Accounting Students’ Perceptions of AEC 2015 on Public Accounting Profession

Objective – The economic growth of a country is very important because it reflects the country's economic development and success. This study's objective is to examine how accounting students' perceptions of the public accounting profession are taken into account in facing the AEC 2015. In that regard, this study gauges how Indonesian companies can fulfil their needs to be more competitive in meeting the goals of the AEC 2015. Methodology/Technique – This study is qualitative in nature thus analysis will be descriptive. Questionnaires were distributed to currently active students of accounting in Indonesia. The samples were extracted from a nonprobability sampling technique. The 339 respondents were selected based on a set of basic considerations. In this context, the participants must have knowledge of the AEC 2015 and are currently studying in public accountancy as a profession All were from Indonesia. Findings – Results drawn from the respondents indicate that they do not deeply understand the description of the AEC 2015.Majority of the respondents (27.4%) understood that the implementation of the AEC 2015 will make goods and services flow freely and majority (39.8%) also feel that they have a good ability in speaking with almost half of them assuming that they also write well in English. With regards to their competence in accounting after graduation, more than half (52.2%) of the respondents agree that the competence of public accountants from the host country will not be able to compete with those from ASEAN countries. Novelty – This paper enables accounting students to understand the challenges they face ahead, especially for those who are prospective successors to the Indonesian nation. Type of Paper: Empirical