Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265

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Critical Perspectives on Accounting

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cpa

Personality preferences of accounting and non-accounting graduates

seeking to enter the accounting profession夽
Paul Andon, Kar Ming Chong ∗ , Peter Roebuck
Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aim of this study is to investigate the relative personality preferences of accounting
Received 18 February 2009 and non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession. This study is
Received in revised form
motivated by the recent changes within the Australian accounting profession to encourage
17 November 2009
non-accounting graduates to enter the discipline, a key motivation for which is a perceived
Accepted 20 January 2010
need to attract a greater diversity of individuals to pursue careers in accounting. Using the
personality preferences (as measured using the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator [MBTI]) as an
Keywords:
indicator of diversity, the results of this study signify that accounting and non-accounting
Personality preferences
Myers–Briggs Type Indicator graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession are likely to share similar personality
Accounting graduates preferences. The implications of this finding for a range of stakeholders associated with the
Non-accounting graduates accounting profession, and for matters such as stereotypical images of accountants, grad-
Accounting profession uate recruitment, and university and professional curriculum development are discussed.
Accounting stereotypes
© 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction

The aim of this study is to investigate the relative personality preferences of accounting and non-accounting graduates
seeking to enter the accounting profession. It was prompted by the debate surrounding recent changes to professional entry
requirements and firm recruitment strategies, particularly in Australia, which are intended to improve opportunities for non-
accounting graduates to enter the profession. For instance, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) has
introduced a new, abbreviated pathway for non-accounting graduates to enter its professional program, via the completion
of a customised Graduate Certificate of Chartered Accounting Foundations.1 CPA Australia has also indicated similar moves,
by announcing their desire to establish new entry requirements that will provide more ways for people to achieve the CPA
designation, whatever their educational background (see CPA Australia, 2008, 2009a,b).
A significant motivating factor for these developments has been a commonly espoused need to increase the ‘pool of
talent’ available to the profession (Jones, 2006). Strong competition for staff and slow growth in the number of accounting
graduates have meant that the supply of accounting graduates has not kept pace with the demand for such individuals

夽 We would like to acknowledge the helpful advice and comments from participants at the 19th Asian-Pacific Conference on International Accounting
Issues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Roger Simnett and Winston Horne. We are grateful to the Institute of Chartered Accountant in Australia (ICAA) for funding
this project.
∗ Corresponding author at: School of Accounting, Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Tel.: +61 2 9385 5916; fax: +61 2 9385 5925.
E-mail address: km.chong@unsw.edu.au (K.M. Chong).
1
At present, the Graduate Certificate of Chartered Accounting Foundations is delivered as a 12-month, part-time distance course, which is offered
exclusively by Deakin University (ICAA, 2007a,b).

1045-2354/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2010.01.001
254 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265

(Kazi and Buffini, 2007). Another influential motivating factor has been a perceived need to increase opportunities for
attracting individuals with more “breadth and depth” to enter the profession (Lane, 2007, p. 41). In other words, recruiters
and professional accounting associations are seeking to employ a wider range of graduates with different life experiences,
skills and backgrounds, who in turn will play a part in reforming persistent accounting stereotypes and contribute to meeting
the increasingly complex and diverse demands of professional accounting work (Ramachandran, 2007).
Proponents of these changes often cite the long established British tradition of recruiting graduates from all disciplines,2
where it is generally considered that the appeal of university graduates to the accounting profession is linked more to
their general abilities than their specific knowledge (Annisette and Kirkham, 2007).3 However, this tradition is largely
anomalous when compared to the requirements of other professional accounting associations internationally and other non-
accounting professional bodies more generally (Annisette and Kirkham, 2007). Indeed, recent international developments
have highlighted a lack of clarity and consistency in relation to desirable entry pathways for the accounting profession. In
the United States, for example, applicants for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination must complete a degree
with an accounting concentration, which is now augmented by the ‘150-hour education requirement’ (AICPA and NSABA,
2005) that seeks to embed development of a broader range of knowledge and skills in their college/university accounting
programs.4 As such, the direction in the United States seems aligned to augmenting educational entry requirements to meet
the contemporary needs of the profession, rather than abbreviate them. Similarly, the International Federation of Accountants
(IFAC) has emphasised the importance of completing an education program consisting of at least 2 years full-time study,
either through a recognised accounting degree or an equivalent professional program (IFAC, 2009).5
This lack of clarity on the international front is reflected in ongoing debate about whether the changing direction of entry
requirements within the Australian accounting profession will deliver what it promises. Those who believe it will deliver
expressed sentiments similar to the following:
Our profession is at last open not only to good-at-arithemtic-at-the-age-of-15 thinkers, but also to English graduates
who understand how to communicate accurately and effectively, engineers who can understand industrial processes
and speak the same technical language and clients, (dare I say it) philosophers who can provide an insight into the
thinking behind our profession (and who are currently sorely missing) and marketing graduates who can understand
major business drivers. Additionally, the overall quality of our profession will be lifted; employers can offer positions
to the brightest graduates whatever their degree (Bird, 2007).
Others are disapproving of the changes pursued in the Australian context, protesting that they will ‘water down’ profes-
sional entry standards, ‘devalue’ professional recognition, and lower technical proficiency at a time when the demands of
accounting work are becoming increasingly complex and subject to greater public scrutiny (AFAANZ, 2009; Walker, 2007).
Critics have also lamented what this will mean for accounting practice as greater numbers of non-accounting graduates
permeate the Australian accounting profession:
I pity the well-qualified supervisors and managers at the auditing coalface having to rely on staff steeped in ancient his-
tory but almost devoid of financial knowledge. [. . .] Thank goodness the medical profession has not deemed anatomy
unnecessary for the practice of surgery (Miller, 2007).
So although the value of non-accounting graduates seems to be gaining currency within the Australian accounting profes-
sion, there seems to be a lack of clarity on the matter both internationally and within the Australian accounting profession.
Given the promised flow of non-accounting graduates to the Australian accounting profession that will arise from changes
to entry requirements indicated earlier, it is timely to investigate the characteristics of this group of graduates as they
will have implications for the profession in terms of designing effective recruitment, education and professional develop-
ment strategies to cater for the increasingly diverse needs of the profession. In this regard, this study examines whether
non-accounting graduates are likely to add diversity, as measured by personality preferences, to the accounting profession.
Personality preferences are seen to be a key characteristic that can influence an individual’s broader skills and capabilities
(see Wheeler, 2001; Wheeler et al., 2004a). This study uses the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to examine the rel-
ative personality preferences of accounting and non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession. In
this regard, past research has consistently shown that accountants tend to favour personality preferences that align with
stereotypical images of accounting work (Wheeler, 2001). This paper extends this research by investigating the personality
preferences of accounting and non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession and their relative fit to
the evolving demands placed on contemporary accounting professionals.

