IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v13y2023i3p70-d1082487.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fifteen Years of Accounting Professional’s Competencies Supply and Demand: Evidencing Actors, Competency Assessment Strategies, and ‘Top Three’ Competencies

Author

Listed:
  • Nanja Kroon

    (School of Technology and Management of Viseu & CISeD—Research Center in Digital Services, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Campus Politécnico, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal
    Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Universidade da Beira Interior, 6200-209 Covilhã, Portugal)

  • Maria do Céu Alves

    (Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Universidade da Beira Interior, 6200-209 Covilhã, Portugal
    NECE-UBI Research Unit in Business Sciences, Universidade da Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal)

Abstract

This paper reviews accounting education literature with a focus on the supply of and demand for accounting professional’s competencies. Its main objective is to determine which actors are involved in the relationship, ascertain both sides’ perspectives, and evidence competency supply and demand over the last 15 years. After a solid selection, the analysis includes 122 empirical articles from 2006 to 2021. The actors and competencies addressed in the relevant literature were identified and strategies used in their assessment were discovered. The identified competencies were then categorized and framed in the five constructs presented by Kroon and Alves. This approach evidenced that mismatches remain between competency expectations and competency supply in the accounting profession. Investigators may consider the results to improve the consistency of research in this field of study, contributing to a theory that is still lacking. Using the identified concepts and the constructs’ components, empirical studies can bring substantial practical implications to reduce or eliminate existing competency gaps. This study provides an integrated understanding of the literature on the fit between higher education institutions and the labor market of the accounting professional’s competencies. The framing of actors, strategies, and competencies will assist other researchers in augmenting knowledge in this area.

Suggested Citation

  • Nanja Kroon & Maria do Céu Alves, 2023. "Fifteen Years of Accounting Professional’s Competencies Supply and Demand: Evidencing Actors, Competency Assessment Strategies, and ‘Top Three’ Competencies," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:70-:d:1082487
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/13/3/70/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/13/3/70/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul De Lange & Beverley Jackling & Anne‐Marie Gut, 2006. "Accounting graduates’ perceptions of skills emphasis in undergraduate courses: an investigation from two Victorian universities," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(3), pages 365-386, September.
    2. Lyn Daff, 2021. "Employers’ perspectives of accounting graduates and their world of work: software use and ICT competencies," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 495-524, September.
    3. Ragland, Linda & Ramachandran, Usha, 2014. "Towards an understanding of excel functional skills needed for a career in public accounting: Perceptions from public accountants and accounting students," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 113-129.
    4. Tracey J. Riley & Kathleen A. Simons, 2016. "The written communication skills that matter most for accountants," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 239-255, June.
    5. Harshini P. Siriwardane & Chris H. Durden, 2014. "The Communication Skills of Accountants: What we Know and the Gaps in our Knowledge," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 119-134, April.
    6. Henri Olivier, 2000. "Challenges facing the accountancy profession," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 603-624.
    7. Valentina Dolce & Federica Emanuel & Maurizio Cisi & Chiara Ghislieri, 2020. "The soft skills of accounting graduates: perceptions versus expectations," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 57-76, January.
    8. Gary Spraakman & Winifred O'Grady & Davood Askarany & Chris Akroyd, 2015. "Employers' Perceptions of Information Technology Competency Requirements for Management Accounting Graduates," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 403-422, October.
    9. Lin Mei Tan & Fawzi Laswad, 2018. "Professional skills required of accountants: what do job advertisements tell us?," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 403-432, July.
    10. Siriwardane, H.P. & Low, K.-Y. & Blietz, D., 2015. "Making entry-level accountants better communicators: A Singapore-based study of communication tasks, skills, and attributes," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 332-347.
    11. NICOLAESCU Cristina & DAVID Delia & FARCAS Pavel, 2017. "Professional And Transversal Competencies In The Accounting Field Do Employers’ Expectations Fit Students’ Perceptions? Evidence From Western Romania," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 126-140, December.
    12. Marie H. Kavanagh & Lyndal Drennan, 2008. "What skills and attributes does an accounting graduate need? Evidence from student perceptions and employer expectations," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(2), pages 279-300, June.
    13. Jill Webb & Caroline Chaffer, 2016. "The expectation performance gap in accounting education: a review of generic skills development in UK accounting degrees," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 349-367, July.
    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. Hamood Mohammed Al-Hattami, 2024. "What factors influence the intention to adopt blockchain technology in accounting education?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.

