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

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Jackling, Beverley and De Lange, Paul (2009) Do Accounting Graduates’ Skills Meet The Expectations of Employers? A Matter of Convergence or Divergence. Accounting Education, 18 (4-5). pp. 369-385. ISSN 096-39284

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.

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Item type Article
URI https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/6858
DOI 10.1080/09639280902719341
Official URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0963928...
Subjects Historical > Faculty/School/Research Centre/Department > Faculty of Business and Law
Historical > FOR Classification > 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy
Historical > SEO Classification > 9305 Education and Training Systems
Keywords ResPubID17175, graduates'/employers' perceptions, graduate skills, technical skills, skill convergence/divergence
Citations in Scopus 234 - View on Scopus
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