Essay: Supervised training program

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background and Definition of Internship

Internship defines as a supervised training program of a student where to explore them into a real work practice and for being qualifying requested by profession in specific industry. Internship program is getting more and more popular in student learning process. Many Universities are implementing internship program as one of the compulsory studies’ subject. Why is it importance? What is the purpose of Universities making it as a compulsory subject?

According to a study done by Thomas and Jim(2002), they highlight that “ working in organizational setting makes the intern more aware of the importance of soft skills such as effective communication, social interaction, teamwork and ability to problem solve in environments where defining the problem is a major part of the overall job.” Internship brings a lot of advantages and benefit where these benefits are unable to obtain from a classroom learning as mentioned by Albert Camus: (1913-1960) “You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it”..This is the purpose of University wanted their student to learn the abovementioned soft skills by undergo it with experiment it.

1.2 The role of Internship program in Accounting Line

It is a positive connection between the internship programs with accounting line. This is because the experiences gained from internship program helps student easier to understand upon lecturing as the student able to analysis and imagine the usefulness of lecturing will be apply later when working. A study defined by Gary et al (1994), “the experiences that students get through exposure to the business world, such as experience ……. in situation where judgments and estimation are required, cannot be learnt in classrooms or from textbooks”. In additional, a study of S.A Osman, Omar, Kofli, Mat, Darus & Raham (2008) also stated that “For example in structural design course, the application of the real project is much important in order for the student to have real picture of the design concept”. It is just same in accounting industry as accounting requires a lot of estimation and subjective judgment. This estimation can be only trained by having the real work experience. The most important is this type of experiences can be only obtained by practicing in relevant sector. People use to said that “Practice make perfect”, nothing is better than internship gaining the real world experiences.

Next, the study of Tan, Wee and Aida (2007) had stated that “Practical training provides students and the faculty with a means of bridging the gap between career expectations developed in the classroom and the reality of employment in the real world”. This is one of the issues usually facing by majority of student. Student always found out what they had been teach during the class always differences with what they actually need to perform. This situation is usual as the classroom learning is more on theoretical and the internship program is more on practical. The career expectation gap can be reducing after the student go through the internship. Student will only know what the actual practice of real world after undergo the internship. Beside this, student can also bring along their internship experiences into classroom learning. It enhances the understandability of a student by having a greater picture how it links with the outside world while lecturer is teaching.

“Tight time budget, efficiently and effectively” are the issues always arise in audit line. Now a day, there are much more high expectation and different requirements from employer to employee compared to years before. According to Fallows and Steven (2000), “fresh graduate students are immediately required to perform well with sufficient knowledge and background by the employer, hence, by having the industrial training it is one of the options to equip students with such experiences.” It is very true in audit line especially at the audit peak period. The idle time for the fresh graduate student to go through the training and learning process is limited. It is exactly just matched with the study of Andrew and Mark (1998) that “reflect the reality of a competitive job market in which students without practical experience realize that they are at a disadvantage when pitted against students with internship experience”. For my research and survey, 100% of the surveyor, students who went through the internship agreed that attending an internship program benefits them to have higher chance during the job hunting.

Therefore, internship program is playing a very important role in accounting industry. With the current internship program, student quality can be assure in a certain level if and only of the objective of the internship achieved.

1.3The Research Problem

There is no doubt on the usefulness of the internship. However as mentioned by Maisarah and Raja (2009), “Practical training provides a means for students to gain some exposure to actual working life while it aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice” and define as the main objective of the internship. But how we going to ensure the internship program meet the target benefit or not? How far the internship is helps the student explore more? Part of that, does the firm influence the outcome of the internship. Student will spend 3 to 6 months on a particular firm to having their internship training. What they see actually what the firm is doing now. There might be a variance on the outcome of internship for student who practical in different type of firm. Therefore choosing a right firm to undergo the internship program is very crucial for the student. Students will face the dilemma on which firm they should apply on especially for those student who get offer from more than 1 firm and end up with randomly picked up a firm to go for. Is it the practical area, firm size or the IT based firm influence the outcome of internship? Which factor the care the most?

1.4The motivation of study

The main objective conducting this study is to determine the usefulness of the internship from student perceptive whether the program really helps the student to gain some exposure to the real work life and some soft skill development. However the study also considers along the effect of different firm type on the usefulness of the internship based on the student perception. By addressing the issue of student dilemma while choosing their right audit firm, the motive for this study is actually analyze the usefulness of the internship if the program practicing by counting along the factor of different firm type base on the student perception who already gone through their internship. What you see, what you get. Different type of firm will directly influence the result of the internship. Firm which have a different size, different area, and different client group will bring a difference experience for the student. This are the factor should student consider along while choosing their practical firm. The experience and opinion of the student who gone through the internship program is valuable for the future trainee practical as it can be a very good guideline for them while determine their practical firm.

