What skills and attributes does an accounting graduate need? Evidence from student perceptions and employer expectations

TITLE

What skills and attributes does an accounting graduate need? Evidence from student perceptions and employer expectations

FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM

1.        have been developed as part of their degree programmes?

2.        What professional skills do employers expect accounting graduates to possess at entry level?

3.        What professional skills do graduating accounting students perceive as having the highest priority for career success?

4.        To what extent do graduating accounting students perceive that these professional skills

5.        What is the difference between student perceptions and employer expectations in terms of the professional skills that are important for a career in accounting?

PURPOSES OF THE RESEARCH

The present study examines perceptions of graduating students about the skills and attributes they consider important to their career, and the emphasis placed on the development of these skills during their degree programme. The present study also examines the skills and attributes expected by a diverse group of employers and explores gaps between student perceptions and employer expectations.

RESEARCH METHOD

1. Sample

We conducted a study involving data collection from 322 graduating students in three universities in Australia 1 and 28 practitioners across a number of organizations and industries who employ accounting graduates.

In Institution 1, 172 students were undertaking either a Bachelor of Commerce or a dual degree with Bachelor of Commerce. Of the 160 students who nomin- ated their major, 56 per cent were studying an accounting major, with finance (37 per cent) and international business (7 per cent) being the most popular second major. In Institution 2, all students were studying an accounting major as part of a Bachelor of Commerce or Master in Accounting with finance the most popular second major. The students in Institution 3 numbered 120 and were studying either a Bachelor of Business or a dual degree with business and 68 per cent were studying an accounting major. In terms of preferred employment after graduation, accounting, finance, audit, law and taxation were the preferred areas.

2. Data collection

Both quantitati            ve and qualitative (Minichiello et al. , 1995) data collection methods were used.

2.1. Quantitative measures

The quantitative study involved the same survey being administered to the student cohorts during lectures. The Albrecht and Sack (2000) survey instrument was adopted because it had been validated previously in a large US study. Minor refinements were made for the Australian context and to include areas highlighted by students in pilot focus groups. The survey consisted of three sections:

Section 1 asked students to rate on a scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) statements about the importance of studying various programmes in accounting and business. Section 2 required students to rate 47 specific skills/attributes on a scale ranging from 1 (no priority) to 5 (top priority) in relation to: (i) importance to their future careers, and (ii) the level of priority they perceived had been given to developing these skills during their degree programme.

1 The universities were public and private institutions and differed in terms of size, approach and focus. They were selected to allow a more representative cross section of student participants to avoid bias and support generalizable findings.

2.2. Qualitative measures

A qualitative study to assess the expectations of employers and to focus on processes occurring in practice as explained by those directly involved (Miles and Hubermann, 1994) was conducted. During focus groups and individual meetings, a semistructured interview approach was adopted allowing all particip- ants to respond to the same set of questions (Carruthers, 1990). Interviews and focus groups were taped and transcribed to generate facts opinions, and insights (Yin, 1984). Two independent raters (M and N) assessed the transcripts and identified and ranked on a scale of 1 (no discussion) to 5 (much discussion) the attributes and skills that employers considered important. The rankings were then summed to produce a score for every attribute resulting in two sets of combined ‘importance’ scores (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 1998). Discussions between the raters and the investigators resolved any differences that became apparent. The reviews were designed to acknowledge that although ‘generalizations across individuals are of value, it is important that the individual’s unique experience is not lost’ (Ashworth and Lucas, 2000, p. 304).

CONCLUSION

Students are a key stakeholder group when it comes to examining views about developing skills and attributes to equip them for a career in the accounting profession. The findings of the present study reveal that students rated continuous learning as the most important skill to future careers and, in terms of the Jones and Sin (2003) model, were focused on developing routine technical expertise, oral and written communication skills, analytical and problem-solving skills and appreciative skills including decision-making and critical thinking. Indicative of their stage of life, students focused on ongoing development of personal skills such as professional attitude, self-motivation, leadership and the ability to work in a team. However, what is of concern is the emphasis currently being placed during accounting programmes on skills that students regard as important. It would appear that the only skills being delivered in accordance with the expectations of students in this study are routine accounting and research skills. Because student motivation to learn and acquire skills is often driven by perceptions about the relevance of these skills to their careers, the findings of the paper have important implications for accounting educators.

With regard to employers, they are expecting graduates entering the profession to have as the top three skills analytical/problem solving skills, a level of business

Refernsi :

M. H. Kavanagh, L. Drennan/Accounting and Finance 48 (2008) 279-300