Transformation of skills in the accounting field: the expectation–performance gap perceived by accounting students

Figures & data

Table 1. Skills examined in prior research.

Skill group	Prior literature
Technical skills and knowledge Examples: key accounting skills, financial administration skills, research skills, accounting knowledge, knowledge of interaction of disciplines, juridical knowledge, knowledge of statistics	De Lange et al., 2006; Edeigba, 2022; Jackling & De Lange, 2009; Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008; Klibi & Oussii, 2013; Towers-Clark, 2015; Usoff & Feldmann, 1998
Computer, information technology (IT), data processing skills Examples: computer technology, computing and IT, IT software and accounting software skills	Arquero Montaño et al., 2001; De Lange et al., 2006; Dolce et al., 2020; Hassall et al., 2003; Howcroft, 2017; Jackling & De Lange, 2009; Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008; Spraakman et al., 2015; Towers-Clark, 2015; Usoff & Feldmann, 1998
Interpersonal, social and communication skills Examples: written and oral communication, teamwork, effective listening, customer service	Al Mallak et al., 2020; Arquero Montaño et al., 2001; Crawford et al., 2011; De Lange et al., 2006; Dolce et al., 2020; Douglas & Gammie, 2019; Hassall et al., 2003; Howcroft, 2017; Jackling & De Lange, 2009; Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008; Paguio & Jackling, 2016; Towers-Clark, 2015; Usoff & Feldmann, 1998; Zaid & Abraham, 1994
Intellectual skills Examples: decision-making, problem-solving, critical evaluation, analytical and logical skills	Al Mallak et al., 2020; Arquero Montaño et al., 2001; Dolce et al., 2020; Douglas & Gammie, 2019; Hassall et al., 2003; Howcroft, 2017; Jackling & De Lange, 2009; Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008; Klibi & Oussii, 2013; Towers-Clark, 2015; Usoff & Feldmann, 1998
Other professional skills Examples: leadership, negotiation, continuous learning, flexibility and adaptability, critical reading, time management, organising workloads	Al Mallak et al., 2020; Arquero Montaño et al., 2001; Crawford et al., 2011; Douglas & Gammie, 2019; Hassall et al., 2003; Howcroft, 2017; Jackling & De Lange, 2009; Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008; Klibi & Oussii, 2013; Smith et al., 2018; Usoff & Feldmann, 1998

Table 2. Demographic composition of the sample.

	Age group				Work experience (years)
Degree level	19–25	26–30	> 30	Total	None	< 1	1–2	≥ 3	Total
Bachelor	48	5	4	57 (52.8%)	29	22	6	0	57 (52.8%)
Master	21	19	11	51 (47.2%)	7	13	16	15	51 (47.2%)
Total	69 (63.9%)	24 (22.2%)	15 (13.9%)	108 (100%)	36 (33.3%)	35 (32.4%)	22 (20.4%)	15 (13.9%)	108 (100%)

Table 3. Mean scores and their differences in technical skills.

Skill	Expected importance			Perceived development			Absolute difference	t-value	n
	Mean score	SD	Rank	Mean score	SD	Rank
Knowledge of different fields, understanding the big picture	4.31	0.75	16	3.12	1.00	22	1.19	10.82***	106
Juridical knowledge	4.10	0.81	24	3.44	1.05	17	0.66	5.97***	107
Foreign languages	3.88	0.92	27	3.39	0.97	19	0.49	4.24***	107
Financial administration/ accounting skills and theoretical understanding	4.52	0.68	10	4.10	0.83	1	0.42	4.31***	108
Research methodology and statistics	3.35	1.08	31	3.44	0.93	17	−0.09	−0.71	107
Cronbach’s alpha	0.63			0.64

***represents significance at the 1% level (p < .01); SD = standard deviation

Table 4. Mean scores and their differences in technological and data processing skills.

Skill	Expected importance			Perceived development			Absolute difference	t-value	n
	Mean score	SD	Rank	Mean score	SD	Rank
Knowledge related to robotics and artificial intelligence	3.73	1.01	28	2.12	1.15	31	1.61	13.73***	107
Different IT systems	4.53	0.63	8	3.00	1.04	25	1.53	13.37***	108
General technological skills and understanding	4.61	0.56	4	3.26	1.11	20	1.35	12.17***	108
Data processing	4.29	0.81	19	2.98	1.21	26	1.31	10.55***	108
Programming	3.47	1.08	30	2.25	1.22	30	1.21	9.86***	107
Cronbach’s alpha	0.79			0.89

***represents significance at the 1% level (p < .01); SD = standard deviation

Table 5. Mean scores and their differences in intellectual skills.