1.5Scope of study

The scope of this study mainly focuses on the factor of usefulness like improvement of soft skill – communication skill, attitude after the internship, real work experience which helps reduce the gaps and increase the understandability in future class. Part of that, the study also includes along factor like difference type of the accounting firm in term of area, size and client group how it determine the usefulness of the internship. Firm area – rural or urban, client group – different industries or concentrate in certain industries, size – big, medium and small will have a difference effect on the internship result. Part of that, this study will be refer to the student who are in University level and already gone through the Internship Program. Student gone through the internship will have a better understanding internship process. Beside this, they also able to identify the differences before and after went through the internship whether the objective of internship is archived or not and whether there is a variance of internship outcome between different types of firm.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Prior Study

Many studies had been conducted based on the usefulness of internship. A study which done by S.A.Osman et al (2008) name “The importance of industrial training: Student Perception in Civil Engineering Sector” base on the student perception before and after undergo the industrial program in the civil engineering sector. In addition, according to the exposure draft issued by International Federation of Accountant (IFAC) on Practical Experience dated on January 2007 highlighted the following important of practical experience: “A period of practical experience under guidance of a mentor enables trainees to integrate knowledge gained through formal education with experience in real work environment. The purpose of this research was trying to study the student perception on the benefit of the industrial program”. The benefit had measures in few factor – attitude (self-confidence, punctuality), working attitude (teamwork, problem solving skill, and communication skill (presentation, interaction skill). In the end of the study, researcher had concluded that “Almost all the students agreed that by doing the training has really benefited and exposed them to the real working environment” by obtained all data of the students’ perception who gone through the industrial training. Part of that, the study also shows that there was a significantly improved of work attitude, communication skill and attitude and the knowledge they gathered during the industrial can be use in future job prospect. As we know that, soft skill like communication, working attitude had been emphasis by employer. Especially in audit line, skill like presentation, teamwork, and interaction skill is very fundamental for a future auditor.

Beside this, exposure of real world experience can have a big picture for the student on what the audit is all about. Experience is important. No class is better than let the student to go through the whole process. University had the responsibility to ensure that student had been exposure those skills during their practical section as it is best time develop and equip them before they step out to the future job prospect. Therefore, it is important to evaluate that whether the internship program had increase the ability of the student is three prospect competence, working attitude and communication skill. Part of that, there were some study had been carried out by researcher about the impact of different type of firm on the audit quality. Student having the internship in audit firm will involve in the audit procedure from different firm. Those factors may raise a high impact on the outcome of internship as well.

2.2 Firm Size and Audit Quality

Firm size had been defined as highly related with the audit quality. There are few study had been conducted by researcher how the audit quality get effected according to different firm size. A study of “Implementation of Audit Quality Control System (ISQC)” carried by Aida et al at 2008 with the result “Most of the respondent agreed that the implementation of ISQC for the small and medium audit firms is a burden to them especially on internal matters.” The study had conducted by helped of Malaysia Institute of Accountants (MIA) by selecting the respondents where the respondent majority is executive as well as senior auditor in small and medium size audit firm. Based on the feedback of the respondent, the burden of the implementation mainly due insufficient of audit partner who lead the quality team matter, the ISQC not a friendly standard and a small number of staff. Respondent also feel that filling the quality checklist which required by ISQC is wasting their precious time during the peak period. In additional, lacking of workshop and training on awareness and implementation of ISQC by some professional body is another reason drawback the small and medium size firms on implementation of ISQC.

Another study carried by Jere and Michael 2009 with the title “Big 4 Office Size and Audit Quality” had draw out a conclusion of a “systematic association between Big 4 office size and audit outcome consistent with larger offices producing higher quality of audits”. Part of that, the study also had highlighted how the issue of audit had revised their procedures of work like the case WorldCom, Arthur Anderson, the requirement of Sarbanes Oxley of 2002, PCAOB inspection. Those issues had created a motivation and needs for the accounting firm especially Big 4 which always deals with public listed companies to re-evaluated their procedure to ensure that the quality of the audit work meet the requirement of the standard.

The study of “Auditor Size and Audit Quality” carried by Linda (1981) is a very important study for audit industry because this study had argues that audit quality is not independent of audit firm size. The study had highlighted that “when incumbent auditors earn client-specific quasi-rents, auditors with a greater number of clients have more to lose” by failing to report a discovered breach in a particular client’s records. Because of this, in conclusion the researcher had mention that “the larger the auditor as measured by the number of the current clients and the smaller the client as a fraction of the auditor’s total quasi-rent, the less incentive the auditor has to behave opportunistically and the higher the perceived quality of the auditor”. It also mean that the larger the firm size, the greater level of independent to single client due to having larger number of client and then the expectation quality of audit will be increased as well. The study had proved that there is an impact of the audit firm size on the audit quality.

2.3 The usage of IT and Audit Quality

Information technology or name as IT has a rapid growth since early ago. IT and business always highly connected as define by Ronnie (1982). Implementation of IT not only get thing done in effective way but also efficient. IT deals with the use of computers, computer software to record, store, and secures the information.

A study of Rajiv et al (2002) had draw out the current impact of IT in business process with “ the current trend is create a paperless office environment that replaces paper documents with electronic documents so that information can be accessed easily and with much less effort”. Now a days, getting more and more business entity had use IT to record their day to day business record. Data which store in the database is more easily retrieve and track back. This condition had lead to the company loss of some valid evidences.

As an auditor, we have the responsibility to keep pace with the client. Reasonable knowledge of IT is required when the auditor conducting the audit procedure as the result now a day most of the client had switch the book keeping, control system from hand writing to IT. Beside this, the study also included the impact of IT on different level of Auditor. According to a junior auditor during the interview section while the researcher conducting the study, he describes that “the most important benefit to him is that he can develop the working papers electronically” therefore he no need to repeat the same entry several time in different sheet.

