Characterizing the Gap between Accounting Education and Practice: Evidence from Lebanon

Abstract

Over the past few decades, there has been a widening gap between accounting education and accounting practice. In this article, we present a novel framework that aims to understand this gap by analyzing the accounting educational system and profession from the perspective of the International Accounting Education Standards (IAES). We further consider Lebanon as a case study for thoroughly investigating the accounting educational system and characterizing the gap.This study is the first of its kind in analyzing the five main groups of stakeholders in this system (fresh graduates, employees, professors, department heads, and employers) and comparing their perspectives about the competencies of accounting graduates. As part of our framework, we introduce a model that captures the interactions between the various stakeholders of the accounting educational and professional system. We then thoroughly probe the various components of this model theoretically, as well as through qualitative and quantitative studies.Our findings show that while, theoretically, the accounting curriculum incorporates the competencies stipulated by the IAES, in practice, there is a large gap in how the various stakeholders assess the proficiencies of fresh accounting graduates in these competencies. Alarmingly, employers believe that accounting graduates lack the required technical competencies for the job market, while professors, department heads, and students believe that fresh graduates have acquired the required competencies by the time of graduation. In this paper, we investigate the reasons for this gap, characterize it in details, and propose recommendations for bridging it.

Does Automation of the Accounting Profession Affect Employability? An Exploratory Research from Lebanon

“…As far as the authors' knowledge about the topic under discussion, none addressed the issue of automation impact on employability. However, the nearest issues addressed by Hakim [11] and Majzoub & Aga [12] relate to curriculum weaknesses. More specifically, Hakim [11] contends that "Accounting students in Lebanon are found to be inadequately prepared in technological skills and applications" (p. 14).…”

“…More specifically, Hakim [11] contends that "Accounting students in Lebanon are found to be inadequately prepared in technological skills and applications" (p. 14). On the other hand, Majzoub and Aga (2015) [12] assert that "There is a gap in both technical and professional competencies: When Accounting professionals are asked to evaluate the technical competencies (accounting and generic which include Information Technology applications) of fresh accounting graduates, they rank all of these competencies below average; … Furthermore, our surveys show that the employer's evaluation of the professional competencies of recent graduates is acceptable, while the students over-estimate their own professional competencies" (p. 145). Moreover, according to Dibeh et al (2016) [13], "employability and skill mismatch are jointly determined in the youth labor market" (p. 9).…”

Major Challenges and Barriers to IPSASs Implementation in Lebanon

“…The study conducted by Majzoub, & Aga (2015) on the IPSASs implementation in European nations indicates that IPSASs adoption provides significant and common advantages, yet challenges are still striking in the roadmap to full adoption of the standards. The key benefits of IPSASs pointed out by Kalulu (2015) include greater accountability and transparency, better decision making, improved decision making, and data consistency and application.…”

“…IPSASs is a legislative provision accredited to provide a transparent and accurate financial overview of governments and listed organizations across the globe by deploying accrual accounting as opposed to cash accounting. The full adoption of IPSASs in the public sector has the potential of radically changing the accounting and financial reporting practices, hence the ability to eliminate corruption cases in the public sector (Majzoub, & Aga, 2015).…”

Compliance with Continuing Professional Development (IES7) of Internal Auditor and Quality of Internal Audit Function

“…Also, Al-khater & Al-Kholi (2015) additionally indicating the presence of challenges facing accounting education within Qatar. Furthermore, there is, according to Majzoub & Aga (2015), a wide gap between accounting education and accounting practice within Lebanon, De Lange et al (2015) similarly noting significant differences in perceptions towards CPD offerings between professional accountants within developed economies compared with those of emerging economies.…”