Fostering More Successful Professional Socialization among Accounting Students

Professions such as medicine and law, as well as accountancy, face the challenge of improving the preparation of students to meet their career responsibilities. To carry out their career responsibilities more effectively, some researchers suggest that students need to develop a stronger professional identity, a greater appreciation of their legal and ethical duties, and a deeper understanding of their profession's demands and risks. In short, the professional socialization process, or induction of students into their respective professions, is thought to be inadequate. This paper identifies results associated with an improved professional socialization process: students abandoning public stereotypes, learning professional behavior, and tentatively resolving potential professional conflicts. Researchers identify six factors that may be associated with fostering more successful socialization. Three of these reflect faculty orientations: a sound theory of practice, a collegial attitude, and a cosmopolitan outlook. Three other factors reflect a faculty's ability to structure students' school experience: clinical experience, rituals and ceremonies, and the collective student experience. Greater attention to these six elements may be associated with achieving more desirable and long-lived changes in students at professional schools.