The usage of IT had reduced the error and incorrect computation as is one of the major causes for misstatement. While for the senior auditor, he also pointed out “he like to use the audit software to edit his audit plan and programs”. Based on the audit software he implemented, the audit software lists all the necessary planning items for him so he do not need to worry about missing an important element. the audit software that use by the respondent organized all the required audit procedures in a common list and cross references them to item in the working paper.

This show that, the IT software not only can enable the audit procedures be done in the effectively by reducing the error occurring but also efficiency by complete it with lesser time. For the audit managers level, the usage of IT do not directly give an impact on them however because of the quality of output had increased, the process of reviewing also can be done easily and favorable to them. In the end of the study, researchers conclude that although the IT had a difference impact on the respondent; however the impact were all in the positive direction.

2.4 Firm at Rural and Urban Area

Inherent risk (IR) is part of a larger problem of audit risk assessment (AR) as define by James (1989). As defined at the same study, “The inherent risk is the susceptibility of an account balance or class of account balances to error that could be material assuming that there are no related internal accounting controls”. As require by the general Audit Risk Assessment, an inherent risk assessment is an important first step to determine the whole audit risk and it always related to which type of client the auditor dealing with.

AR = IR x CR x DR

Different type of client will have a different level of IR. According to the model of AR, different level of IR will also influence the audit work had to be performed by getting reasonable detection risk therefore the audit risk can be maintain in a low level. To get a better quality of audit, the audit risk has to be very low as low audit risk also brings the meaning low risk of auditor giving wrong opinion.

Therefore, type of client, audit procedures are define as highly connected to conduct a quality audit. In the other words, the audit procedures which carry by the firm depends on which type of client they dealing with. Client at rural area and urban area will have a different characteristic.

As mention as 9th Malaysia Plan, the government will increase the amount allocated for the development of rural areas as well as under-developed regions to reduce the development gap between rural and urban area. The plan had shown that, the development of rural area is much more behind if compare with the urban area. Part of that, the 9th Malaysia Plan also mentioned that although there is a rise in average household income, however the overall income gap between rural and urban area had continued to widen.

By those economy condition above, we can see that firm operate in rural area and urban area has a significant different of environment, gaps and business risk. As a result of different audit procedures in different area, it may influence the outcome of internship due to student who practices in different area.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

3.1 Data Collection

Primary data

Primary data will be use to conduct this study to reflect the current condition. To collect the data, questionnaire will be use as the result the data can be collected by more efficient and require minimal of cost. Questionnaire encompasses of a series of questions which related to the study will be spread out to the large number of potentially respondent. Part of this, collect data from different area by questionnaire will be more easier if compare to other method. In the survey model, a researcher questions the subjects and collects their responses by personal or impersonal means.

3.2 Questionnaire Design

According to Gramling et al. (1996), mostly the survey questionnaire will be design into two sections. In the first section, the questionnaire will be solicits some demographic information such as age, sex, university, and period of working experience. This information is used to develop a profile of the respondents. While in the second section of the questionnaire, it will be some question which related to the current study. Factor like different type of firm the respondent go for internship, their perspective of their soft skill improvement, the benefit that generated from the internship will be added inside this section. The questionnaire will be design in the close-ended format. Unlike the open-ended questionnaire, close ended questionnaire will be limited to the answer that already set during the design of questionnaire. Scale rating will be implemented in the questionnaire to help the researcher to determine whether the respondent agree or disagree with the statement. Below is the example of answer:

3.3 Respondents

As mention at the early chapter, the study is from the student view of point, therefore students who are now taking accounting course in different University and gone through the internship program will be choose as the respondent for this study. To avoid respondent’s bias, student from 5 University will be chosen and each of the university will be choosing 10-15 of student who gone through the internship to answer the questionnaire.

3.4 Research Design

This study mainly investigates the usefulness of internship to bring an improvement of student’s soft skill. Part of that, the effect of 3 other factors on usefulness of internship: firm size, firm area, the usage IT of firm will be test along in this study.

3.5 Data Analysis

Statistical Processing for the Social Science (SPSS) Version 16.0 will be used to analyze the data which we will gather later. To enable the data analysis process, the software in needed so that the study can be done in more efficient and effective. Part of that, the package of SPSS enable to analyze the data in various ways by generates a statistical output for interpretation.

Descriptive Statistic

The main technique that uses to analysis the result of this study is descriptive analysis. According to the online database of Research Method Knowledge Base, it define that “descriptive statistic is the basic features of the data in a study”. It generally uses some basic summaries about the sample and the measures which include some simple graph, tables and histogram. Simple measurement like mean, mode, median is the popular features in this technique.

Crosstabulation

As define by Statistical Processing for the Social Science (SPSS), “Crosstabulation actually is the tables (contingency tables) display the relationship between two or more categorical (nominal or ordinal) variables.” From the table, analyst can distinguish the result from each of the variables. It can highlight the differences between 2 groups result. Thus analyst can make a comparison on that.

Independent t-test for Non-response bias

In this section, people need to determine whether the parameters of two populations are alike or different in order to make decisions. A common testing situation is where independent samples are drawn from two different populations in order to test some hypotheses about difference in population characteristics for some measured attributes.

