Assessing the characteristics of accounting students

This paper examines the relationships between accounting students and some intangible factors that might influence the students' decision of being accountants. Some of these factors are oral communication apprehension, written communication apprehension, ambiguity tolerance, gender, and students' learning style. The elements of each construct are discussed and related to the relevant theoretical frameworks. Results indicate that writing and oral communication apprehension and money are the primary factors that influence students to major in accounting. The study is supposed to help inform accounting educators and practitioners about the potentially serious communication problems. Thus, changing accounting curricula is long overdue.