The perspective of accounting professionals on the internship of high school students studying accountancy

The purpose of Vocational and Technical Educational schools and institutions is to educate learners in order to provide qualified intermediate staff needed by the sector, thus to contribute to the economic development of the country. At these schools and institutions, this goal can only be achieved by establishing a well-grounded bridge between the educational institutions and the sector. The strength of this bridge depends on the success of the internship program carried out in the workplaces. With this study, it has been aimed to approach the education of accounting on the level of secondary education as a part of vocational training, to evaluate the efficiency of the internship programs and processes by examining the work of the students and by surveying the attitudes and behaviours of the professionals in accounting. The study began with the surveys which ask the professionals of accounting to evaluate the internship students and was concluded with the findings suggested by the statistical analysis of the surveys. The analysis of the evaluation of the accounting internship at secondary schools by the 210 accounting professionals chosen with the convenience sampling suggests that the internship is not as efficient as intended, the students cannot meet the expectations of the sector and the present curriculum lacks some vital elements. Key Words: Accounting; accounting internship; vocational education