When both sample sizes are greater than thirty (the earlier group questionnaire received and the later group received), the hypothesis is arrived as follow:

H0: µ1 = μ2

H1a, 1b, 1c: μ1 ≠ μ2

α = 0.05

where,

sample 1 = the earlier group

sample 2 = the later group

μ1 = mean of earlier group

μ2 = mean of later group

α = confidential level

Null hypothesis is meaning that there is no difference of opinion or views between student practical in small and big audits firm at a 95% confidence level.

The standard deviations of the two populations are assumed to be equivalent to the standard deviations of the respective samples

1 = SD1 and 2 = SD2

Where1 = Standard deviation of population 1

2 = Standard deviation of population 2

SD1 = Standard deviation of sample 1

SD2 = Standard deviation of sample 2

If SD1 represents the standard deviation of sample 1 and SD2 the standard deviation of sample 2, n1 the number in sample 1 and n2 the number in sample 2, the estimated standard error of the difference between two means can determined by:

Next, the difference of sample means is standardized.

Z = (x̄1 – x̄2) – (μ1 – μ2 ) H0

SE (diff)

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

4.1 Introduction

This chapter basically focuses on the discussion and data analysis base on the data obtained from the questionnaire. The questionnaire has successfully distributed and collected back to 80 students from local government university which had gone through their practical training. Most of the data analysis will be done by using Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Part of that descriptive analysis like mean, histogram, and frequency analysis will be use in discussion part.

4.2Non response bias

To test the non-response bias, questionnaire was distribute by early section and late section. Earlier section questionnaire collected will be rank as 1 and later section questionnaire will be rank as 2. An independent samples t-test had been run to compare the mean scores of these 2 groups. This test is important as to test whether there is a significant variance between the group results. To see whether there is a non-response bias, we have to rely on the result of the Levene test. If the Sig. value is less than 0.05 and Sig 2-tailed value is less than 0.01, this indicates the variance both group of sample is significant different. If the Sig. value is more than 0.05 and Sig 2-tailed is more than 0.01, it indicates the variance both group of sample is equal. As shown at the table at appendix table 13, we can see that most of the Sig. value and Sig 2-tailed value generated from SPSS is actually more than 0.05 and 0.01. This result indicates the data getting from both group respondents is actually free from non-response bias as there are no different from earlier group or later group of collection.

4.3Normality Test

As what been defined at chapter 3, normality test actually is use to test the distribution of respondent result. The normal distribution is a family of distribution (i.e different means and standard deviations) which have common characteristic which also indicates that there is no data is distorted from the group. The significant distorted might be bias to the result generated later. To ensure the normal distribution, we have to ensure the skewness’s statistic and standard deviation values of the each statement fall into range of -2 and +2. According to the table shown at the appendix table 14, all the skewness’s statistic and standard deviation values of each statement are fall between -2 and +2. It indicates result of the respondent has normal distribution. It is good as the data is not found distorted. According to Burns & Burns (2008, p.172), positive values of skew indicate a positive skew while negative ones reveal a negative skew. Part of that, the Positive values of kurtosis indicate more peakedness while negative ones indicate a flatter curve.

4.4Reliability Test

Table 1: Reliability Statistics
Cronbach’s Alpha	Cronbach’s Alpha Based on Standardized Items	N of Items
.832	.858	20

According to Zikmund (2000, p.280), reliability is the degree to which measures are free from error and therefore yield consistent results. Imperfections in the measuring process that affect the assignment of scores or numbers in different ways each time a measure is taken, such as a respondent who misunderstands a question, are the cause of low reliability. According to Burns & Burns (2008, p.420), for reliability test, note that an item eliminated because of low correlation with the test as a whole may not be poorly worded or ambiguous, but may measure some other dimension very well and could be assessed for reliability within another set of items. To have a higher internal consistency between the statements, it is suggested that Cronbach’s Alpha has to achieve more than 0.80. As shown at table 1 above, the result of 0.832 had indicated that there are high internal consistencies between scales of the each statement.

4.5 Respondent Profile

Table 2: Respondent Profile

Gender			Marital Status			Firm Size
	Frequency	%		Frequency	%		Frequency	%
Male	13	16.25%	Single	80	100.00%	Big or Medium	53	66.25%
Female	67	83.75%				Small	27	33.75%
Total	80	100.00%	Total	80	100.00%	Total	80	100.00%
Ethnicity			Firm Location			IT Usage
	Frequency	%		Frequency	%		Frequency	%
Malay	14	17.50%	Rural	13	16.25%	Yes	55	68.75%
Chinese	63	78.75%	Urban	67	83.75%	No	25	31.25%
Others	3	3.75%
Total	80	100.00%	Total	80	100.00%	Total	80	100.00%

Table 2 had show that the frequency of the respondent for this study. The main respondent of this study is the student who study at Government University and gone through their practical training. There are 80 respondents taken during the questionnaire section and 100% of them are single. Out of 80 students there are 13 male (16%) and 67 female (84%). This is because the accounting course itself has a low intake of male student. Part of that, the respondent also form by 14 Malay (17%), 63 Chinese (79%), and 3 from other ethnic group (4%). Out of 80 students, there are 55 students (66%) had their practical training at Big and medium size firm and 27 students (34%) at small size firm. Out of the 80 firms, 13 of them located at rural area (16%) and 67 of them located at urban area (84%). While in term of IT usage, there are 55 out of 80 (69%) saying that there was involvement of IT and the other 25 out of 80 (31%) had no involvement of IT during their practical training.

