Personality Profile of Accounting Professionals and Students

This accounting education study asserts that student satisfaction is an important educational outcome and that high student satisfaction can help to maintain the vitality of institutions. Over 800 undergraduate and master s accounting students and newly hired CPA firm accounting professionals were its subjects. There were three research questions: first, what are the levels of program and university satisfaction of the participants; second, what is the participants composite personality profile; and third, what is the relationship between satisfaction and personality for the participants. The BFI-44 personality profile revealed the accounting students and professionals as low on Neuroticism, average on Extraversion and Openness, and moderately high on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. This contradicts the traditional stereotype of accountants as introverted, pedantic, unsociable, and boring (Shackleton, 1980). All accounting groups shared basically the same personality profile. This supports Holland s theory, which holds that vocational choice is an indicator of personality (Costa, McCrae, & Holland, 1984).