2
For example, The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) states that “[t]he majority of ACA [Associate Chartered Accountant]
trainees are graduates. It does not matter what degree you have studied, if you meet the entry requirements you are eligible to train for the ACA” (ICAEW,
2005). Further information on minimum entry requirements can be found at http://www.icaew.com/careers/facts/entry req01.htm.
3
This tradition of recruiting non-accounting graduates is highlighted by the fact that accounting graduates comprised only 4% of the ICAEW’s total new
graduate intake from 2001 to 2004 (Annisette and Kirkham, 2007).
4
The 150-hour education requirement stipulates that at least 150 semester hours of college education – in the form of a baccalaureate or higher degree,
including an accounting concentration – be completed before an applicant is eligible to sit the CPA examinations (AICPA and NSABA, 2005, p. 5-2). It should
also be noted CPA exam eligibility can vary between jurisdictions as a consequence of the requirements of state-based accounting bodies.
5
These requirements have been in place since 2005, when IFAC’s International Education Pronouncements first came into effect.
 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265 255

The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. Section 2 outlines the stereotypical imagery of accountants and its
links to demands for more non-accounting graduates. Section 3 develops the research questions, which draws on Jung’s
theory of psychological type and prior studies in the accounting literature on personality preferences. Section 4 outlines the
research method. Section 5 describes the results. Further discussion and conclusions relating to the reported findings are
provided in Sections 6 and 7, respectively.

Stereotypical imagery of accountants and links to demands for more non-accounting graduates

As indicated earlier, despite the lack of clarity and the controversial nature of changing professional entry standards, the
value of non-accounting graduates is gaining currency within the Australian accounting profession. This has been observed
through the ICAA’s introduction of the Graduate Certificate of Chartered Accounting Foundations for non-accounting graduates
seeking entry to the profession (Poullaos and Evans, 2008), and CPA Australia’s announcement to introduce new pathways
for non-accounting graduates to enter the profession from 2010.6
One issue connected to these developments is a commonly espoused desire to increase the pool of talent from which
the accounting profession can recruit. Growth in the number of accounting graduates in Australia has been limited to only
2% over the past decade (Kazi and Buffini, 2007). At the same time, the demand for accounting graduates (not withstanding
any recent effects of the global financial crisis) has been rising significantly. As a consequence, the number of accounting
graduates has not kept pace with business needs, intensifying competition in the recruitment of accounting graduates (Kazi
and Buffini, 2007).7
However, it is important to note for the purposes of this study that changes to professional entry requirements in the
Australian accounting profession are not merely reflective of a need to satisfy demand for more accountants. Proponents
of these changes also advocate a perceived requirement to broaden opportunities for individuals with more “breadth and
depth” to enter the profession (Lane, 2007, p. 41). This concern has links back to long standing stereotypes in relation
to accountants and their work, and the effects these are alleged to have had on the attractiveness of careers in accounting
(Dimnik and Felton, 2006). It is generally accepted that the accounting profession continues to be stigmatised by a persistent
‘beancounter’ stereotype (Friedman and Lyne, 2001). Accountants are often typecast – through film, humour, and other social
media – as dull, boring, conservative, methodical, and engaged in tedious and uninteresting work (Bougen, 1994; Dimnik
and Felton, 2006; Friedman and Lyne, 2001; Jeacle, 2008). The character of this prevailing stereotype has perhaps been
most saliently (and humorously) captured by Monty Python’s Vocational Guidance Counsellor sketch, where Mr Anchovy (a
Chartered Accountant) seeks advice on a more exciting career path, but is advised that he is better suited to his current
profession than he realises8 :
Mr Anchovy: [. . .] I’ve been a chartered accountant for the last twenty years. I want a new job. Something exciting
that will let me live!
Counsellor: Well chartered accountancy is rather exciting isn’t it?
Mr Anchovy: Exciting? No it’s not. It’s dull, dull, dull. My God it’s dull. It’s so desperately dull and tedious and stuffy
and boring and desperately dull!
Counsellor: Well, er, yes Mr Anchovy, but you see your report here says that you are an extremely dull person. You
see, our experts describe you as an appallingly dull fellow–unimaginative, timid, lacking in initiative, spineless, easily
dominated, no sense of humour, tedious company and irrepressibly drab and awful. And whereas in most professions
these would be considerable drawbacks, in chartered accountancy they are a positive boon!
This ‘beancounter’ stereotype has not been entirely negative in terms of its effect on the profession. For instance, it has
arguably been salient in sustaining favourable perceptions about the integrity of accountants and credibility of their work
(see Bougen, 1994; Friedman and Lyne, 2001). However, in terms of recruitment, the general consensus is that the account-
ing profession carries a certain stigma that most potential entrants are aware of. Despite significant efforts by accounting
firms and professional associations to reform popular imagery of accountants and their work, it is still widely believed that
the prevailing ‘beancounter’ stereotype is not only prompting many of the ‘best and brightest’ graduates to seek career
alternatives deemed more interesting and satisfying, but it has also created biases in the profession’s appeal that make the
‘beancounter’ stereotype self-fulfilling. In other words, individuals attracted to the profession are largely those who believe