4.6General Analysis

4.6.1 It is easier join same firm after graduate

Table 3: Result of It is easier join same firm after graduate
	Frequency	Percent
Yes	67	83.75%
No	13	16.25%
Total	80	100%

Table 3 is showing the opinion of respondent whether is it easier for them to join the same firm that they went for practical after graduation. Compare with 16.25%, 83.75% which more than 80% percent of respondent have the opinion as it is easier for them to join back the same firm. Firm will be familiar with the attitude and capability of the internship student and during their practical training may offer stay as permanent staff after their graduation. Because of this, some of the student may make it as a factor when choosing their firm to having their practical training as the firm is the targeted firm that they wish to join in future. Big size firm like big4 will be the priority choice for student as they provide greater employee benefit for their staff.

4.6.2 Factor being consider while choosing Firm

Table 4: Result of Factor being consider while choosing Firm
		Frequency	Percent
1	Experience that I hope to get	33	41.25%
2	Salary	7	8.75%
3	Convenient Location	30	37.50%
4	Size of Firm	7	8.75%
5	Being Employed in future	3	3.75%
	Total	80	100.00%

As shown at the table 4 above, it shows that those factors generally will be considered when choosing a firm that they go for practical. Experience, salary, location, size of firm or potential of being employed by the same firm after graduation are factor that usually will be consider. From the table above, we realize that respondent basically will be more focus on Experience that they hope to get which having 41.25% and the convenient location with 37.50%. Part of that, salary and size of firm both have the same portion of 8.75%. Last is the factor potential of being employed by the same firm which has a 3.75%.

Most of the respondent choosing the experience as priority factor they considered with may because it is the main objective for the government having the practical training program. As mention by Tan, Wee and Aida (2007), student can reduce the gap between the career expectation and what they learn from classroom. Only student experience itself only can actually sense what the reality of outside world. While in term of location, according to the result from early part, student actually feel neutral on firm locate in urban or rural area. It would not influence much on the usefulness of practical training. Therefore expecting same level experience that could gain by them, student may choose the firm which has a more convenient location. Convenient location enable the student settle the hostel, living cost, and other relevance factor.

4.6.3 Did you think the IT skill that acquired before is enough for you to handle the work during practical training?

Table 5: Result of IT skill that acquired before is enough for you to handle the work during practical training
	Frequency	Percent
Yes	34	42.50%
No	46	57.50%
Total	80	100

Table 5 is showing the opinion of student on the IT skill acquired before is enough for them to handle the work during practical training. As shown at tables, there is 57.50% percentage of respondent agree that the IT skill that acquired before actually not enough to support them while handle the work during practical training. It is slightly higher than the other 42.50% respondent who agrees that the IT skill that acquire before is sufficient for them. The different stand might cause by the different IT usage level by different type of firm. Student were expose with different type of supportive IT software from a basic Microsoft word, excel, UBS and MYOB to audit software like audit express, GAMx and Easy Tax. Software which mention at the later part mostly not introduce by university. It means that student is first time exposed to this IT software during the practical training. Because of different software using by firm, that is the reason why some of student feel is sufficient and some of them feel the other way round.

4.7Firm at Urban and Rural Area

Table 6: Result of Firm at Urban and Rural Area
Statement	Mean
1) Urban area pay higher salary	4.025
2) Urban area firm have greater chance dealing with different industries client	4.2125
3) Urban area firm has a greater chance can polish my trainee softskill as working under more urban environment	4.05
4) Trainee who training at urban area has a greater opportunity handle jobs independently	3.5125
5) Audit program at urban area firm are more current and constantly revised to meet with the current standard.	3.8125
Mean for above statement	3.80

6) On the whole, Practical at urban area firm will be better than practical at rural area firm.

2.925

Student basically agree on practical at urban area have the higher pay (4.02). There is a different between living standard at urban and rural area, therefore the pay at urban area basically will be higher than rural area. Part of that, respondent also found out practical at urban area has greater chance dealing with different industries client as the statement has an overall mean of 4.21.

Because of the difference of environment and community, client of rural area firm may just restrict to the certain business entity which around the firm area. Next, student also agrees (3.51) that trainee who training at urban area has a greater opportunity handle jobs independently. Due to the cultural difference, urban area firm has a higher expectation on trainee. Therefore the work assign to trainee usually will be heavier. The time budget given to student is actually tighter. Generally trainee is train to be more independent as it is what require by the culture of urban area.

The overall mean of 3.81 show that student agrees on audit program at urban area firm are more current and constantly revised to meet with the current standard. As dealing with client from different type of industries, urban firm has the need to have a good and systematic audit progress to ensure audit work done in the way effectively and efficiency. Compare with the rural area firm, urban area firm say that has the greater initiative to update their audit program to meet the current standard as there has a greater competition in market of urban area.

