Students' perceptions and employers' expectations regarding the skills and knowledge of accounting graduates

This study describes the perceptions of accounting students and expectations of employers regarding the skills and knowledge needed by accounting graduates. Quantitative methods were used to get a representative picture of the issue. The results showed that students perceived honesty, continuous learning, and work ethics as important skills, whereas employers stressed the importance of work ethics, teamwork, and time management. Students perceived that the knowledge needed by accounting graduates include financial accounting, accounting, and financial reporting, and financial statement analysis, whereas employers perceived the importance of financial statement analysis, knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite programs, and financial accounting. Further analysis showed that there is an expectation gap between the perceptions of students with the expectations of employers towards skills -not knowledge-needed by accounting graduates. This study implies the importance of skills development in the university curriculum should be reinforced to develop skilful human resources in accounting and to meet the expectation of employers.