6
CPA Australia has announced that from 2010, they will be offering a series of ‘foundation level exams’ which, if passed, will offer an alternative to a
recognised accounting degree as a prerequisite for commencing CPA Australia’s training requirements for professional accreditation (CPA Australia, 2009b;
Matchett, 2009).
7
There are a range of actors that are espoused to be driving ‘skills shortage’ experienced within the accounting profession, particularly in Australia. These
include a gaining population, legislative and regulatory changes, increasing pressures from interstate and overseas recruitment, and entry level salaries.
For further information on the range of commonly espoused factors affecting the supply and demand for accounting professionals, please refer to Jones
(2006).
8
Monty Python was a British comedy group who (among other things) created a successful comedy sketch show (Monty Python’s Flying Cir-
cus) which was broadcast on the BBC from 1969-1974. The Vocational Guidance Counsellor sketch appeared in episode 10 of this show (source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty Python’s Flying Circus, accessed 8/9/09).
256 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265

they fit the stereotypical image of an accountant (Dimnik and Felton, 2006; Friedman and Lyne, 2001; Jeacle, 2008). This is
widely considered to be a problem within the profession. Contemporary characterisations of the accounting professional are
increasingly oriented around a client service discourse (Anderson-Gough et al., 2000) and the ways professional accountants
conduct themselves (Anderson-Gough et al., 1998a,b; Grey, 1998). This has led to a reassessment of desirable competencies
for members of the profession, with a greater emphasis on qualities such as professional demeanour, leadership, and inter-
personal skills (see, for example, The Bedford Committee, 1986; AECC, 1990). Also, it is being asserted that accounting work
incorporates a more diverse, dynamic and advisory role than before, requiring the recruitment of talented individuals who
defy the ‘beancounter’ stereotype:
“An accountant today is someone who is intelligent, street savvy, and has strong interpersonal skills” he [David
McKillop, general manager of Alliance recruitment] says. “Rather than just being a bean counter, an accountant is now
a very vital part of the business. Instead of just reporting on what’s happening, they are driving it” (Ramachandran,
2007, p. 5).
For these reasons, Australian recruiters have already begun to seek out non-accounting graduates for the purpose of
drawing on their different life experiences and backgrounds. For example, the ‘Big 4’ accounting firms estimated that
non-accounting graduates would comprise about one-third of their 2008 graduate intake, drawing from a wide variety
of disciplines (Carruthers, 2007).9 In conjunction with these efforts, accounting firms and professional associations have
also endeavoured to reform the stereotypical imagery of accountants and reposition perceptions regarding desirable pro-
fessional skills and behavioural norms expected within the profession. Recruitment literature produced and distributed by
accounting firms and branding campaigns run by professional accounting associations have attempted to recast accountants
as more ‘colourful’ – youthful, trendy and fun loving individuals, with inspirational career paths, and who are expected to
mobilize a diverse range of skills in addition to technical accounting competence (Jeacle, 2008).
In this context, efforts by Australian accounting associations to introduce additional pathways for entry to the profession
can be characterised as the latest strategy to respond to the changing and diversifying demands of the profession. Non-
accounting graduates are considered to present a largely untapped pool of talent, with a diverse range of desirable skills
and life experiences. Conventional professional entry alternatives (which in Australia require a recognised undergraduate
or postgraduate degree in accounting) are now considered a barrier to entry for many of these talented individuals (CPA
Australia, 2009a,b). As such, Australian professional accounting bodies are hopeful their new entry pathways will “open the
funnel” (Kazi and Buffini, 2007, p. 57) to recruitment from this group, by making the requirements for entry less onerous for
those who have not graduated with an accounting degree (Jones, 2006).
In summary, recent developments in the Australian accounting profession reflect the latest strategy to encourage a
different type of person (in terms of skills, experience, and/or personal attributes) to enter the profession (Poullaos and Evans,
2008). The argument being made to support this trend is the need to draw from a wider pool of talented graduates to fulfil the
increasingly client-oriented and diverse demands of professional accounting work. This paper examines whether creating
alternative entry pathways for non-accounting graduates can provide the added diversity that the accounting profession
is seeking. In particular, this study examines one aspect of diversity, being the personality preferences of non-accounting
graduates. Personality preferences have been focused on as they are arguably a key characteristic influencing a person’s
capabilities, insofar as an individual’s personality preferences are likely to predispose them to particular competencies (see
Wheeler, 2001; Wheeler et al., 2004a). Given that the desirability of non-accounting graduates seems strongly linked to
recruiting people with a diverse range of personal attributes, examining the relative personality preferences of accounting
and non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession presents an interesting research opportunity for
informing debate about the merit of opening alternative pathways for non-accounting graduates. This linkage between
personality preferences and the relative personal attributes of accounting and non-accounting graduates seeking to enter
the accounting profession will be discussed further in the following section, as part of developing the research questions.

Research question development: introducing and connecting to personality preferences

Generally speaking, researching personality preferences is concerned with investigating identifiable traits that can be
associated with certain individuals or groups, to facilitate an appraisal of their personality ‘type’ and the consequent effects
this is likely to have on certain behavioural tendencies such as attitudes, orientation to the world, and decision-making
style (Boyle, 1995; Wheeler, 2001). In contrast to the large body of work that has examined personality preferences in other
disciplines, the number of studies examining these matters in the context of the accounting profession is relatively modest.
Notwithstanding this, the extant literature has examined several interesting issues, including: (i) the personality ‘types’ of

9
KPMG anticipated recruiting non-accounting graduates for its middle-market advisory, tax and audit groups. At least 10% of their 2008 graduate cohort
was expected to be students who did not have an educational background in accounting. Interestingly, they had a particular interest in people with fine
arts and history backgrounds. At the same time Ernst and Young considered the recruitment of commerce students more generally, as well as people with
engineering, IT and law backgrounds as part of recruiting up to 10 graduates from non-accounting backgrounds into their audit division (Kazi and Buffini,
2007). In 2006, PricewaterhouseCoopers recruited a top musician and an optometrist, while Deloitte have previously employed a beauty therapist, an
Australian Karate champion and an Army reserve infantry soldier (Carruthers, 2007).
 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265 257

