IT required skills in accounting: A comparative analysis across European labour markets

Abstract

Research Question: The research proposition is to identify the information technology (IT) skills required from accounting professionals by the labour market from European emerging and developed economies and analyse whether there are differences between the requirements, depending on the type of economy. Motivation: The wide adoption of several emerging technologies across various domains of activity is a widely debated topic. However, regardless of its popularity, little research focused on comparing the expectation of the professional bodies and the current labour market expectations in terms of the IT skills accountants should demonstrate. Idea: This study aims to analyse if there is any gap between the expectations formulated by accounting professional bodies and the labour market’s requirements in European countries regarding the IT skills accountants should demonstrate. Data: The dataset selected for this study consisted of 1000 accounting job advertisements, collected between two periods: September 2017 - July 2018 and January - February 2021. Tools: A cross-sectional study, including a content analysis and statistical analyses, was conducted to analyse the dataset collected. Findings: The results illustrate the European labour market’s current expectations regarding the IT skills accountants should demonstrate. The statistical analyses conducted highlight an association between the skills asked by emerging and developed European based companies. Contributions: This paper provides a glimpse regarding the European labour market’s expectations in terms of IT skills requested from accounting professionals, thus being a reference for the European professional bodies and academia.

Serbest Muhasebeci Mali Müşavirlere Yönelik İş İlanlarında Aranan Şartların Karşılaştırmalı Analizi: Türkiye, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri ve İngiltere Örneği

“…Ayrıca işverenler arasında sosyal becerilerin teknik becerilere kıyasla daha fazla şart koşulduğu belirlenmiştir. Rîndașu (2021) tarafından yapılan bir araştırmada, linkedin.com, profesia.sk, profession.hu, reed.co.uk web sitelerinde verilen toplam 1000 iş ilanı incelenmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda, Avrupa'da işgücü piyasasının, muhasebe bilgi sistemleri ve ofis yazılım paketi dışında bilgi teknolojileri çözümleriyle ilgili beceriler sergilemesini beklemediği gerçeği ortaya çıkmıştır.…”

Developing a maturity model to identify digital skills and abilities of accounting professionals: evidence from Turkey

“…Therefore, as accounting curriculum has not been revised in parallel with technological developments, the abilities and skills of the professionals employed in the field of accounting are still criticized by many employers (Cory & Pruske, 2012;García & Ríos, 2021;Rîndașu, 2021). Accordingly, there is a constant call for the integration of information systems and technological competencies into the accounting curriculum (Sledgianowski et al, 2017) for to ensure the accounting curriculum to serve the technical skills, knowledge and competence required by the industry (Dimitrov, 2022) and to timely respond to technological advances in the market to increase the employability of new graduates (Qasım & Kharbat, 2020).…”

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“…These skills have more frequently been sought by employers and they have already taken place as key competencies in the skills spectrum that is generally emphasized by professional organizations, academicians and researchers (Kotb et al, 2019;Cory & Pruske, 2012). However; considering the fact that the current accounting curriculum, which is the primary factor affecting the acquisition of certain abilities and skills, is not dynamic enough to timely meet the rapid changes in the business environment (Kotb et al, 2019) and lags behind developments in the business environment (Awayiga et al, 2010) Therefore, as accounting curriculum has not been revised in parallel with technological developments, the abilities and skills of the professionals employed in the field of accounting are still criticized by many employers (Cory & Pruske, 2012;García & Ríos, 2021;Rîndașu, 2021). Accordingly, there is a constant call for the integration of information systems and technological competencies into the accounting curriculum (Sledgianowski et al, 2017) for to ensure the accounting curriculum to serve the technical skills, knowledge and competence required by the industry (Dimitrov, 2022) and to timely respond to technological advances in the market to increase the employability of new graduates (Qasım & Kharbat, 2020).…”