Attitudes of Employers and University Students to the Requirements for Accountants in the Czech Republic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2022.150106Keywords:
Accountants, Employers, Professional Competence, Soft Skills, Students.Abstract
The aim of the study is to verify employers and university students’ perception of the importance of professional and soft competencies that is placed on the position of financial accountant in the Czech Republic. The study is based on the international knowledge oriented to the difference between university students and employers in perception of the importance of professional and soft competencies. The research is focused on Czech companies from two regions and students of Accounting and Finance attending universities from two different regions. The research was conducted with the help of advertisement analysis and a questionnaire survey in the first quarter of 2020. In the advertisements, mainly the information literacy and usage of English language in accounting appeared. The perception of employers is not in accordance with the importance of competencies perceived by students who would like to work in the accounting profession. Responsibility, reliability, accuracy, and independence are important for students. Differences in the perception of competencies importance were not found. This study contributes to the identification of the competency’s importance regarding employers and students. It will be necessary to innovate teaching methods with the emphasis on the effective readiness of graduates for the accounting profession.
References
Andreoni, J., Di Girolamo, A., List, J. A., Mackevicius, C. and Samek, A. (2020) ‘Risk preferences of children and adolescents in relation to gender, cognitive skills, soft skills, and executive functions’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. 179, pp. 729–742. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.05.002
Aris, N. A., Baharum, Z., Sanusi, Z. M., Rahman, I. K. A. and Heang, L. T. (2013) Assessment of Critical Success Factors for Accounting Graduates Employability. Langkawi: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Asonitou, S. and Hassall, T. (2019) ‘Which skills and competencies to develop in accountants in a country in crisis?’, International Journal of Management Education, Vol. 17, No. 3, 100308. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2019.100308
Berková, K., Borůvková, J. and Lízalová, L. (2018) ‘Motivation of Students of Economic and Technical Fields as a Tool of Competitiveness of Universities and Colleges: Empirical Study’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 72–77. https://dx.doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2018.110401
Berková, K., Krpálek, P. and Krpálková Krelová, K. (2019) ‘Future economic professionals: development of practical skills and competencies in higher education from the point of view of international employers’, Economic Annals-XXI, Vol. 176, No. 3-4, pp. 91–98. https://dx.doi.org/10.21003/ea.V176-09
Borghans, L., Weel, B. T. and Weinberg, B. A. (2006) People people: Social capital and the labor-market outcomes of underrepresented groups, Working paper No. 11985. Massachusetts Avenue: Cambridge.
Brownstein, S. A., Murad, A. and Hunt, R. J. (2015) ‘Implementation of New Technologies in US Dental School Curricula’, Journal of Dental Education, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 259–264. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.0022-0337.2015.79.3.tb05880.x
Chaffer, C. and Webb, J. (2017) ‘An evaluation of competency development in accounting trainees’, Accounting Education, Vol. 26, No. 5-6, pp. 431–458. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2017.1286602
Cohen, J. (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
European Commission. (2008) The European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF), Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Fernandez, F. and Liu, H. C. (2019) ‘Examining relationships between soft skills and occupational outcomes among U.S. adults with-and without-university degrees’, Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 32, No. 8, pp. 650–664. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2019.1697802
Kirstein, M., Coetzee, S. and Schmulian, A. (2019) ‘Differences in accounting students' perceptions of their development of professional skills A South African case’, Higher Education Skills and Work-based Learning, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 41–59. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-04-2018-0051
Larruzea-Urkixo, N. and Cardeño Ramírez, M. O. (2020) ‘Individual differences in self-regulated learning among Education Degree students: gender, teaching specialty, grades and academic performance’, Revista de Investigacion Educativa, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 453–473. https://doi.org/10.6018/rie.334301
Lebid, A. E. and Shevchenko, N. A. (2020) ‘Gender Differentiation in Perceiving and Evaluating the Interactive Methods of Education by the Engineering Students’, European Journal of Contemporary Education, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 819–826. https://doi.org/10.13187/ejced.2020.4.819
Lim, Y. M., Lee, T. H., Yap, C. S. and Ling, C. C. (2016) ‘Employability skills, personal qualities, and early employment problems of entry-level auditors: Perspectives from employers, lecturers, auditors, and students’, Journal of Education for Business, Vol. 91, No. 4, pp. 185–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2016.1153998
Manzoor, U., Rizwan, A., Demirbas, A. and Al Sayed Hafiz, N. (2018) ‘Analysis of Perception Gap between Employers and Fresh Engineering Graduates about Employability Skills: A Case Study of Pakistan’, International Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 248–255.