professional accountants (Jacoby, 1981; Descouzis, 1989; Kreiser et al., 1990; Satava, 1996; Schloemer and Schloemer, 1997);
(ii) the effects of personality preferences on decision-making performance in various accounting-based contexts (Chenhall
and Morris, 1991; Vaassen et al., 1993; Scarbrough, 1993); (iii) the personality types of accounting students (Laribee, 1994;
Wolk and Nikolai, 1997; Kovar et al., 2003; Briggs et al., 2007; Haynes et al., 2008); and (iv) the impacts of accounting
students’ personality traits on learning and the effectiveness of different approaches to classroom instruction in accounting
courses (Ott et al., 1990; Booth and Winzar, 1993; Nourayi and Cherry, 1993; Oswick and Barber, 1998; Ramsay et al., 2000).10
In examining the above issues, almost all of the mentioned papers employ the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator to investigate
aspects of personality. This instrument is based on the work of Carl Jung (see Jung, 1921), who asserted that an individ-
ual’s personality traits can predispose them to favouring particular ways of perceiving, understanding and behaving. More
specifically, he outlined three aspects of an individual’s personality, each of which is defined by a dichotomous pairing of
personality traits that are, sensing (S)/intuition (N), thinking (T)/feeling (F), and extroversion (E)/introversion (I). Myers and
Briggs expanded Jung’s theory to include a new pairing of personality trait known as judging (J)/perceiving (P) (Wheeler,
2001). These four pairings combine to form 16 personality types.11
The sensing/intuition dichotomy considers how a person prefers to perceive situations and gather information. A person
who prefers sensing tends to focus on the present and on concrete information gained from his/her senses (sight, hearing,
smell, taste and touch), whilst a person who prefers intuition tends to focus on the future and the ‘bigger picture’, with a view
to discerning patterns (i.e. meanings/relationships) and possibilities (i.e. perception beyond what is visible to the senses). The
thinking/feeling dichotomy considers how individuals prefer to make judgments or draw conclusions. Someone expressing
a thinking preference tends to favour decisions based on logic and impersonal analyses of cause and effect, which is in
contrast to individuals that prefer feeling as they are more inclined to make decisions based on personal and group values
and on subjective/people-oriented concerns. Together, these two dichotomous pairs reflect the information processing and
decision-making orientation of an individual, and so are broadly classified as characteristics of a person’s basic ‘cognitive
style’.
To the aforementioned traits, Jung adds others that indicate an individual’s perspective on physical and mental aspects of
the world (broadly classified as ‘attitudes’). The extraversion/introversion dichotomy expresses a person’s preferred mode
of interacting with their environment. A preference for extraversion indicates a partiality to the outer world of people and
things, whilst introversion indicates a preference for the inner world of ideas and impressions. Finally, the judging/perceiving
dichotomy signifies a person’s preferred method of dealing with the outer world. People who exhibit a preference for judging
tend to like a planned, decisive and organised approach to their lives, whereas those characterised by perceiving favour a
more, flexible, adaptive and spontaneous lifestyle.
In the context of research into potential entrants to and current members of the accounting profession, investigating
personality has been considered helpful in examining particular traits that are likely to influence the broader skills and
capabilities of these groups (such as how they interact with others and make decisions) and how these traits align with
cognitive characteristics and other work-related competencies currently sought in accounting professionals (Wheeler, 2001;
Wheeler et al., 2004a; Taggar and Parkinson, 2007). In this regard, a persistent finding from prior studies has been that
accounting students and professionals favour “sensing over intuition as a means of perception (70% of students and 61.8%
of professionals, on average), thinking over feeling for making judgments (70.1% for students and 73.5% for professionals),
and judgment over perception as a method for dealing with the outer world (65.03% of students and 71.5% of professionals)”
(Kovar et al., 2003, p. 79). As such, it has been asserted that those who choose to practice or study accounting are most likely
to exhibit a combined ‘STJ’ preference (i.e. preferences for sensing, thinking and judging), with the average concentration
(based on prior studies) being 34.6% for accounting students and 39.2% of accounting professionals (Kovar et al., 2003). A
combined preference for sensing and thinking is associated with a particular cognitive style, which is concerned with detail,
careful about rules and procedures, orderly, precise, facts-oriented, good at observing and ordering, filing and recalling, and
sequencing and categorising (Frisbie, 1988). An STJ preference is also associated with a tendency to be logical, practical, and
decisive in attitude (Wheeler, 2001). Interestingly, this overrepresentation of STJ (and the characterisation of this preference)
is consistent with earlier descriptions of the prevailing stereotypical imagery of accountants and their work. Also, these past
studies examining the personality preferences of accounting students and professionals provide evidence to suggest that
such images have confounded efforts to attract a more diverse mix of aspirants to the profession.
It is not being suggested here that all accounting students/professionals necessarily fit the characteristics of the STJ type.
In past studies examining personality in relation to accounting students/professionals, most combinations of personality
preferences were observed to varying degrees. It has also been noted in prior studies that personality preferences do not
preclude individuals from learning, being influenced by environmental factors or otherwise overcoming their tendency
to favour certain behaviours (Wolk and Nikolai, 1997; Taggar and Parkinson, 2007). However, the concentration of STJ in
past studies has been relatively stable across time, location and firm size, indicating consistencies in the typical personality
makeup of those choosing to study or practice accounting (Wheeler, 2001). This has implications for the behavioural charac-
teristics that current/aspiring accounting professionals are likely to prefer, and thus the particular capabilities and attitudes

10
Further and more detailed reviews of this collective work can be found in Wheeler (2001), Wheeler et al. (2004a) and Taggar and Parkinson (2007).
11
The descriptions of personality traits that follow have been paraphrased from similar descriptions presented in Schloemer and Schloemer (1997), Kovar
et al. (2003) and Taggar and Parkinson (2007).
258 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265

one would expect them to be predisposed to. In addition, there is evidence that personality preferences can influence the
processes and outcomes of accounting-related determinations, such as resource allocations (Chenhall and Morris, 1991) and
auditor decision making (Vaassen et al., 1993).
Given what has been described above, examining personality preferences is considered an important means for inves-
tigating whether greater diversity can be achieved from initiatives to encourage more non-accounting graduates into the
accounting profession, such as those being introduced in Australia. Past studies have consistently reported an overrepre-
sentation of personality preferences that align with persistent accounting stereotypes, but which are incompatible with
the current demands of the profession and the increasingly complex, dynamic and diverse nature of its work. But will the
entry-based initiatives described in this paper achieve the greater diversity desired by the profession? Given the linkages
between personality and individual competencies and behaviours described previously, examining the relative personal-
ity preferences of accounting and non-accounting graduates will help to answer this question. It is also timely to consider
the implications this answer may have for matters such as recruitment strategy, accounting curriculum and professional
development/socialisation in the context of the evolving demands being placed on contemporary accounting professionals.
Indeed, Wheeler (2001) noted that many challenges facing the profession today can be related to considerations of person-
ality and therefore encourages others to examine such challenges through this lens. As such, this study will investigate the
following research questions:

RQ1: What are the personality preferences of non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession?
RQ2: What are the significant differences observed in personality preferences between accounting and non-accounting
graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession?

By examining these research questions, this paper will make several contributions to the literature. First, it extends
research that examines the issue of diversity in the current profile of those seeking to enter the accounting profession (e.g.,
Kovar et al., 2003; Briggs et al., 2007) by considering the characteristics of non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the
profession. Second, given that the desirability of non-accounting graduates is frequently linked to ‘personal attributes’ or
‘personal skill-sets’ (Poullaos and Evans, 2008), examining relative personality preferences will provide important insights
into the contribution that non-accounting graduates may potentially make to meeting demands for greater diversity within
the profession. Third, this study contributes to the debate on the value of non-accounting graduates entering the accounting
profession, and as such presents an initial step in developing greater clarity on this matter.

