Mean Rank
Apply accounting knowledge into practice 0 1 18 81 36 4.12 4
0.00% 0.74% 13.24% 59.56% 26.47%
Use technology to assist work assigned by the 1 3 26 66 40 4.04 5
organisation 0.74% 2.21% 19.12% 48.53% 29.41%
Work in groups 0 2 22 64 48 4.16 2
0.00% 1.47% 16.18% 47.06% 35.29%
Communicate effectively orally and in writing 0 1 29 75 31 4.00 6
with various interest groups 0.00% 0.74% 21.32% 55.15% 22.79%

Behave in accordance with professional ethics 0 0 21 71 44 4.17 1

and social responsibilities 0.00% 0.00% 15.44% 52.21% 32.35%
Demonstrate a commitment towards lifelong 0 0 20 75 41 4.15 3
learning and professional development 0.00% 0.00% 14.71% 55.15% 30.15%

5. Findings and Discussion

Current development in the Malaysian environment requires our accounting graduates to have solid technical
skills as well as strong soft skills to enhance their employability in the job market. This study examined how
industrial training for accounting programme could enhance the soft skill aspects of graduates. Findings revealed
that most of the respondents agreed that the training provided great benefits particularly in getting the real life
experience about working life. Further, the training also provided them with the opportunity to know the actual job
as accountant and seek employment before they graduate.
Three broad components of soft skills developed during the training included communication skills, leadership
and team work, and self-management. Learning about time management, use of computers, meeting deadlines,
extracting information from multiple sources, and coping with stress were the elements of self-management which
were ranked top seven by the respondents. Oral communication and listening represented the communication
component of soft skills attained by students from the training. In addition the respondents claimed that they have
strongly developed skills of working in groups which is essential in the work of professional accountants, auditors
and financial consultants. Interestingly, creative thinking was ranked lowest in the list of skills developed by the
trainees.
This study also explored the link between the soft skills developed with the course outcomes. The purpose was to
determine which elements of the soft skills listed in the course or programme outcomes were cultivated during the
training as perceived by the trainees. The trainees believed that the training enabled them to develop behaviour that
was in accordance with ethics and social responsibilities, performed collaborative work in groups and with
management and demonstrated a commitment towards life-long learning and professional development. This finding
lent support to the findings by Kavanangh & Drennan (2008) which suggested that the industrial training
programmes embedded in many accounting degree provided support to the lacking soft skill training in many
accounting degree programmes. While it is noted that some scholars believed it is unrealistic to expect graduates to
possess all the skills demanded by employers (Bancino & Zevalkink 2007), findings of this study revealed that the
industrial training component of the accounting programme would enable students to enhance their soft skills before
they graduate.
Findings from this study also supports the findings from Ainsworth (2001) and Arquero-Montano, Anes, Hasall
& Joyce (2001) which find stakeholders require accounting curricula to include soft skills such as managing time,
working in groups, effective oral and written communication to ensure higher rate of employability, immediate
contribution and long term career success of the graduates.
 Ruhanita Maelah et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 59 (2012) 541 – 549 547

6. Conclusion

Theoretically, this study contributes to the existing line of research on industrial training (Phillips, 2001; Omar et
al, 2009; Paisey & Paisey, 2010; and Collins, 2002) with a focus on accounting programme (Dillon & Barclay,
1997; and Howieson, 2003). Findings in this study provided the management with feedback on the background and
practices of organisations chosen by trainees for industrial training; the benefits and skills gained through industrial
training from the perspective of trainees; and the extent the industrial training develops the trainee attributes on
course and programme outcomes. The findings could be used to further improve the existing relationship with the
organisations involved. It is important to ensure that supervisors at the organisations are made aware of the
expectation as stated by the course and programme outcomes. Supervisors can plan the tasks so that trainees get the
most benefits out of it without the sacrifice of the organisation.
This study also found trainees from UKM Bachelor of Accounting programme perceived they had developed
various soft skills in particular time management, oral communication and working in group. They had also gained
great benefits and developed attributes stated as industrial training course and programme outcome. However, this
study only focused on students’ perspective. Future studies should capture the perspective of supervisors and
identify the gap between these two groups. Future studies should also look into industrial training for accounting
programmes at other institutions of higher learning in Malaysia. Case study approach can be used to further explain
the findings derived from the survey method. It is important to review industrial training programmes from time to
time so that it can be updated for changed expectations.
In conclusion, this study investigated accounting graduates’ perception on the development of soft skills through
industrial training course. The study was conducted on UKM Bachelor of Accounting students who have completed
their 6 months training in various organisations in Malaysia. Findings revealed that the training provides great
benefits to accounting graduates particularly on giving the real life experience on working environment. In addition,
the findings suggested that the industrial training promotes three categories of soft skills namely communication
skills, leadership and team work and self-management. Of the three, self- management represented the main
category where respondents ranked these skills as top 7 skills developed during the training. According to prior
literature self-management comprises learning about time management, ability to use computers, meeting deadlines,
extracting information from multiple sources and coping with stress. Findings from the study also revealed that the
training enabled the graduates to achieve course and program outcomes specifically develop behaviour that was in
accordance with ethics and social responsibilities, performed collaborative work in groups and with management
and demonstrated a commitment towards life-long learning and professional development. In summary, the study
found that industrial training could provide the much needed soft skills among accounting graduates. To enhance the
research, future studies should be carried out to gauge the perceptions of faculty members and employers to
determine if any gap exists between the three groups.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for providing the research grant (UKM-PTS-032-2010).

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