Communication Difficulties as Perceived By the Accounting Profession and Professors of Accounting

Abstract

In an effort to bridge the gap between classroom experience and "real world" activity, the authors developed a survey instrument for measuring the accounting professional's expectations of the newly hired employee's communication skills. After collecting the results of the survey, including responses from accounting educators and recently graduated accountants, the authors were able to conclude that some general agreement did exist about the communication needs of accountants: most lack the skill to articulate conceptual ideas. But there seems to be very little agreement on how to develop this skill in the classroom.

Communication skills in accounting education: Perceptions of academics, employers and graduate accountants

“…A study was conducted in the USA by Andrews and Koester (1979) to determine the differences in the perceptions of academics, employers and graduate accountants with regard to the communication skills necessary in accounting. They concluded that while academics and employers had similar perceptions, employers and new graduate accountants had significantly different perceptions.…”

How CFO’s communicate financial information - A pedagogical task in theory and practice

“…But to succeed in the pedagogical communication of financial information there is also a need for non-numeric reporting. Andrews and Koester (1979), for example, emphasise "the significance of these nonnumerical reports". To work with a more active reporting, it is important that the financial reporting is supplemented with a non-financial/non-numeric reporting.…”

“…But this does not exclude that the form of communication is important. A core competence of an accountant is the ability to formulate a concept and thus a meaning (Andrews & Koester, 1979). The concepts are means to convey and communicate a deeper meaning, where for example a budget is not just a compilation of numbers but also an expression of responsibility and authority (Emmanuel, Otley, & Merchant, 1990).…”

“…But it is also important that the message communicated is amplified by the structure used, and the way that the message is organized (Andrews & Koester, 1979). A suitable structure is not necessarily better or worse than a standard structure as long as the structure supports the purpose of the communication.…”

“…The financial language also simplifies an organizational context, which actually is very complex, even though the language does not make the context less complex, just more graspable. The ability to communicate in a financial area is a skill that is increasingly valued by both teachers at universities and industry (Abdullah Zaid & Abraham, 1994;Andrews & Koester, 1979, Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008Morgan, 1997). Through language different meanings are shaped, and the social context is produced and reproduced (Rönnström, 2006).…”