Research method

As mentioned earlier, this study uses the MBTI, a personality instrument developed from Jungian theory, to examine the
relative personality preferences of accounting and non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession.
The MBTI instrument is a questionnaire consisting of items arranged in a forced-choice format where subjects must choose
between two responses (couched in either words or statements) for each item. This study employs the latest version of the
instrument, Form M, to measure an individual’s personality preferences. This version is an improvement over its predecessors
in that “the wording has been updated, testing indicates increased reliability and validity scores, and the scoring method
is more accurate. Form M takes about 25 min to complete, and can be scored and analysed by the subject, the on-site
administrator, or the vendor” (Wheeler, 2001, p. 130). Furthermore, the instrument has high degrees of validity and reliability
(Wheeler, 2001; Wheeler et al., 2004a). Most reports on MBTI’s test/retest reliability have shown these correlations to be
relatively high, with a range between 84% to 96% agreement of the dichotomous pairs over a 4-week period for Form M
(Wheeler et al., 2004b).
The MBTI instrument was administered by a psychologist (who is also a MBTI qualified administrator) to a sample of 100
postgraduate students undertaking their first year of the Masters of Professional Accounting program at the University of
New South Wales (UNSW). The Masters of Professional Accounting program is an accredited program that enables students to
commence professional accreditation programs offered by both CPA Australia and ICAA. These students had a first degree in a
field other than accounting, and had made a conscious decision to change their field of study to accounting. As such, they are
considered suitable proxies for non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession. The MBTI instrument
was also administered to 93 third-year undergraduate students undertaking the course “Auditing and Assurance Services”,
which is offered as a final year accounting course at the UNSW. Due to the pre-requisites required for this course, students
enrolled in this course are in their final year of study. Consistent with Briggs et al. (2007, p. 520) they are chosen because
they represent “those that are currently working in the profession or would enter it in the near future”.12 As such, these
students are considered proxies for accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession, and form the control
group for the purposes of comparison and confirming findings in the literature.
Six postgraduate students who had previous qualifications in accounting were deleted from the analysis given that our
sample focuses on non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession. Appendix A shows the previous

12
Potential participants were offered incentives to increase participation in this study.
 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265 259

qualifications of postgraduate students in the conversion program. Postgraduate students without a business undergraduate
degree make up 65% (n = 61) of the total postgraduate students in the sample. The diversity of the postgraduate students’
background in non-accounting commerce disciplines (e.g., marketing), engineering, science and arts is consistent with the
types of non-accounting graduates that the Big Four firms are aiming to recruit (Carruthers, 2007). These students may have
been exposed to basic accounting concepts in their first year of study, especially if they have graduated with non-accounting
business degrees. However, given that they did not graduate with accounting qualifications in their previous degree, they
fit into the study’s definition of non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the profession.

Results

Demographic data for accounting and non-accounting students is shown in Table 1. It is noted that non-accounting
students are, on average, 6 years older than the accounting students. Such an age difference would not be unusual in this
context. Given that ‘alternative pathways’ are intended to attract people with a diversity of experience and backgrounds, this
implies that many individuals taking such pathways are likely to have completed other training and/or work experience, and
so would be seeking to enter the accounting profession later in life. Notwithstanding this, the results should not be affected
by this difference as Jungian theory asserts that personality preferences and types are generally stable over time (Wheeler
et al., 2004a; Briggs et al., 2007).
The MBTI classifies each individual into one of the 16 personality types by firstly identifying his/her four preferences (i.e.
E or I, N or S, T or F, and J or P) (Wheeler et al., 2004a). Following prior MBTI research, the group preference is determined by
calculating the majority (in terms of percentages) for each of the four preferences (see Laribee, 1994; Wheeler, 2001; Kovar
et al., 2003; Briggs et al., 2007).
The results relating to RQ1 (i.e. the personality preferences of non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting
profession) are presented in Table 2.
The results reported in this table show that the majority of non-accounting students surveyed favour intuition (N),
thinking (T) and judging (J), with the group being split equally between preferences for extraversion (E) and introversion
(I). These results are further borne out in the reported three-way preference combinations (excluding the E/I dichotomous
preference) where NTJ (19.1%), NFP (17%) and STJ (16%) were found to be most prevalent. Additionally, the joint preference
for thinking (T) and judging (J) was the most prevalent two-way combination, preferred by 35.1% of this group. In terms
of implications for behavioural characteristics, these results suggest that non-accounting graduates seeking entry to the
profession are likely to prefer making decisions based on logic and impersonal analyses of cause and effect, and a planned,

Table 1
Demographic data of subjects.

Accounting students (n = 93) Non-accounting students (n = 94)

Male:female (%) 33:67 51:49

Average age (years) 21.05 27.25
International:local students (%) 49:51 64:36

Table 2
Personality preferences of accounting and non-accounting studentsa .

Typological preference Accounting (n = 93) Non-accounting

Overall (n = 94) Chi-square test Non-business graduates Chi-square test

(p-value) (n = 61) (p-value)

Extraversion (E) 60.2 50 52.5

Introversion (I) 39.8 50 0.209 47.5 0.433

Sensing (S) 44.1 43 37.7

Intuition (N) 55.9 57 0.949 62.3 0.536

Thinking (T) 51.6 53 59.0

Feeling (F) 48.4 47 0.944 41.0 0.461

Judging (J) 69.9 60 59.0

Perceiving (P) 30.1 40 0.186 41.0 0.224

NFJ 16.1 11.7 0.507 13.1 0.778

NFP 12.9 17.0 0.559 18.0 0.521
NTJ 19.4 19.1 0.999 21.3 0.928
NTP 7.5 9.6 0.811 9.8 0.835
SFJ 15.1 12.8 0.810 6.6 0.177
SFP 4.3 5.3 0.999 3.3 0.999
STJ 19.4 16.0 0.676 18.0 0.999
STP 5.4 8.5 0.579 9.8 0.465
a
Results are shown as percentiles.
260 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265

Table 3
Personality preferences of accounting and non-accounting students by gendera .