Skill	Expected importance			Perceived development			Absolute difference	t-value	n
	Mean score	SD	Rank	Mean score	SD	Rank
Analytical reasoning	4.60	0.58	5	3.65	1.03	12	0.94	8.90***	107
Decision making	4.53	0.65	8	3.63	0.98	13	0.90	9.47***	108
Critical thinking	4.64	0.59	3	3.91	0.92	4	0.73	8.22***	107
Problem solving	4.59	0.56	6	3.90	0.93	5	0.69	7.51***	108
Logical and mathematical reasoning	4.31	0.79	18	3.69	0.89	11	0.61	5.73***	108
Cronbach’s alpha	0.73			0.81

***represents significance at the 1% level (p < .01); SD = standard deviation

Table 6. Mean scores and their differences in social and communication skills.

Skill	Expected importance			Perceived development			Absolute difference	t-value	n
	Mean score	SD	Rank	Mean score	SD	Rank
Customer service	4.24	0.83	20	2.66	1.19	29	1.58	13.31***	106
Oral communication and interaction	4.41	0.68	12	3.61	0.95	14	0.80	7.35***	108
Active listening	4.23	0.82	22	3.44	1.06	16	0.79	7.48***	108
Networking	4.24	0.75	20	3.46	1.10	15	0.77	7.62***	106
Emotional intelligence	3.67	0.99	29	2.95	1.15	28	0.72	5.90***	98
Written communication	4.31	0.79	17	3.78	0.89	8	0.53	5.35***	107
Teamworking and interaction skills	4.47	0.65	11	4.00	0.85	3	0.47	5.23***	107
Cronbach’s alpha	0.80			0.85

***represents significance at the 1% level (p < .01); SD = standard deviation

Table 7. Mean scores and their differences in other professional skills.

Skill	Expected importance			Perceived development			Absolute difference	t-value	n
	Mean score	SD	Rank	Mean score	SD	Rank
Negotiating	4.35	0.67	15	3.05	1.14	24	1.31	10.93***	108
Innovation skills and innovativeness	4.22	0.78	23	3.16	1.11	21	1.06	10.01***	104
General leadership skills	4.01	0.80	25	2.98	1.00	27	1.03	10.49***	106
Media literacy and criticism	3.96	1.13	26	3.10	1.09	23	0.86	7.39***	105
Self-improvement and learning	4.69	0.54	1	3.88	0.87	6	0.81	9.75***	108
Self-management (organising, managing time and workload)	4.65	0.54	2	3.84	1.04	7	0.81	7.75***	108
Working under pressure	4.39	0.68	13	3.77	0.99	9	0.63	6.39***	107
Adaptability and flexibility	4.36	0.71	14	3.76	0.91	10	0.61	6.42***	107
Initiative skills	4.55	0.68	7	4.07	0.85	2	0.49	5.62***	107
Cronbach’s alpha	0.85			0.86

***represents significance at the 1% level (p < .01); SD = standard deviation

Table

Skill	Examples of references
Skills studied in prior research
Financial administration/accounting skills and theoretical understanding	Jackling and De Lange (2009)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Usoff and Feldmann (1998)(also referred to as ‘key accounting skills’ and ‘accounting knowledge’)
Juridical knowledge	Usoff and Feldmann (1998)(referred to as ‘law’)
Research methodology and statistics	Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Klibi and Oussii (2013)Towers-Clark (2015)(also referred to as ‘research’, ‘practical research’ and ‘the use of quantitative methods & statistics’)
Different IT systems	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001)Hassall et al. (2003)Howcroft (2017)Spraakman et al. (2015)(also referred to as ‘relevant/IT software’)
General technological skills and understanding	De Lange et al. (2006)Jackling and De Lange (2009)Usoff and Feldmann (1998)Spraakman et al. (2015)Towers-Clark (2015)(also referred to as ‘computer skills’, ‘computing and IT’, ‘IT skills’, etc.)
Analytical reasoning	Crawford et al. (2011)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Towers-Clark (2015)(referred to as ‘analytical/analysis & critical evaluation’ and ‘analytical skills’)
Critical thinking	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001)Crawford et al. (2011)Hassall et al. (2003)Howcroft (2017)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Klibi and Oussii (2013)(referred to as ‘critical analysis/thinking’ and ‘critical reasoning skills’)
Logical and mathematical reasoning	Usoff and Feldmann (1998)(referred to as ‘logical reasoning’)
Teamworking and interaction	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001)De Lange et al. (2006)Hassall et al. (2003)Howcroft (2017)Jackling and De Lange (2009)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Klibi and Oussii (2013)Towers-Clark (2015)
Emotional intelligence	Daff et al. (2012)
Networking	Gammie et al. (2002)
Customer service	Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)
Negotiating	Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)
Oral communication and interaction	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001)De Lange et al. (2006)Hassall et al. (2003)Howcroft (2017)Jackling and De Lange (2009)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Towers-Clark (2015)Usoff and Feldmann (1998)(also referred to as ‘oral/verbal expression’)
Written communication	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001)De Lange et al. (2006)Hassall et al. (2003)Howcroft (2017)Jackling and De Lange (2009)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Towers-Clark (2015)Usoff and Feldmann (1998)
Active listening	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001)Crawford et al. (2011)Hassall et al. (2003)Howcroft (2017)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Klibi and Oussii (2013)(also referred to as ‘effective listening’ and ‘listening skills’)
Foreign languages	Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Klibi and Oussii (2013)
General leadership	Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Klibi and Oussii (2013)Usoff and Feldmann (1998)
Problem solving	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001)Hassall et al. (2003)Howcroft (2017)Klibi and Oussii (2013)Jackling and De Lange (2009)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)Towers-Clark (2015)Usoff and Feldmann (1998)
Decision making	Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)
Adaptability and flexibility	Jackling and De Lange (2009)Kavanagh and Drennan (2008)
Skills not directly studied but the idea obtained from prior research
Knowledge of different fields, understanding the big picture	De Lange et al. (2006) using ‘interaction between accounting and other disciplines’
Programming	Spraakman et al. (2015) mentioning programming in the literature review
Data processing	Spraakman et al. (2015) mentioning word processing in the literature review
Media literacy and criticism	Klibi and Oussii (2013) using ‘critical reading’
Self-management (e.g. organising and managing time and workload)	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001) using ‘organising workloads', Crawford et al. (2011) using ‘time management', Dolce et al. (2020) using ‘emotional self-regulation’
Self-improvement and learning	Arquero Montaño et al. (2001), Kavanagh and Drennan (2008) and Klibi and Oussii (2013) using ‘effective/active learning’
Working under pressure	‘Work under pressure’ mentioned in the qualitative comments of Towers-Clark (2015)
Initiative skills	Crawford et al. (2011) mentioning initiative as a personal skill in the literature review
New skills
Knowledge related to robotics and artificial intelligence
Innovation skills and innovativeness