Mameche, Y., Omri, M. A. and Hassine, N. (2020) ‘Compliance of Accounting Education Programs with International Accounting Education Standards: The Case of IES 3 in Tunisia’, Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 85, pp. 225–252.
Moore, T. and Morton, J. (2017) ‘The myth of job readiness? Written communication, employability, and the 'skills gap' in higher education’, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 591–609. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1067602
Orazem, P. F. and Vodopivec, M. (1997) ‘Value of human capital in transition to market: Evidence from Slovenia’, European Economic Review, Vol. 41, No. 3-5, pp. 893–903. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0014-2921(97)00046-9
Pereira, E. T., Vilas-Boas, M. and Rebelo, C. C. (2019) ‘Graduates' skills and employability: the view of students from different European countries’, Higher Education Skills and Work-based Learning, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 758–774. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-10-2018-0098
Roberts, B. S., Roberts, E. P., Brachvogel, W. and Stein, A. B. (2020) ‘Practice management curricular changes may lead to enhanced preparedness for practice’, Journal of Dental Education, Vol. 84, No. 8, pp. 887–894. https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.12136
Rudenkol, L. G., Larionova, A. A., Zaitseva, N. A., Kostryukova, O. N., Bykasova, E. V., Garifullina, R. Z. and Safin, F. M. (2018) ‘Conceptual Model of Training Personnel for Small Business Services in the Digital Economy’, Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 283–296.
Spencer, L. M. and Spencer, S. M. (2008) Competence at Work - Models for Superior Performance, New York: Wiley.
Tan, L. M. and Laswad, F. (2019) ‘Key employability skills required of tax accountants’, Journal of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 211–239.
Vallišová, L., Černá, M. and Hinke, J. (2018) ‘Implementation of sustainability aspects in the financial reporting system: an environmental accounting standard’, Economic Annals-ХХI, Vol. 173, No. 9-10, pp. 55–59. https://doi.org/10.21003/ea.V173-09
Vallišová, L. and Dvořáková, L. (2018) ‘Implementation of international financial accounting standards from the perspective of companies in the Czech Republic’, Economic Annals-ХХI, Vol. 167, No. 9-10, pp. 70–74. https://doi.org/10.21003/ea.V167-14
Webb, J. and Chaffer, C. (2016) ‘The expectation performance gap in accounting education: a review of generic skills development in UK accounting degrees’, Accounting Education, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 349–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2016.1191274
Zueva, F. A., Levina, S. G., Manzhukova, L. F., Likhodumova, I. N. and Kilmasova, I. A. (2020) ‘Approaches to the Realization of Technologies of Coordinated Formation of Students' Professional and Flexible Competencies in the Process of Professional Training’, Revista Inclusiones, Vol. 7, SI, pp. 11–18.
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Kateřina Berková, Lenka Holečková
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors declare with this manuscript intended for publication to ERIES Journal that:
- all co-authors agree with the publication of the manuscript even after amendments arising from peer review;
- all co-authors agree with the posting of the full text of this work on the web page of ERIES Journal and to the inclusion of references in databases accessible on the internet;
- no results of other researchers were used in the submitted manuscript without their consent, proper citation, or acknowledgement of their cooperation or material provided;
- the results (or any part of them) used in the manuscript have not been sent for publication to any other journal nor have they already been published (or if so, that the relevant works are cited in this manuscript);
- submission of the manuscript for publication was completed in accordance with the publishing regulations pertaining to place of work;
- experiments performed comply with current laws and written consent of the Scientific Ethics Committee / National Animal Care Authority (as is mentioned in the manuscript submitted);
- grant holders confirm that they have been informed of the submitted manuscript and they agree to its publication.
Authors retain copyright and grant ERIES Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the published work with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. Moreover, authors are able to post the published work in an institutional repository with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. In addition, authors are permitted and encouraged to post the published work online (e.g. institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
