Accounting Graduate Employment Destinations and Commitment to CPD: A Study from Two Australian Universities

Abstract

This study examined the main fields of employment as well as attitudes toward continuing professional development (CPD) and preferred employment of recent Australian accounting graduates. Responses from 310 accounting graduates provide revealing information for professional accounting bodies, academics and the accounting profession. It is apparent that accounting graduates are focused on CPD and have greater ambition than the current industry structure appears to be able to accommodate. The study included analysis of graduates' CPD intentions along with the disparity between respondents' expected and ideal sectors of employment, thus providing further insights into graduates' employment destinations. The results of the study unearthed concerns about the employment satisfaction of many graduates if their ambitions cannot be realistically fulfilled. Coupled with the very strong trend of accounting graduates shifting away from public practice, the ramifications of this research may be timely and relevant for the accounting profession in the new millennium. In particular, the research should be of interest to professional accounting bodies, academics and prospective employers in terms of graduates' perceptions of the need for postgraduate studies and preference for specific professional accounting qualifications as a feature of CPD.Accounting graduate, career path, accounting profession, continuing professional development, postgraduate study,

Generic skills in accounting: perspectives of Chinese postgraduate students

“…Bui and Porter () conclude that student, teacher and institutional characteristics represent underlying issues for accounting education's expectation–performance gaps with graduate attributes. Societal perceptions of the profession (Jackling et al ., ); characteristics of the employer (Tempone et al ., ); and the domicile country and educational and cultural backgrounds of students (Peppas and Yu, ; Li, ; Keneley and Jackling, ) also impact on perceptions of generic skill acquisition and the needs of the accounting profession.…”

Accounting education literature review (2006–2009)

“…The authors survey members of the professional bodies (n = 236) and present descriptive information about the amount and types of CPD experiences. Jackling, De Lange, and Rav On (2007) report about a survey of recent Australian accounting graduates (n = 310, years 1999-2003) regarding their (1) intentions toward continuing postgraduate studies and (2) their employment destinations. Descriptive statistics are presented.…”

Work and work‐family values in accountancy

“…Importantly, the aforementioned labour market and workforce demographic changes are no less of a concern in the accounting profession than they are in other professional employment domains. For example, Jackling et al (2007, p. 330) note that, while accounting remains a popular employment destination for Australian and New Zealand final year accounting students, there is still “a shortage of qualified accountants to meet employment demand” in these countries. Similarly, Briggs et al (2007) draw attention to the dramatic increase, in recent decades, in the number of females in accounting.…”