IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausact/v31y2021i3p256-267.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are Accounting Programs Future‐ready? Employability Skills

Author

Listed:
  • Ewa Banasik
  • Christine Jubb

Abstract

The first aim of this paper is to ascertain the extent to which Master‐level accounting units across Australian universities incorporate five specific employability skills: digital technology and intellectual, communication, teamwork and leadership and management skills. The accounting profession considers these skills as the skills required of accountants in the foreseeable future. Using the International Education Standards as a benchmark, we review unit outlines and synopses to identify whether these employability skills are reflected in unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes. Our research indicates that too often not evident in the documents examined are exposures to 1) digital technology and accounting software and systems, 2) assessment of oral presentation capability, 3) training that fosters teamwork skills before completion of assessable team tasks and 4) situations that model and develop leadership and management skills. The second aim of this paper is to offer recommendations for the inclusion of these skills into curricula. Based on the literature and best practices identified in this study, we formulate 13 recommendations that we feel, if implemented, would remedy the issues uncovered and improve the integration of these skills into all accounting programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Ewa Banasik & Christine Jubb, 2021. "Are Accounting Programs Future‐ready? Employability Skills," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(3), pages 256-267, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:31:y:2021:i:3:p:256-267
    DOI: 10.1111/auar.12337
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12337
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/auar.12337?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julie Drake, 2011. "Adding Value to Audit Education through 'Living' Cases," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 203-222.
    2. Patricia Lee Huff, 2014. "The Goal Project: A Group Assignment to Encourage Creative Thinking, Leadership Abilities and Communication Skills," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 582-594, December.
    3. James Anthony DiGabriele, 2016. "The expectation differences among stakeholders in the financial valuation fitness of auditors," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(1), pages 43-60, February.
    4. Dzuranin, Ann C. & Jones, Janet R. & Olvera, Renee M., 2018. "Infusing data analytics into the accounting curriculum: A framework and insights from faculty," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 24-39.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andreea Cordos (Labaditis) & Adriana Tiron-Tudor, 2023. "Employability skills for professional accountants in the midstof Industry 4.0 - a literature review," Journal of Financial Studies, Institute of Financial Studies, vol. 8(15), pages 62-85, November.
    2. Valeriu Brabete & Catalin Mihail Barbu & Daniel Circiumaru & Daniel Goagara & Dorel Berceanu, 2024. "Redesign of Accounting Education to Meet the Challenges of Artificial Intelligence – A Literature Review," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 26(65), pages 275-275, February.
    3. Michael Bradbury & Bryan Howieson, 2021. "Editorial," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(3), pages 167-168, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Blix, Leslie H. & Edmonds, Mark A. & Sorensen, Kate B., 2021. "How well do audit textbooks currently integrate data analytics," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    2. Carla Carvalho & Ana Carlos Almeida, 2022. "The Adequacy of Accounting Education in the Development of Transversal Skills Needed to Meet Market Demands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Christina Chiang & Paul K. Wells & Peter Fieger & Divesh S. Sharma, 2021. "An investigation into student satisfaction, approaches to learning and the learning context in Auditing," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 913-936, March.
    4. Apostolou, Barbara & Dorminey, Jack W. & Hassell, John M. & Watson, Stephanie F., 2013. "Accounting education literature review (2010–2012)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 107-161.
    5. Gittings, Lara & Taplin, Ross & Kerr, Rosemary, 2020. "Experiential learning activities in university accounting education: A systematic literature review," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    6. Chiang, Christina & Wells, Paul K. & Xu, Gina, 2021. "How does experiential learning encourage active learning in auditing education?," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    7. Patricia Lee Huff, 2014. "The Goal Project: A Group Assignment to Encourage Creative Thinking, Leadership Abilities and Communication Skills," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 582-594, December.
    8. Evelien Opdecam & Patricia Everaert, 2018. "Seven disagreements about cooperative learning," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 223-233, May.
    9. Richard Slack & Jan Loughran & Kirsty Abrahams, 2014. "Corporate Associate Partnerships: Practitioners' Involvement in the Delivery of an Auditing Course Based on a Case-Study: A Teaching Resource," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 262-276, June.
    10. Booker, Danielle D. & Pelzer, Josette R.E. & Richardson, Jeremy R., 2023. "Integrating data analytics into the auditing curriculum: Insights and perceptions from early-career auditors," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Jean Ingersoll Abbott & Barry R. Palatnik, 2018. "Students’ perceptions of their first accounting class: implications for instructors," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 72-93, January.
    12. Apostolou, Barbara & Dorminey, Jack W. & Hassell, John M. & Hickey, Anna, 2019. "Accounting education literature review (2018)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-27.
    13. Andiola, Lindsay M. & Masters, Erin & Norman, Carolyn, 2020. "Integrating technology and data analytic skills into the accounting curriculum: Accounting department leaders’ experiences and insights," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    14. Roksana Jahan Tumpa & Samer Skaik & Miriam Ham & Ghulam Chaudhry, 2022. "A Holistic Overview of Studies to Improve Group-Based Assessments in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-23, August.
    15. Felski, Elizabeth, 2023. "Audit technologies used in practice and ways to implement these technologies into audit courses," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    16. Sarkar, Sumantra & Gray, Joy & Boss, Scott R. & Daly, Emmet, 2021. "Developing institutional skills for addressing big data: Experiences in implementation of AACSB Standard 5," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    17. Prerana Agrawal & Jacqueline Birt & Lyndie Bayne & Nikki Schonfeldt, 2022. "The use of case studies in developing students’ understanding of the concept ‘material misstatement’," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1307-1338, April.
    18. Lawson, James G. & Street, Daniel A., 2021. "Detecting dirty data using SQL: Rigorous house insurance case," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    19. Lee, W. Eric & Perdana, Arif, 2023. "Effects of experiential service learning in improving community engagement perception, sustainability awareness, and data analytics competency," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Roksana Jahan Tumpa & Samer Skaik & Miriam Ham & Ghulam Chaudhry, 2022. "Authentic Design and Administration of Group-Based Assessments to Improve the Job-Readiness of Project Management Graduates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-23, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:31:y:2021:i:3:p:256-267. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1035-6908 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.