Accounting (n = 93) Non-accounting (n = 94)

Male (n = 31) Female (n = 62) Male (n = 48) Female (n = 46)

33% 67% 51% 49%

International students 45 52 56 72
Local students 55 48 44 28

Average age (years) 21.06 21.05 29.04 25.33

Extrovert (E) 52 65 46 54
Introvert (I) 48 35 54 46
p-Value = 0.330 p-Value = 0.536

Intuition (N) 52 58 67 48
Sensing (S) 48 42 33 52
p-Value = 0.712 p-Value = 0.101

Feeling (F) 23 61 29 65
Thinking (T) 77 39 71 35
p-Value = 0.001 p-Value = 0.001

Judging (J) 71 69 58 61
Perceiving (P) 29 31 42 39
p-Value = 0.999 p-Value = 0.968
a
Results are shown as percentiles.

organised and decisive approach to their work (a reflection of preferences for thinking (T) and judging (J)). At the same
time, it also suggests that this group is predisposed to looking for the ‘bigger picture’ in matters, through exploring patterns,
meanings and possibilities that extend insight beyond what is discernable to the senses (which is indicative of the intuition
(N) preference). In terms of their preferences for interacting with others and their surrounding environment more generally,
the findings from this group are split.
To examine RQ2 (i.e. the significant differences observed in personality preferences between accounting and non-
accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession), Chi-square tests were conducted to determine whether
there were significant differences in the proportions of personality preferences between the accounting and non-accounting
students surveyed. These results, also presented in Table 2, indicate no significant difference on any of the dichotomous pref-
erences (p-values ranging from 0.186 to 0.949), suggesting that the relative personality preferences expressed by each of
the surveyed groups are remarkably similar. This assertion is further supported by analysis of the three-way preference
combinations, which revealed no significant differences between the participant groupings (p-values ranging from 0.507 to
0.999),13 Additionally, the three-way analysis shows that NTJ (19.4%), STJ (19.4%) and NFJ (16.1%) are the three most preva-
lent profiles for the accounting students group, which again shows a consistency in the prevalence of intuition (N), thinking
(T) and judging (J) preferences in these combinations. Further, the combined preference for thinking (T) and judging (J) was
the most prevalent two-way combination, favoured by 38.8% of this group, which is quite similar to the proportion reported
for the participating non-accounting students.
Sensitivity analysis was performed on the non-accounting group surveyed to examine whether the results relating to RQ2
would change if comparison focused only on non-accounting students with non-business related educational backgrounds.
This was examined because the profession is actively seeking to attract students from a variety of backgrounds as a way of
attracting individuals to the profession who defy the ‘beancounter’ stereotype, and as such have emphasised the value of
recruiting individuals with knowledge/experience in areas such as fine arts, history, science, engineering and law (see for
example Bird, 2007; Carruthers, 2007; Kazi and Buffini, 2007). This analysis, conducted on the 61 non-accounting graduates
who completed their undergraduate studies in non-business related disciplines (see Appendix A for a breakdown of the
undergraduate degrees studied) is reported in Table 2 and reveals that this sub-group exhibits similar personality preferences
to the overall non-accounting graduate group—both groups showed majority preferences for intuition (N), thinking (T), and
judging (J), and a similarly even split between introversion (I) and extraversion (E). Further, like the overall group of non-
accounting graduates, no significant differences were found on any of the dichotomous preferences or three-way preference
combinations when comparing the accounting students surveyed with the graduates from non-business related disciplines,
suggesting that relative preferences between these groups are also very similar.
In addition to the above, further analysis of the students’ personality preferences was conducted on the basis of gen-
der and residency. Past research has revealed significant differences in the relative personality preferences of male and
female accounting students (Laribee, 1994; Kovar et al., 2003; Briggs et al., 2007). Residency was also considered, as many
international students subsequently seek employment in jurisdictions (both in and outside of Australia) where pathways

13
Analysis of the four-way combination of personality preferences was also performed. Again, no significant differences were observed between the two
participant groups.
 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265 261

Table 4
Personality preferences of accounting and non-accounting students by residencya .

Accounting (n = 93) Non-accounting (n = 94)

Local (n = 47)51% International (n = 46)49% Local (n = 34)36% International (n = 60)64%

Female 64 70 38 55
Male 36 30 62 45

Average age (years) 20.77 21.35 29.27 26.13

Extrovert (E) 60 61 47 52
Introvert (I) 40 39 53 48
p-Value = 0.999 p-Value = 0.830

Intuition (N) 60 52 59 57
Sensing (S) 40 48 41 43
p-Value = 0.610 p-Value = 0.999

Feeling (F) 49 48 41 50
Thinking (T) 51 52 59 50
p-Value = 0.999 p-Value = 0.543

Judging (J) 79 61 56 62
Perceiving (P) 21 39 44 38
p-Value = 0.099 p-Value = 0.741
a
Results are shown as percentiles.

to achieving the CA or CPA designation are not only available but are sought after. The results for gender and residency are
shown in Tables 3 and 4, respectively.
With respect to gender, the Chi-square tests for the thinking (T) versus feeling (F) component were significant. In both
the accounting and non-accounting groups, females were significantly more likely to prefer feeling (F) than males (p-
value = 0.001). This result is consistent with the previous accounting studies that have examined associations between
gender and personality preferences (Laribee, 1994; Kovar et al., 2003; Briggs et al., 2007). Given the trend for larger num-
bers of females in accounting courses (approximately half of all accounting students in a study by Cheng et al., 2009), and
the growing number of females entering the accounting profession (Lanier and Tanner, 1999; Briggs et al., 2007; Cheng et
al., 2009), this has interesting implications for introducing greater diversity into the profession, as will be discussed in the
following section.
In relation to residency, Table 4 shows that none of the Chi-square tests performed on the relative personality preferences
of local and international students were significant (p-values ranging from 0.099 to 0.999). This indicates that, based on
personality preferences, recruiters can take comfort that international students share similar preferences in cognitive style
and attitude to local students already being successfully recruited and developed in the accounting profession.

