Marziana Madah Marzuki^a, Wan Zurina Nik Abdul Majid^a, Roslina Salwani^a, Mohd Zafian Mohd Zawawi^b and Hatinah Abu Bakar^c
aFaculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA
^bFaculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA
^cFaculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA

Accounting is described as a highly technical subject as students are supposed to know various accounting format and standard starting from recognizing business documents, transferring business transactions to journal and ledgers, double-entry system and preparing financial statements. The roles of accountants are associated with the work of bookkeepers with stereotype being dull, dry, unimaginative, and precise and abiding to rules. These perceptions have jeopardized the status of the accounting profession among the public. Realizing the negative perceptions of accounting as a subject, this study explored the perception of students in relation to the application of new technology like mobile apps in the accounting teaching and learning process. Thus, the objective of this paper is first to investigate students’ perception on accounting as a subject and how the perceptions influence their approaches to learning. In addition, this study investigated students’ perceptions on the role of mobile-app technology in their approaches in learning accounting Based on a self-administered structured questionnaire developed and distributed to 153 respondents that comprised of non-accounting students from all branches of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in Malaysia, the results show that there is a significant relationship between students’ perceptions of accounting and their approaches in learning which further indicates that positive perceptions lead to deep approaches in learning accounting which relates accounting to experiences and critical approaches, meanwhile negative perceptions lead to surface level approaches of learning which relates accounting to memorization and rote learning. When we tested the relationship between learning approaches and students’ perceptions on the role of mobile apps in the teaching and learning process, the result shows insignificant results which indicates that students could not perceive the role of mobile-apps technology in accounting as a subject. This is probably due to inexperience of using this tool in their learning experience as for now being mobile apps have not been introduced as one of the teaching tools in accounting as a subject. Our study provides implications that accounting education in Malaysia needs to consider the new reforms in the teaching methods to accommodate the evolvement of technology in the education process in this new era which may help to instil a positive perception towards accounting as a subject. Thus, this study suggests that accounting mobile-apps technology should be invented, standardized and introduced as one of the learning tools in accounting to motivate students to learn accounting in a fun and enjoyable way and hence diminish the negative perceptions related to accounting.

KEYWORDS: Accounting, approaches, mobile-apps technology, pedagogical, perceptions.