Accounting skills for future graduates in Australia: more than numbers

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Accounting skills for future graduates in Australia: more than numbers

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/80813

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Title: Accounting skills for future graduates in Australia: more than numbers
Author(s): Hancock, Phil; Howieson, Bryan; Kavanagh, Marie; Kent, Jenny; Tempone, Irene; Segal, Naomi
Abstract: Many writers report that university-educated accounting students are ill equipped to begin professional practice and that universities should equip their students with a more comprehensive range of skills (Sikka, et.al 2007, Birrell and Healy 2008; Albin and Crockett 1991). Furthermore, many other writers internationally suggest that the gap between education and practice is widening, requiring more substantive curriculum change (Bowden and Masters 1993; Crebbin 1997; Wiggin 1997; Yap 1997; Hassell, et al. 2005) to produce accounting graduates with a broader set of skills and attributes that encompass more than purely technical accounting expertise (Braun 2004). Others argue that university educators of future professional accountants should be committed to developing the relevant attributes and skills identified as desirable for the professional practice of accounting (AAA 1986; AECC 1990; CPA & ICAA 2005; IFAC 2006). This paper reports on interviews conducted with key stakeholders in Australia to gather information about the relative importance of the technical and other skills that will be required of graduates from professional accounting programs in Australian universities over the next ten years. The interviews were conducted as part of a larger Australian study entitled Accounting for the future; more than numbers funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
Publication type: Conference paper
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology
Source: Proceedings of 'Engaging employers', the 4th Annual Conference of the Business, Management, Accountancy and Finance (BMAF) Network, Cardiff, Wales, 28-29 April 2009
Publication year: 2009
Keyword(s): Accounting studies; Australia; Graduate skills; Higher education; Stakeholder satisfaction
Publisher: Business, Management, Accountancy and Finance Network, Oxford Brookes University
Publisher URL: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/BMAFconference/conferences_slides_2009
Peer reviewed