Generic skills in accounting education in a developing country: exploratory evidence from Sri Lanka

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the generic skills developed during the undergraduate degree from the perspectives of final year undergraduates and graduate employers. Design/methodology/approach The list of generic skills tested in this study was contextualised to Sri Lanka and developed based on prior studies. Data obtained from stakeholders via a questionnaire survey was analysed using paired-sample t-test; independent sample t-test; principal component analysis; and one-way-analysis of variance (ANOVA), with a view to explore, evaluate and compare respondents’ perspectives. Findings Our findings revealed both stakeholders believe that most of the generic skills tested in this study are important for graduates’ career success. Consistent with prior studies, respondents prioritised generic skills for career success above technical skills. Final year accounting undergraduates are aware of the skill expectations in the employment market. However, they perceive that most of the important generic skills are not adequately developed during the degree. Practical implications Findings of this study inform the importance of adopting a holistic approach to the redesign of the accounting curricula to accommodate generic skill development during the degree. Suggestions include: establishing strong links between universities, professional accounting institutions and employers; introducing participatory methods of curriculum design; and assimilating continuous reviews and frequent updates to curricula. Originality/value Sri Lanka, a developing country, was selected for this research given that little has been reported in the literature in terms of generic skills development of accounting graduates in developing countries.

Importance of Generic Skills in Accounting Education: Evidence from Egypt

“…A total of 247 responses were analyzed and extracted using factor analysis resulting in five factors grouped into the following order: management skills and work experience; intellectual skills and personal qualities; analytical skills; communication skills and accounting and technical skills. The main finding was the importance of including generic skills in accounting curricula (Abayadeera & Watty, 2016).…”

“…Therefore the researcher labeled this factor organization skills consistent with IES3. Several studies emphasized the importance of such skills such as Jackling and De Lange (2009); Mandilas et al (2014) and Abayadeera and Watty (2016).…”

“…Also, the last factor include one item which is risk analysis and could be labeled as analytical skills. Although in this research the last two items are separated in two factors they are combined in other studies (Kavanagh and Drennan (2008); Abayadeera and Watty (2016)) as analytical skills. Table 7 lists the component transformation matrix of the factor analysis results.…”

“…The issue of generic skills has attracted substantial discussion in the academic literature in different developed and developing countries (Jackling and De Lange (2009); Kavanagh and Drennan (2008); Awayiga, Onumah, and Tsamenyi (2010); Bui and Porter (2010); Abayadeera and Watty (2016)). Although all of these studies acknowledged the importance of generic skills, the majority of them identified a skills expectations gap, where accounting educators are focusing on the development of technical skills at the expense of generic skills.…”

Employability Skills Required by the 21st Century Workplace: A Literature Review of Labor Market Demand

“…According to the American Management Association, employability skill attributes such as critical thinking and problem-solving, creativity and innovation, collaboration, and communication skills are becoming increasingly important in today's global economy [7]. Other research also shows the employability skills essential for career success of graduates in the workplace [8,9]. Skills such as communication, problem-solving, decision-making, analytical and critical thinking, synthesizing information, teamwork, interpersonal, and continuous learning are some of the employability skill attributes required by graduates in entering the workforce [10], as well as being a prerequisite for professional recognition.…”