Enhancing Soft Skills of Accounting Undergraduates through Industrial Training

Although Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) requires a six months industrial training for accountancy degree programme offered in any university in Malaysia since 2005, to date there is no study on its contribution to the development of student's skills, in particular the soft skill. This study discusses the outcomes obtained from a survey of 137 accounting students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Overall, this study shows that students develop various soft skills including time management, oral communication and working in group. Theoretically, this study contributes to the existing line of research in industrial training. In addition, finding from this study provides guidance to policy makers such as MIA and university's administrators to enhance future industrial training programme.