By summaries the entire mean from the statement above, overall the respondent agree on practical at urban area is actually better than rural area with the overall mean of 3.80. This result actually varies from the mean of statement 6 which has the mean of 2.92. From Statement 6, we realize that student show their neutral stand for both sides; neither is it good to practical at urban area nor rural urban area. The differences might cause by some of the factors which are not capture in statement 1 to 5. Although student basically agree on the statement from 1 to 5, however student might feel that practical at rural area has its own advantage like less stress, less heavy load of work and more leisure time. This benefit might balance up the advantages from both sides. That is the reason why student hold their neutral stand when judging on which area is better for practical.

Table 7: Result of On the whole, Practical at Rural area firm will be better than practical at urban area firm vs Firm Location Crosstabulation
	Firm Location						Total
	Rural	%		Urban	%
Strongly Disagree	0	0.00%	30.77%	4	5.97%	41.79%	4
Disagree	4	30.77%		24	35.82%		28
Neutral	4	30.77%	30.77%	21	31.34%	31.34%	25
Agree	5	38.46%	38.46%	11	16.42%	26.87%	16
Strongly Agree	0	0.00%		7	10.45%		7
Total	13	100.00%	100.00%	67	100.00%	100.00%	80

Table 7 is the cross tabulation for the firm location and the stand of respondent on the practical at rural area and urban area. As shown at the table above, we can see that there actually difference between the stand for respondent at rural area and urban area. Rural area respondent tends to agree (38.46%) instead of disagree (30.77%) the above statement as they feel that practical at rural area is better than urban area.

While for the urban area respondent, they are more on the disagree side with higher percentage of 41.79% than 26.87%. This may cause by the respondent actually quite enjoy their practical training at own area. Both side of respondent actually having their own advantage when practical on their own area. It explains why the mean for this statement of 2.92 is more on neutral side. It shows both parties also feel it is greater to practical on their own area.

While for the neutral rank, both parties have the equal portion of respondent which are 30.77% for rural area and 31.34% for urban area. As a whole, there actually has a difference between both groups of respondent opinion. Respondent from rural area actually feel that practical at rural area is better than urban area while respondent from urban area feel that practical at urban area is better than rural area. If we look it as a whole, this circumstance had created a neutral stand as what mention at the early part.

4.8Big, Medium and Small size firm

Table 8: Result of Big, Medium and Small size firm
Statement	Mean
7) Big or Medium size firm pay higher salary	4
8) Big or medium size firm have a greater chance dealing with different industries client	4.0375
9) Big or Medium size firm have a greater chance can polish my softskill as dealing with greater number of colleague.	4.0375
10) Big or medium size firm is more emphasis on teamwork base as always dealing with large size company.	4.1875
11) Practical at Big or Medium firm before will be enhance my Resume	4.075
12) Big or Medium size firm tend to have a more systematic and better audit program.	4.15
Mean for above statement	4

14) On the whole, Practical at Big or medium size firm will be better than small firm)

3.625

For the size factor as what we can see from the table 8, overall mean most of the statement had more than 4. It means that the respondent basically agree on the statement above. Big or medium size of firm has the greater financial support and turnover, therefore student agree (4.0) on big or medium size of firm can afford to pay the higher salary.

Part of that, both statement 8 and 9 were so out that had an average mean of 4.04. It means respondent agree that big or medium size of firm actually have a greater chance dealing with different industries client and greater chance can polish the student softskill as dealing with greater number of colleague. Unlike in small size firm, trainee is limited to the small number of employee and most of them usually speak in their mother language. Big or medium size has a greater control and more standard environment for trainee to having their practical section.

Part of that, compare with small size firm, big or medium firm is actually has a more number and different industries client. This enable the student expand their eyesight when dealing with them. Big size audit firm like big 4 usually dealing with big size and listed company. Auditing this type of client highly require corporation and teamwork from the audit member. Therefore, respondent agree (4.19) that practical at big or medium size firm actually can enhance their teamwork. Moreover, audit firm like big 4 has its certain level of goodwill

Respondent believe that if practical at big firm before, it can enhance their resume (4.15). Furthermore, student also agrees (4.15) those big or medium firms tend to have a more systematic and better audit program. As dealing with big and listed companies, it is a need for audit firm to have the more systematic audit program.

According to Jere and Michael 2009, the study had showed the relation between Big4 audit firm and audit quality and said that Big4 actually do provide a greater audit quality. By exposure the systematic audit program to trainee, student will be more understood and get to know the while audit program should be. It actually helps the student easier to understand while having their class lesson next time by linking the actual progress into the text book.

By conclude all the result from above statement, it drive the student generally agree on the statement 7 to 12 with average mean of 4.0. This result match with the average mean on statement 14 as respondent agrees that on the whole, practical at big or medium size firm will be better than small firm. Since there is no conflict of judgment, we can conclude that, there actually has a difference between training at small size firm and big or medium firm. Training at big or medium firm is better than small size firm.

Table 9 is showing the cross tabulation for the firm size and the stand of respondent on the practical at different size of firm. As shown at the table above, we can see that both group of respondent actually have a same trend of stand on the perception of firm size. The table show that both group of respondent have a more portion of respondent agrees that on a whole, student practical at big or medium size firm is better than practical at small size firm.

