Ilomata International Journal of Tax and Accounting
Vol. 7 No. 4 (2026): October 2026

Auditing Knowledge, Professional Skepticism, Professional Ethics, and a Two-Item Auditor Career-Interest Proxy: A Cross-Sectional Study of Accounting Students in Serang City

Denny Putri Hapsari Putri (Universitas Serang Raya)
Denny Kurnia (Universitas Serang Raya)



Article Info

Publish Date
02 Oct 2026

Abstract

Prior audit-career research has emphasized professional familiarity, career perceptions, and general accounting-career choice, whereas professional skepticism and ethics have been studied mainly among practicing auditors. This study therefore examines whether auditing knowledge, professional skepticism, and professional ethics are associated with a narrowly operationalized auditor career-interest outcome among accounting students in Serang City. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 55 students from three universities who had completed advanced auditing coursework and were recruited through incidental non-probability sampling. PLS-SEM indicated that auditing knowledge was positively associated with the two-item career-interest proxy (β = 0.445, t = 2.199, p = 0.028), whereas professional skepticism (β = 0.128, p = 0.563) and professional ethics (β = 0.177, p = 0.243) were not statistically significant; R² was 0.442. Supplementary diagnostics nevertheless require caution: the reconstructed SRMR was 0.1017, Harman's first component explained 51.6% of item variance, and the X2-X3 HTMT bootstrap interval [0.593, 1.024] included 1.00. A full-collinearity VIF check did not show severe collinearity, but it does not eliminate common-method concerns. Accordingly, the results are presented as provisional, sample-specific evidence rather than a comprehensive test of career intention. Practically, the findings support further evaluation of audit-knowledge exposure using stronger, validated multi-item career-intention measures and more rigorous sampling and method-bias controls.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

ijtc

Publisher

Subject

Decision Sciences, Operations Research & Management Economics, Econometrics & Finance Social Sciences

Description

Ilomata International Journal of Tax and Accounting serves as the journal that is devoted exclusively to accounting research. Its primary objective is to contribute to the expansion of knowledge related to the theory and practice of accounting in Indonesia, by facilitating the production and ...