Discussion

As described earlier, the main aim of this paper is to examine the relative personality preferences of accounting and non-
accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession. Given that one of the key arguments in favour of initiatives
introduced by the ICAA and CPA Australia to open professional entry to a greater diversity of graduates, examining the
relative makeup of accounting and non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the profession is a timely issue to investigate.
The results reported in this paper indicate that non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession are
likely to exhibit similar personality preferences to their counterparts studying accounting. Most saliently, 35.1% of the
non-accounting graduates surveyed exhibited a combined preference for thinking (T) and judging (J), which was similar
to the proportion of the same combined preference reported for participating group of accounting students (38.8%). This
concentration of TJ preferences is consistent with prior studies examining the personality preferences of accounting students
and professionals. This means that similar to accounting graduates, non-accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting
profession are likely to prefer making decisions based on logic and impersonal analyses of cause and effect, and a planned,
organised and decisive approach to their work. In short, the results of this study indicate that whilst initiatives to attract
more non-accounting graduates to the profession may provide a larger pool of talent from which to recruit, they are unlikely
to deliver the extra diversity of entrants to the profession that they promise, at least in terms of behavioural tendencies such
as cognitive style and attitude.
Whilst this study found that the personality preferences of the accounting students and non-accounting graduates
surveyed were similar, there are differences between the preferences exhibited by both these groups and those relating
to accounting students reported in previous studies. In particular, accounting students surveyed in this study exhibited
a majority preference for intuition (N) over sensing (S), whereas prior studies have consistently reported the oppos-
ing personality preference. To further explore this issue, additional analysis of the three-way combined preferences of
accounting students was undertaken by way of comparison with findings on the preferences of accounting students
262 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265

Table 5
Comparisons of findings with other studies for accounting studentsa .

Typological preference Present study Briggs et al. Ramsay et al. Laribee (1994) Booth and Winzar
(n = 93) (2007) (n = 821) (2000) (n = 132) (n = 320) (1993) (n = 490)

Extraversion (E) 60.2 50.7 48.5 55.9 42.7

Introversion (I) 39.8 49.3 51.5 44.1 57.3

Sensing (S) 44.1 75.7 72.0 67.5 68.6

Intuition (N) 55.9 24.3 28.0 32.5 31.4

Thinking (T) 51.6 68.1 68.9 68.8 73.7

Feeling (F) 48.4 31.9 31.1 31.2 26.3

Judging (J) 69.9 61.5 62.9 60.0 66.9

Perceiving (P) 30.1 38.5 37.1 40.0 33.1

NFJ 16.1 2.9 4.6 4.7 4.9

NFP 12.9 6.4 6.0 7.8 6.8
NTJ 19.4 6.2 5.3 8.4 10.4
NTP 7.5 8.9 12.2 11.6 9.4
SFJ 15.1 14.2 16.7 10.9 8.8
SFP 4.3 8.4 3.8 7.8 6.0
STJ 19.4 38.2 36.3 35.9 42.8
STP 5.4 14.8 15.1 12.8 11.0
a
Results are shown as percentiles.

from Laribee (1994), Kovar et al. (2003), Ramsay et al. (2000) and Briggs et al. (2007).14 This analysis is presented in
Table 5.
The comparative three-way combinations presented here show that whilst the prevalence of the stereotypical STJ prefer-
ence in this study has the equal highest concentration (along with NTJ at 19.4%), it is notably lower than that of the previous
four studies (which all report a combined STJ preference of over 35%).15 Of course, this study only examines personality
preferences of students from one university, and it is possible that peculiar differences in the makeup of students from this
university could influence the results observed. Booth and Winzar (1993) did report a significant difference in the propor-
tion of sensing (S) versus intuitive (N) preferences between students from UNSW and students from two other universities
examined as part of their study (UNSW—S:N = 63%:37%, other sampled universities—S:N = 74%:26%, p-value = 0.031). How-
ever, unlike in this study, a significant majority for sensing (S) was still reported. Another point to note is that, except for
Briggs et al. (2007), the comparative studies presented in Table 5 and other accounting studies reporting the STJ concentra-
tion all draw on data collected some time ago. As a consequence, could the results relating to the additional analysis indicate
that long standing efforts to reform the stereotypical imagery of accountants and reposition perceptions about desirable pro-
fessional skills and behavioural norms expected within the profession are only now starting to have an effect in making the
profession more appealing to individuals with attributes other than those characterised by a combined STJ preference? Such
an argument would be supported by the findings of Kavanagh and Drennan (2008), who report that accounting students
are now becoming aware of the importance of communication, analytical, leadership, critical thinking/decision making,
problem solving, critical thinking and other ‘non-technical’ skills to their career success. These perceptions extend beyond
conventional typecasting of accounting work and thus provide further evidence to support the contention that established
stereotypical images of the profession are not only starting to resonate less with those seeking to join it, but are being incre-
mentally reformed by new perceptions about what is important to succeed in the profession. If this is indeed the case, then
it seems reasonable to suggest that this would have a flow on effect to the character and attributes of individuals that might
now find an accounting career appealing, as indicated by the shifts in personality preferences expressed in this study in
comparison to those reported in prior accounting research. However, such inferences can only be made tentatively. Future
research in this area should explore the possibility of such developments in further detail.
Notwithstanding the implications of the additional analysis just discussed, the main finding of this study is that non-
accounting graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession are likely to exhibit similar personality preferences to their
counterparts who study accounting for their undergraduate degree and who have expressed commitment to pursuing an
accounting-related career. This finding has important implications for a range of stakeholders associated with the profession.
For large accounting firms and others seeking to attract talented individuals into accounting roles, these findings indicate
that non-accounting graduates can add to the pool of recruits on offer, confident that they are likely to favour skills and
capabilities similar to those that have chosen to study accounting. In other words, they are likely to present ‘more of the same’.
However, if the argument for greater diversity is sustained in order to meet the needs of an increasingly dynamic profession,

14
These four studies were chosen because they measure personality preferences of accounting students and contain sufficient information to calculate
a three-way preference combination for further analysis in this study.
15
The average concentration of a combined STJ preference for all studies of accounting students and professionals, including the comparative studies
shown in Table 5, is 34.6% (Kovar et al., 2003).
 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265 263