The respondent basically feel that practical at small size firm is actually has its shortage or limitation if compare to practical at big or medium size of firm. If we narrow the scope, the small size respondent also agrees that the insufficient of the small size firm fulfill the need of practical student by combination respondent of 29.63% on disagree portion, 22.22% on neutral portion and 48.15% on agree portion. For the big or medium size respondent, there is a 67.92% of respondent agrees, 26.42% in neutral and only 5.66% of respondent disagree on practical at big or medium firm size better than small size firm.

According to the result above, we realize that the respondent is actually more favor to big or medium size firm instead of small size firm. This result is exactly match with the outcome of the general mean (4.0) generated at the early part. As a whole, both group of respondent is actually agrees that practical at big or medium firm size is better than practical at small size firm.

4.9IT based and Manual based Firm

Table 10: Result of IT based and Manual based Firm
Statement	Mean
14) IT based firm have a greater chance can polish trainee softskill especially the in computer learning	4.0625
15) IT based firm have a greater risk as it lack of audit working paper.	3.1625
16) It will be too advance and complicated for student while practical in IT based firm comparing with manual based.	2.925
17) It is relevance and good for student get to know the updated audit supportive software.	4.175
18) Training at IT based firm will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of student performance.	4.025
19) Practical at IT based firm before will be an add point while presenting in Resume	3.9125
Modify mean for statement 15	2.84
Modify mean for statement 16	3.08
Mean for above statement	3.667

20) On the whole, Practical at IT based firm will be better than Manual based firm

3.875

Come to the third factor which is IT usage, we can see that the average mean for the respondent in this profile is 3.667 which more to agree side. The average mean calculate after modify the mean of statement 15 and 16 by using (6 – mean of the statement) as statement characteristic if more on manual base firm.

As showing at tables 10, respondent generally agrees that (4.06) practical at IT firm have a greater chance to polish their softskill especially in term of computer learning. Nowadays, IT usage is getting more general from a need become a must. The changes had highlighted the importance of computer learning nowadays. Practical at IT usage firm say has the advantage in this factor if comparing with the manual base firm.

Although public has a mindset on the IT usage firm as IT base firm usually has a greater risk as audit program lack of audit working paper. However, generally respondent feel neutral (3.16) on this IT risks. Respondent may feel that, although it is risky for firm having their working paper in softcopy. Just because of this, IT firm may have their backup and recovery system. Therefore, respondent may feel that it should not be a problem for the IT base firm.

Part of that, respondent also feel neutral (2.92) about the IT as it may too advance and complicated for student while practical in IT based firm. Firm may have a different level of IT usage from the basic Microsoft to Audit Express or some own developed software. It is not strange that different respondent has their own perception on the complicated and advance.

Next, respondent also agree (4.175) it is relevance and good for student get to know the updated audit supportive software. It is good to let student expose the current existing audit software during the practical training. The early exposure can lead the student adapt to the current audit environment with the supportive software and it will be an add point while presenting in “resume” which agree (3.91) by respondent too. Student who practical in IT based firm before might have a better competitive advantage while seeking their job in future.

Furthermore, student generally agrees (4.025) that IT based firm actually will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of student performances. The supportive software can help the auditor auto sum, check, sort, stratify their test data which cannot be done in manual based firm. As compare with the average mean of statement 14 to 19 (3.67), actually the mean of statement 20 (3.88) has a same characteristic. The respondent agrees that on the whole, practical at IT base firm will better than manual base firm.

Table 11: Practical at IT based firm will be better than Manual based firm vs IT Usage Cross tabulation
	IT Usage						Total
	Yes	%		No	%
Strongly Disagree	0	0.00%	1.82%	0	0.00%	8.00%	0
Disagree	1	1.82%		2	8.00%		3
Neutral	6	10.91%	10.91%	9	36.00%	36.00%	15
Agree	39	70.91%	87.27%	12	48.00%	56.00%	51
Strongly Agree	9	16.36%		2	8.00%		11
Total	55	100.00%	100.00%	25	100.00%	100.00%	80

The table 11 is showing the cross tabulation for the IT usage firm and the stand of the respondent on the practical of IT based firm or manual based firm. As shown at the tables 11, it result from both group have a very big portion of respondent agrees on practical at IT based firm is actually better than manual based firm. Both group of the have only a small portion of respondent disagree on the above statement.

There are only 1.82% portion of respondent from IT usage firm and 8.00% non-IT usage firm disagree that practical at IT based firm better than manual based. For the neutral part, only 10.91% of respondent come from IT usage firm and 36.00% of non-IT usage respondent hold their neutral stand on this. The significant may cause by the non-IT usage respondent mostly feel that it is no problem with them either the audit work done by manual or with supportive software as they already use to it.

Unlike the respondent from IT-usage firm, this group has a very significant portion of respondent (87.26%) agrees on IT-usage firm actually better than manual based firm. While for the non-IT usage firm, the group also has more than half respondent (56.00%) raising the same opinion. If we focus on the IT-usage firm, the portion from 1.82% to 87.27% had highlighted how respondent strongly agree on importance to practical at IT-usage firm as they experience the usefulness of supportive audit software creating a more effective and efficient way to complete their work.

Furthermore, from the ratio above we can realize that how importance the existence of IT bringing the impact on nowadays working environment. Without any variance with the mean generated from early part, both group of respondent also giving the opinion that student having their practical at IT based firm is actually better than manual based firm.

