Kemahiran Profesional Graduan Perakaunan: Antara Jangkaan Majikan dan Keperluan Pelajar dalam Kurikulum Perakaunan (Professional Skills of Accounting Graduates: Gaps between Employers Expectation and Students Need in Accounting Curricula)

Abstract

Recent globalization in business environment requires accounting education to shift its curriculum from supply driven approach to demand driven approach due to the need of high skill workers by the industry. Thus, this study aims to explore the professional skills needed to prepare graduates to be successful in the working environment based on employers and final year accounting students perspectives. Professional skills in this study consist of technical skills (accounting, finance, tax), management skills, information technology skills, intellectual skills, interpersonal skills and personal skills. This quantitative study utilized questionnaire to collect data from 150 final year accounting students and 50 employers from accounting firms. Findings show that accounting students rated that intellectual skill as the most important skill followed by personal and technical skill. Whereas, employers rated interpersonal skill as the most needed skill by accounting students, followed by intellectual and personal skill. Findings show that there are significant gaps between students need and employers expectation regarding the importance of professional skill. Thus, this paper suggests continuous improvements must be made by the accounting curriculum and professional skills should be emphasized in order for the universities to produce good quality graduates.