Kemahiran insaniah dan hubungan dengan pencapaian pelajar dalam mata pelajaran perakaunan di matrikulasi

Matriculation Program graduates are the largest group who will continue their studies at public universities. The issue of concern is that the accounting curriculum in matriculation is oriented towards practical skills and less prominent in terms of the application of soft skills. This study aims to assess the level of application of soft skills through practical skills involving accounting assignments among students in matriculation. A mixed method approach through sequential explanatory design is used, where 300 students in first-semester of the three Northern Zone Matriculation Colleges comprising of 92 (31%) male students and 208 (69%) female students were the study sample. Three Subject Matter Expert and three Accounting paper examiners were interviewed to explore the lecturers' perceptions of soft skills. Three types of instruments were used in this study, namely accounting assignments, soft skills application evaluation forms and interview questions. The findings of the study show that the overall GPA (Grade Point Average) for soft skills reaches credit level. Accounting students achieve GPA level honours in critical thinking and problem solving, and information management skills and lifelong learning while values, attitudes and professionalism achieve pass level. There are gender differences, where female students achieve higher scores than male students in critical thinking and problem solving skills while male students achieve high scores by mastering practical skills, values, attitudes and professionalism, information management skills and lifelong learning as well as management skills and entrepreneurship. There is no difference between gender in social responsibility and communication skills, leadership and teamwork. Accounting students dominate critical thinking and problem-solving skills, information management skills and lifelong learning as well as management and entrepreneurial skills through assignments in line with interview findings. The implication of this study is that the Matriculation Division needs to include the domain of entrepreneurial skills in the assessment mapping of accounting courses to produce competent students.