Convenience of accounting education for the requirements of Saudi labour market: An empirical study

Abstract

Saudi labour market is unique in nature due to a number of aspects. It provides a picture of increasing job opportunity and, at the same time, higher level of youth unemployment. Like other countries, the employability of accounting graduates of Saudi Arabia is also subject to doubts. The present study assesses the convenience of accounting education for the unique requirements of Saudi labour market. The study collects data from 914 respondents from the three main stakeholdersstudents, faculty and accounting practitioners. The study finds that all the three stakeholders were of the opinion that the education was capable of meeting the unique requirements of the labour market in Saudi Arabia. A few suggestions are also presented, which would help improve the outcomes of the accounting programs and make the graduates employable.

Construction and validation of the employability questionnaire for accounting graduates

“…They have to participate in information facilitation functions increasingly and involve in the strategic analysis (Jones and Abraham, 2009). The adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has also added extra thrust and demands on accounting graduates (Senan, 2019). To effectively tackle these challenges, university accounting programs need to provide graduates with considerable technical knowledge and skills to make them employable.…”

“…Further, according to AlMotairy and Stainbank (2014), traditional delivery forms like lecturing predominates advanced approaches in Saudi Arabian accounting education. This calls for due consideration towards using the latest pedagogical methodologies and adopting a student-centered approach that enhances employability (Senan, 2019). Only a few studies have been undertaken in the Saudi context about general employability and accounting students in particular (Al Mallak, 2018;Zureigat, 2018).…”

“…To bridge this gap, there is a need to measure accounting graduates' employability in the country. Though there are many tools to measure the employability levels, there is none ideal for the unique Saudi and Middle East conditions (Senan, 2019). In general, countries of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, face compelling issues and challenges unique to the region (Mohiya and Sulphey, 2021;Sulphey and Alkahtani, 2018).…”

University Accounting Curriculum, IT, and Job Market Demands: Evidence From Yemen

“…In addition, many studies have been conducted (in different environments and countries) to search the extent to which accounting education is keeping up with the job market demands: for example, in Britain (Ahmed, 2003), the United States (Albrecht & Sack, 2000;Chang & Hwang, 2003), the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (Kotb et al, 2018), Brazil and Portugal (Riccio & Gramacho Sakata, 2002), South Africa (Fouché, 2013;Wessels, 2004), Australia (De Lange et al, 2006;Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008;P. Pan & Perera, 2012;Seethamraju, 2010;Watty et al, 2016), Greece (Matlay et al, 2014), Romania (Nicolescu & P[acaron]un, 2009), Canada (Boulianne, 2016), New Zealand (T. Tam, 2013; T. C. W. Tam, 2011;Wells, 2018), Ghana (Awayiga et al, 2010;Ayeboafo, 2012), Malaysia (Lai, 2008), Indonesia (Pratama, 2015), Turkey (Yucel et al, 2012), Lebanon (Majzoub & Aga, 2015), Egypt (Anis, 2017;Nokhal, 2013), Saudi Arabia (Senan, 2019;Srdar, 2017;Zureigat, 2015), and Jordan (El-Dalahmeh, 2017;Maali & Al-Attar, 2020). The studies have urged the need to develop critical solutions to address the weaknesses of the accounting curricula, especially relating to IT.…”

“…Although the focus on the theoretical aspects of the accounting curriculum is important, this is not enough to prepare students to enter the job market (Yucel et al, 2012). Besides the theoretical aspects, employers mostly presume that graduates gain the requisite technology skills while undergoing the curricula of their colleges (Senan, 2019).…”