Table

Rank	Expected importance	Rank	Perceived development
1	Self-improvement and learning	1	Financial administration/accounting skills and theoretical understanding
2	Self-management (organising, managing time and workload)	2	Initiative skills
3	Critical thinking	3	Teamworking and interaction skills
4	General technological skills and understanding	4	Critical thinking
5	Analytical reasoning	5	Problem solving
6	Problem solving	6	Self-improvement and learning
7	Initiative skills	7	Self-management (organising, managing time and workload)
8	Decision making	8	Written communication
8	Different IT systems	9	Working under pressure
10	Financial administration/accounting skills and theoretical understanding	10	Adaptability and flexibility
11	Teamworking and interaction skills	11	Logical and mathematical reasoning
12	Oral communication and interaction	12	Analytical reasoning
13	Working under pressure	13	Decision making
14	Adaptability and flexibility	14	Oral communication and interaction
15	Negotiating	15	Networking
16	Knowledge of different fields, understanding the big picture	16	Active listening
17	Written communication	17	Juridical knowledge
18	Logical and mathematical reasoning	17	Research methodology and statistics
19	Data processing	19	Foreign languages
20	Networking	20	General technological skills and understanding
20	Customer service	21	Innovation skills and innovativeness
22	Active listening	22	Knowledge of different fields, understanding the big picture
23	Innovation skills and innovativeness	23	Media literacy and criticism
24	Juridical knowledge	24	Negotiating
25	General leadership skills	25	Different IT systems
26	Media literacy and criticism	26	Data processing
27	Foreign languages	27	General leadership skills
28	Knowledge related to robotics and artificial intelligence	28	Emotional intelligence
29	Emotional intelligence	29	Customer service
30	Programming	30	Programming
31	Research methodology and statistics	31	Knowledge related to robotics and artificial intelligence

Table

		University		Degree level		Gender		Work experience
Skill	Whole sample	UAS students	University students	Bachelor-level students	Master-level students	Women	Men	Students with work experience	Students without work experience
Financial administration /accounting skills and theoretical understanding									X
Juridical knowledge
Research methodology and statistics	X			X	X	X	X	X	X
Knowledge of different fields, understanding the big picture
Different IT systems
General technological skills and understanding
Programming
Data processing
Knowledge related to robotics and artificial intelligence
Analytical reasoning
Critical thinking
Logical and mathematical reasoning
Teamworking and interaction
Emotional intelligence		X							X
Networking
Customer service
Negotiating
Oral communication and interaction
Written communication
Active listening		X
Foreign languages					X
Media literacy and criticism
General leadership skills
Self-management (organising, managing time and workload)
Working under pressure
Problem solving
Decision making
Adaptability and flexibility
Self-improvement and learning
Innovation skills and innovativeness
Initiative skills

Note: X = no significant gaps experienced according to either paired t-test or verification test, at a significance level of 0.05 (5%)

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