 Professional skills required of accountants: what do job advertisements tell us?Lin Mei Tan and Fawzi Laswad Accounting Education, 2018, vol. 27, issue 4, 403-432 Abstract: This study examines the employability skills of accountants cited in job advertisements in Australia and New Zealand, as they indicate the skills that are most valued by employers. The results indicate interpersonal and personal are the most frequently requested skills. Of the 31 identified skills, the most sought-after skills included the ability to collaborate with colleagues, present, discuss and defend views, and having a positive attitude. Overall, a team player with a positive attitude and good communication skills appeared to be the most valued behavioural skill as perceived by employers. This reflects the changing work of accountants, from being ‘backroom number crunchers’ to engaged business professionals. Although the results indicate some differences in skills requested across the five accounting occupational subgroups, interpersonal and personal skills again stood out as the most frequently cited skills. The results indicate the importance of incorporating such skills development in the accounting curriculum. Date: 2018 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:accted:v:27:y:2018:i:4:p:403-432 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/09639284.2018.1490189 Access Statistics for this article Accounting Education is currently edited by Richard Wilson More articles in Accounting Education from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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