Quality of accounting graduates and employers’ expectations
Journal of International Education in Business
ISSN: 2046-469X
Article publication date: 14 May 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the skills expected by employers and the skills demonstrated by accounting graduates with data from 160 employers of accounting graduates in Ghana. From the perspective of employers, the authors compare the expected skills to the skills demonstrated by accounting graduates and identify any significant gaps.
Design/methodology/approach
One-way analysis of variance, T-tests and factor analysis are used to test significant gaps that exist between expected and demonstrated skills by employers and accounting graduates using survey questionnaires and purposive sampling.
Findings
The results reveal that there are significant gaps between the expected skills of employers and the demonstrated skills of accounting graduates. The authors find generic skills to be more expected by employers, while technical skills are demonstrated most by accounting graduates. The top five skills expected by employers are: business ethics and integrity; problem solving and decision analysis; written communication skills; learning skills; and application of accounting principles.
Research limitations/implications
The study focuses only on organizations that use fresh accounting graduates in Ghana. Further studies may consider other business-related fields like finance, human resource management and marketing.
Practical implications
The study provides insights on standards that serve as benchmarks for the conduct of accounting graduates as well as the development of accounting curriculum in Ghana. Accounting education should incorporate work-integrated learning as part of their curriculum to enable accounting graduates to solve problems and make decisions through a practical application of accounting principles, standards and concepts, especially in conducting audit and writing reports.
Originality/value
This study fills the gap in the literature on accounting education from employers’ perspectives in a developing country. It conducts a comparative analysis between the most important skills required by employers and the ones demonstrated by accounting graduates to provide insights on standards that should serve as benchmarks for the development of the accounting curriculum from an emerging economy perspective.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge all reviewers and editors for their constructive and insightful comments that have greatly improved that paper’s quality. They also acknowledge all respondents for making this study a success by responding to their research instrument.
Funding: The authors declare that no funding is received for this study.
Disclosure statement: The authors disclose that there is no known conflict of interest.
Data availability statement: The authors declare that the data set is available and will be provided upon request.
Citation
Gyekye, K.A. and Amo, O. (2024), "Quality of accounting graduates and employers’ expectations
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited