Knowledge and Skills Development of Accounting Graduates: The Perceptions of Graduates and Employers in Ghana

Abstract

Accounting education has come under criticism over the past two decades for failing to meet the demands of the changing business environment. This paper presents the results of a survey of accounting graduates and employers from Ghana on the accounting knowledge and skills required by graduates. We examined both the professional and information technology (IT) skill requirements of the graduates. These skills are relevant to preparing the graduates for careers as professional accountants. Analytical/critical thinking was rated as the most important professional skill by both the employers and the graduates. In terms of IT skills, the use of spreadsheet packages was rated by both groups as the most important skill. The only significant differences between the two groups were the IT skills in word-processing and Windows. The findings of the paper have implications for accounting education in Ghana and in other developing countries.

Keywords:

• Accounting curriculum change
• less developed countries
• Ghana

Notes

The Accra-Tema metropolitan area is the capital city area of Ghana. Two main reasons motivated limiting the study to this area. First, the majority of businesses in Ghana are located within this area. Second, the hand delivery approach we adopted in distributing the questionnaire acted as a constraint to extend the research to other geographical areas.