SKILLS OF ACCOUNTANTS IN THE HOTEL BUSINESS: AN EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS

Abstract

This research explores the factors related to accountants' characteristics in the hotel business by studying hotels operating in the Bangkok metropolitan area. The study began with a review of management literature on various aspects of performance measurement to identify possible characteristics of accountants, initially without grouping them. The information collected was used to develop questions about the operational capabilities of accounting officers in the hotel business. These questions were compiled into a questionnaire, which was evaluated using the Index of Item-Objective Congruence (IOC) and reviewed by three experts. The IOC values for all questions exceeded 0.5. The questionnaire was then used to collect data from 200 accountants working in hotel businesses in the Bangkok metropolitan area. The data were analyzed using statistical software to obtain descriptive statistics and perform Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The number of accountant characteristic factors was reduced using a rotation tool, resulting in only concise variables with common characteristics.

Out of 40 variables, 5 latent variables remained that appropriately represent accountant skills in hotel businesses: commitment to multi-dimensional success, open-minded problem solving, effective communication, creative work process improvement, and effective communication in monetary terms. Together, these explained 82.716 percent of the variance, demonstrating the ability to clearly identify the latent variables that are central to the data. This study extends the understanding of previous research on accountant skills by focusing more deeply on the hotel business within the tourism industry in the context of working in Thailand.