Which skills and competences to develop in accountants in a country in crisis?

• Autores: Sofia Asonitou, Trevor Hassall
• Localización: The international journal of management education, ISSN 1472-8117, Vol. 17, Nº. 3, 2019
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This research investigated the incorporation of professional skills into Greek accounting education studies. It was driven by complaints from employers and other stakeholders that Higher Education is not keeping pace with global trends in the economy. Questionnaires (N = 1626) helped to identify and rank professional skills reflecting the opinions of three stakeholder groups (accounting teachers, business administration and accounting students, and accountants). Ways to reform the curriculum were identified and a Priority Index was calculated to classify the skills requiring development, while strategic maps revealed an overall picture of conceptual differences between groups. The findings indicated that professional skills were considered important, but a gap existed between the importance assigned by the different stakeholder groups to relevant skills and also on how they should be developed by the educational process. The results identified the necessity to advance the critical thinking abilities of prospective accountants through new teaching approaches and through the development of a curriculum that supports graduates’ employability and sustainable development. Accounting faculty can use the outcomes of this research to improve accounting education studies; furthermore, this research combined with similar studies can add to the educational reforms required to exit the continuing socio-economic crisis in Greece