Do Accounting Graduates’ Skills Meet The Expectations of Employers? A Matter of Convergence or Divergence

Abstract

This study investigates the emphasis placed on technical and generic skills developed during undergraduate accounting courses from both the graduate and employer perspective. It is motivated by two issues. First, calls by the accounting profession and international education committees regarding the professional adequacy of graduates. Second, by the challenge facing educators and professional bodies to ensure accounting courses equip graduates with the necessary skills to add value to business. Data obtained from 174 graduates from an Australian university is compared with the perceived needs of a sample of employers. Major findings suggest that, while both groups acknowledged the importance of technical accounting skills, employers require a broad range of generic skills that graduates indicated were not being adequately taught in their accounting degree programme. Against this backdrop of skills convergence, the greatest areas of skills divergence from the employers’ perspective were those of team skills, leadership potential, verbal communication and the interpersonal skills of graduates.

Keywords:

• Graduates'/employers' perceptions
• graduate skills
• technical skills
• skill convergence/divergence

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the constructive comments on earlier versions of this manuscript by Graham Allison, the two anonymous referees, and the Guest Editors of this themed issue, Elaine Evans and Roger Juchau.

Notes

A good example of the interface between global business and the role of the accountant is the development of international accounting standards by the International Accounting Standards Board.

For a more detailed discussion of generic skills see the paper published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) 2003 which articulates the importance of generic skills in the employment market. It also carefully considers the evolution of the term generic skills and presents an international perspective on the definition of generic skills.

Consistent with IES 2 of IFAC's IAESB, this document in section A3.2 lists a total of 32 generic skills which universities ought to try and instil in their graduates.

It should be noted that in Australia, consistent with IES 7 of IFAC's IAESB, to retain full member status of any of the three professional accounting bodies, members must commit to lifelong learning through continuing professional development.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the USA is a good example of how corporate management is expected to act in an ethical manner. Further, the act sanctions heavy penalties for those officers who fail to act ethically.

Accounting Education: an international journal, 15(2), June 2006, p. 203, lists 13 separate initiatives from around the world which have examined accounting education curriculum development.