then our findings raise questions about the extent to which the promise of diversity can be achieved by attracting more non-
accounting graduates to the profession. Rather, it seems that greater diversity might be better achieved by other means.
As indicated earlier, there is some evidence to suggest that established stereotypical images may be slowly breaking down
and reforming. Indeed, it has been shown over time that an increasing preference for extraversion (E) amongst accounting
students had already been observed (Wheeler, 2001). Further, there have been consistent findings suggesting that females are
able to offer further diversity, particularly in relation to the dichotomous preferences for thinking (T)/feeling (F) within the
profession (Laribee, 1994; Kovar et al., 2003; Briggs et al., 2007; this study). Given the trend for larger numbers of females in
accounting courses (approximately half of all accounting students in a study by Cheng et al., 2009), and the growing number
of females entering the accounting profession (Lanier and Tanner, 1999; Briggs et al., 2007; Cheng et al., 2009), this has
interesting implications for strategies relating to staff recruitment, development and retention, as it seems the pursuit of
gender balance at all levels of seniority might have the added benefit of introducing greater diversity in terms of skills and
attributes as well. Likewise, the findings of this study about the personality preferences of accounting and non-accounting
graduates seeking to enter the accounting profession, in addition to changing student perceptions reported by Kavanagh and
Drennan (2008) about what is important for a successful accounting career, suggest some further erosion of the conventional
typecasting of accountants and their work. Such changes are likely to be attributable to sustained efforts by accounting firms
and the profession to recast the image of accountants (through branding campaigns, recruitment materials/programs and
the like) to be more inspiring, exciting, and dynamic (Jeacle, 2008). Although its seems these efforts have been very slow to
take effect, the above discussion indicates that they appear to be having an incremental impact in favour of attracting the
more desirable range of individuals that the profession seeks.
The findings of this study also suggest that attempts to inculcate particular skills and capabilities desired by the pro-
fession should be conducted through academic accounting programs, rather than by trying to fill deficiencies through the
recruitment of non-accounting graduates. Personality preferences, whilst predisposing individuals to favour certain cogni-
tive styles and attitudes to interacting with their work environment, do not preclude them from learning and effectively
mobilizing other non-preferred skills. For academia this means that a focus should be placed on developing a range of
desirable graduate attributes in students that extend beyond technical proficiency, and which would help to develop skills
associated with less commonly observed personality preferences amongst accounting students/professionals. Briggs et al.
(2007) suggest that in the pursuit of developing accountants with broader based skills, programs should encourage the use of
group exercises in class, including presentations, debates, brain storming and role-playing. Further, they recommend the use
of assessments that demand overview, critical thinking and originality, rather than focusing too much on structured essays,
data-based exercises and multiple choice assessments. Booth and Winzar (1993), based on their research drawing from
psychology and educational research, provide similar suggestions. They recommend that to address traditional weaknesses
in the skills of accounting students, further attention should be given to methods for improving communication skills, using
self-instruction approaches, tasks involving more open and ambiguous problem solving, and explicit inclusion of human
and behavioural considerations in problem analysis. Although it is recognised that some efforts have already been made in
curriculum development to satisfy such recommendations, evidence presented by Kavanagh and Drennan (2008) suggests
that many of the softer and professional skills desired by the profession are still not being developed sufficiency in univer-
sity accounting programmes, meaning that there is still more that can be done in this regard. The observed outcomes and
effectiveness of the AICPA’s 150-hour education requirement in developing more broadly educated accounting graduates
may be instructive here.
The findings presented in this paper also have implications for the development of accounting professionals once they
have commenced work. Following on from considerations discussed above for academic accounting programs, professional
accreditation training similarly needs to consider how the development of softer and professional skills desired by the
profession can be further enhanced through their programs. In addition, employers of accounting professionals needs to
consider how such skills can be developed on the job. In this regard, the effects of formal and informal efforts to socialise
graduates as ‘accounting professionals’ in large accounting firms could have beneficial and constraining effects in the pursuit
of diversity within the profession. As mentioned previously, such socialisation practices acculturate graduates on matters
such as client service discourse, and what is considered to be ‘professional’ conduct (Anderson-Gough et al., 1998a,b, 2000;
Grey, 1998), which has encouraged the development of desirable qualities such as professional demeanour, leadership,
and interpersonal skills in those seeking success in an accounting career. However, such socialisation holds the potential to
constrain the further development of diversity within the accounting profession, as those wishing to succeed in an accounting
career either seek to fulfil the expectations of prevailing professional and social norms, or decide to seek alternative career
paths because they do not find themselves ‘fitting in’.

Conclusion

In Australia, the value placed on non-accounting graduates is growing in response to the shortage of accountants at the
entry level and the broadening demands on the contemporary accounting professional. This paper is aimed at informing
debate about the value of ‘alternative pathway’ initiatives in delivering on their promise of attracting a more diverse range
of professional entrants. The findings reported in this paper unfortunately indicate that such initiatives are unlikely to pro-
vide the added diversity that they promise, at least as measured through the lens of personality. As a consequence, the
implications for a range of stakeholders to the accounting profession are discussed. The results present tentative evidence
264 P. Andon et al. / Critical Perspectives on Accounting 21 (2010) 253–265

of the slowly changing image of accountants and its incremental impact on changing the types of people who might find an
accounting career appealing. Of course, this paper excludes consideration of other benefits or drawbacks of attracting more
non-accounting graduates to the profession. Can they bring with them other learned life/work experiences and skills that
may be helpful in developing an accounting career? Might they struggle (either in the short or long term) with technical
skills/competence relative to their accounting graduate counterparts, who have the benefit of three or 4 years of undergrad-
uate study in accounting behind them? Such questions present fruitful opportunities for further research into the difficulties
that non-accounting graduates may or may not face in establishing careers in accounting. For example, one could investigate
differences between accounting and non-accounting graduates in professional examinations and/or performance evalua-
tions as an indication of a potential difference in technical competence between these groups. Along with this study, research
of this nature would provide further evidence to inform the debate about the merits of alternative entry pathways and their
effects on the long term makeup and development of the accounting profession.

Appendix A.

Previous qualifications of postgraduate students before enrolling in the Masters of Professional Accounting program at
UNSW.
Type of degrees Number of respondents

Undergraduate degrees
Bachelor of Business (non-accounting majors) 33
Bachelor of Engineering 19
Bachelor of Arts 11
Bachelor of Science 9
Bachelor of Economics 7
Bachelor of Computer Science 4
Bachelor of Law 4
Bachelor of Administration 3
Bachelor of Aviation 2
Bachelor of Architecture 2

Diploma and postgraduate degrees

Master of Commerce (non-accounting majors) 9
Master of Engineering 4
Master of Science 3
Certificate IV 2
Diploma Business 1
Diploma Business Administration 1
Graduate Diploma of Finance and Investment 1
Graduate Certificate Application Finance 1
Graduate Diploma of IT 1
Master of Arts 1
Master of Business Finance 1
Master of Computer Science 1
Master of Laws 1
Master of Technology Management 1
Master of Business Administration 1
Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology 1

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