Pervasive skills and accounting graduates' employment prospects: Are South African employers calling for pervasive skills when recruiting?

Abstract

In response to the pressures of globalisation and information technology, accounting practitioners are generally expected to demonstrate greater capacity in pervasive or generic skills. Universities offering accounting programmes in South Africa have revised accounting degree curricula to provide an added focus on pervasive skills. However, it remains unclear whether such interventions strengthen the position of accounting graduates in the job-seeking process, nor is it clear which of the many possible pervasive skills are relevant for employers. Through content analysis of online advertised accounting vacancies, this quantitative study sought to investigate whether employers do call for pervasive skills when recruiting accounting graduates and, if so, which of these skills are most sought after. The findings indicate that, indeed, employers generally specified pervasive skills, and that oral and written communication and critical thinking were the most sought-after of these skills for accounting-related employment in South Africa.

The abilities of first-year trainee accountants to apply knowledge acquired through accounting academic educational program in accounting practice

“…Inadequate of technological practices in tertiary institutions is another challenge that has been highlighted in the literature (Johnson et al, 2016). According to Mhlongo (2020), trainee accountants are faced with the application of IT skills more than technical knowledge in the workplace. de Vries, Blomme and De Loo (2021) demonstrated that the most noteworthy test in enrolling first-year trainee accountants in the workplace was discovering candidates with the necessary technological experience.…”

The Adequacy of Accounting Education in the Development of Transversal Skills Needed to Meet Market Demands

“…For example, the authors of [12] have confirmed the growing demand for accounting graduates who possess teamwork abilities and good communication and interpersonal skills. Likewise, other studies [9,13] demonstrated that compared to other business professionals, accounting students did not feel that their study programs improved their leadership abilities, oral and written communication, and critical thinking. Accounting programs need to be positioned to develop those soft skills that are deemed important by accounting students [15,16] and working professionals [16,17].…”

“…Indeed, graduates are not totally aware of what skills employers consider to be important: students are still focused on technical skills, while employers have been increasingly concentrating on transversal skills [12]. There is some evidence that employers often prioritize soft skills over technical ones in the accounting profession [12][13][14].…”

“…Although these skills may be transversal to other modern professions, the literature available on the topic highlights some specific skills as being the most required by ac-countants and valued by the market, and that may even be decisive in the recruitment process [13]. For example, the authors of [12] have confirmed the growing demand for accounting graduates who possess teamwork abilities and good communication and interpersonal skills.…”

“…The literature also shows that, increasingly, accounting training must combine hard with soft skills, which will be decisive in the future profiles of accountants [9,13]. For the acquisition and development of those skills, HEIs assume a fundamental role; they are the ones that have to adapt the teaching approach of accounting courses to integrate those skills that the market requires from accounting professionals.…”