    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. Komarev, Iliya & Preobragenskaya, Galina, 2022. "A framework of market-relevant accounting competencies for the Gulf Cooperation countries (GCC)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    2. Francesca Culasso & Elisa Giacosa & Edoardo Crocco & Daniele Giordino, 2023. "Modern day Management Accountants: A latent Dirichlet allocation investigation," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(2 Suppl.), pages 11-36.
    3. 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.
    4. Apostolou, Barbara & Dorminey, Jack W. & Hassell, John M. & Rebele, James E., 2017. "Accounting education literature review (2016)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-31.
    5. Monique Micallef & Cheryl Mifsud & Lauren Ellul & Peter J. Baldacchino & Simon Grima, 2023. "The Skill Set Required in the Accounting Workplace: Perspectives of Accounting Graduates and Warrant Holders," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(4), pages 117-145.
    6. Grimm, Stephanie Dehning & Blazovich, Janell L., 2016. "Developing student competencies: An integrated approach to a financial statement analysis project," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 69-101.
    7. Lin Mei Tan & Fawzi Laswad, 2018. "Professional skills required of accountants: what do job advertisements tell us?," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 403-432, July.
    8. Sabine Graschitz & Simona Holzknecht & Marcel Steller, 2023. "Perceived Attractiveness of Tax Consultancy and Auditing Professions: Insights From a German-Speaking Area," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    9. Atanasko Atanasovski & Marina Trpeska & Zorica Bozinovska Lazarevska, 2018. "Accounting Students' and Employers' Perceptions on Employability Skills in the SEE Country," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(3), pages 55-71.
    10. Plant, Kato & Barac, Karin & Sarens, Gerrit, 2019. "Preparing work-ready graduates – skills development lessons learnt from internal audit practice," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 33-47.
    11. Tracey J. Riley & Kathleen A. Simons, 2016. "The written communication skills that matter most for accountants," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 239-255, June.
    12. Rebele, James E. & St. Pierre, E. Kent, 2019. "A commentary on learning objectives for accounting education programs: The importance of soft skills and technical knowledge," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 71-79.
    13. Karmańska Anna, 2023. "Coding Skills in the Automation of Accounting Processes," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 23(1), pages 107-123, June.
    14. Peggy Coady & Seán Byrne & John Casey, 2018. "Positioning of emotional intelligence skills within the overall skillset of practice-based accountants: employer and graduate requirements," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 94-120, January.
    15. Susanne Leitner-Hanetseder & Christoph Eisl & Carina Knoll & Othmar M. Lehner, 2021. "Need For Advanced It Skills For Accountants €“ What Does Accounting Education Literature Tell Us?," Business Education and Accreditation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 13(1), pages 57-69.
    16. Arquero, José Luis & Fernández-Polvillo, Carmen & Hassall, Trevor & Joyce, John, 2017. "Relationships between communication apprehension, ambiguity tolerance and learning styles in accounting students," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 13-24.
    17. Snead, Ken C. & Kraft, Margo J. & Lozada, Aida R. & McGrath, Richard N. & Biswas, Tania & Zhou, Fuzhao, 2023. "An Application of Judgement Modeling to Examine Inter-Cultural Differences Regarding Perceptions of Business Skill Importance," MPRA Paper 120040, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 26 Jan 2024.
    18. Berry, Reanna & Routon, Wesley, 2020. "Soft skill change perceptions of accounting majors: Current practitioner views versus their own reality," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    19. Athanasios MANDILAS & Dimitrios KOURTIDIS & Giannoula FLOROU & Stavros VALSAMIDIS, 2016. "Accounting Education And Research In Relation To Business Needs," Scientific Bulletin - Economic Sciences, University of Pitesti, vol. 15(3), pages 3-12.
    20. Pan, Peipei & Perera, Hector, 2012. "Market relevance of university accounting programs: Evidence from Australia," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 91-108.

    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:gam:jadmsc:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:70-:d:1082487. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.