6. Conclusions and implications for stakeholders
The aim of this study was to analyse the validity of an extra academic activity and the motivation of students towards a concrete subject such as accounting and auditing. This study was carried out through a very specific round table about the role of auditing related to internal control of business and prevention of money laundering. As it has been already mentioned, the auditing and accounting profession role is extremely important for stakeholders and market stability, as global investors are concerned about the integrity of financial statements (Lobo & Zhou, 2010). And this circumstance explains the legitimacy of the profession of public interest from a broader social context. Thus, in accordance with the legitimacy theory and the social contract theory, we consider it necessary to change the future professionals’ perceptions. The main conclusion is that this kind of activity is perceived by students as useful but difficult, although 92.5% of round table attendees were satisfied with the activity. It means that these professional activities have a positive impact on students as they considered them interesting and useful even though they had some difficulties in fully understanding the explanations. Lecturers and organizers of this kind of extracurricular activity may be pleased with the work but more theoretical explanations previously to the round tables may increase the satisfaction level of attendees. Moreover, there are only statistically significant differences across gender and across university related to utility. This finding justifies different ways of motivation to the career depending on gender, perhaps due to cultural and social conditionings.
