Abstract:
This study examined the factors that influence the interest of accounting
students at President University in taking the Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
exam. This quantitative investigation focused on an independent variable such as
External Locus of Control. A purposive sampling technique was used to gather data
and the researcher collected 100 respondents from students across batch 2022 and
2023. The collected data were processed using the SmartPLS software. The findings
confirm that External Locus of Control is significant predictors of interest in the
CPA certification. It is anticipated that these results will assist accounting
department of President University and Professional Institute like IAPI, IAI and
others in formulating effective strategies to grow the number of accounting
professionals in Indonesia. A noted limitation is the study's lack of variables
describing students' direct intentions to face the exam. consequently, future research
could be strengthened by including mediating factors like self-efficacy.