4.10Most important factor choosing the firm

Table 12: Result of Most important factor choosing the firm
	Frequency	Percent
Area	36	45.00%
Size	40	50.00%
IT based	4	5.00%
Total	80	100.00%

The table 12 shows that the most important factor respondent will consider while choosing their practical firm. As shown at table above, half of the respondent (50.00%) will consider the size of the firm follow by the area (45.00%) and the last is IT based (5.00%).

Half of respondent choose size as the most important factor as the big or medium usually tend to have a good system and audit program as what had mention earlier and in term of experience gaining and have a higher quality of audit as define in study of Jere and Michael 2009. Thus size factor will prioritize first.

Furthermore, size factor actually has relation with area and IT based. Big or medium firm usually located at urban area and most of them are in IT based. While for the size area factor, as what had mentioned in earlier section, while there is a same level on expectation in term of learning experience, then student will choose the firm which location is actually convenient for them. Like some of the student will be having their practical training at their own hometown as they can easier for them to travelling back.

4.11Recommendation from respondent

This section will be focus on the recommendation from respondent during they answering the open-ended question which asking them whether there is any recommendation for University while conducting the practical training. Basically the respondent answer can be grouped into 4 categories. Those 5 categories include time period, insufficient of IT knowledge, recommendation refer to practical firm, and recommendation refer to University.

First, Time period. As we know that, different university provide different time period for their student having their practical lesson. Some of University require student just having 3 months period while some of them require 6 months. Some of University had fixed the student practical training at last semester while some of them are at sixth semester. For student who just having 3 months training period, most of them feel that it is insufficient to gain the related knowledge and explore the real world. They feel that University should extend to 6 months period. Some of the student recommends the University to change the practical period from sixth semester to last semester as student who had finished their practical training can directly join the same firm.

Second, insufficient of IT knowledge. There were a lot of student comment that the insufficient of IT knowledge to handle the task during their practical period. This may cause by lack of exposure of IT software. Furthermore, student recommend that University actually can held some classed on usage of IT software which related to accounting and auditing like UBS, MYOB, Audit express. This not only ensure student has the capability to handling the task but also will enhance their softskill which highly emphasis by public nowadays.

Third, Recommendation for practical firm. Firm who provide practical training should has the standard learning scope for student. Student comment that they are not given chance to explore every stage of audit progress, from planning to finalizing stage. This will cause the student unable to understand the full condition of the audit progress. Part of that, university also given recommendation coordinate with the firm as both party can communicate before student go for practical and work together to provide a more interesting internship program to student.

Lastly, Recommendation for University. Respondents were very satisfied on the practical training program that they had gone through. Most of them have no further comment and some even have a positive feedback on the practical training provide by University. Respondents are very support the practical training program and suggest the program can keep on going. While part of the student suggest that university should held more activity or program like practical training as it provide the real scene of outside world. There only a small portion of students suggest University whether can enable student simply the practical training report.

Generally from student perception, the entire respondent is actually realized the importance of the existence of practical training. In term of need, it had become a must for the student nowadays. The usefulness of the industrial had created the value on the student and it brings awareness of the reality world.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

5.1 Summary

The research had examined the student perception on the usefulness of internship. The usefulness of the internship was evaluated by three aspects which are area, firm size and IT usage. The usefulness of the internship was examined by using descriptive statistic which includes mean, mode and crosstabulation.

The major findings from this study are included that the student actually has a neutral stand on practical at rural area actually better than urban area. Next, the student has agrees that practical at big or medium firm size is better than small size firm. After that, student also agrees that practical at IT usage is better than manual based firm. Furthermore during the research conducted, we found that during the 3 factors above, firm size is the most important factor they will consider while choosing their practical training firm.

Beside that, there are also some recommendation raise by the respondent to University and firm as references to improve the quality of the internship program. Due to the changes of environment nowadays, the high degree of IT usage has highlighted the insufficient of IT knowledge provide by University for student to handle the task during their practical section.

In conclusion, the findings had shown that the student actually has a very good response on the internship program they had gone through. From the closed-ended question, we also realize that how internship program had enhanced the quality of student in term of mindset or knowledge gaining. Student also hopes that this program can be continue by University to student as it is really useful and meaningful for student to understand the big picture of the Accounting world.

5.2 Limitation of study

The study is subject to several limitation that might affecting the findings and result. Firstly, the findings might be too general and not specific. The study had included three major factor that student usually will consider when deciding their practical training firm. It may unable capture some important issue in data collection.

Furthermore, both group of respondent that use in crosstabulation analysis is not in equal number. Questionnaire was spread manually and internet. As the respondent actually has a low respond rate during the questionnaire collection, it actually has a difficulties to gather targeted respondent.

Next, this study is only focus on the student perception. There is no comparison with other group like auditor, firm partner or lecturer. Therefore it is unable to see and compare whether there is a difference of result generated from other group.

5.3 Recommendations for future study

Many researchers have been done on the subject of usefulness of the internship program. However due to limited study are conducted in Malaysia, the further studies of the usefulness of internship could be done in a number of ways include more respondent groups as comparison can be made.

Next, focusing and specification of the factor might be needed as there are too much factor take into consideration during this study conducted. Specification of each factor may help to capture the important element that had missed up at this study.

Last but not least, future study can include more and equal number of respondent from each group. This can ensure and control the bias may arise during the analysis section.