In the last few years, there have been many researches and the researchers have debated regarding the gap that is seen in accounting among the practises and learning. This recognized gap among the accounting education and accounting practice has created an absence of effectiveness in the accounting process. There are numerous factors that have been addressed in the past the current researches that are based on the reason for gap in accounting in the practices and learning (Webb, & Chaffer 2016). The studies that have been undertaken earlier has indicated that challenging relationships among the practices and learning within the profession of accounting can be one of the significant reasons for the generation of the gap. The difficulty that is seen in the relationship among the accounting practitioners and the academics has created to be what is known in the literature of accounting education as the gap among the practice and education.
Howcroft, (2017) debates that the role of accounting education is to give the accounting students with the skills and knowledge that is required for the purpose of practicing accounting. On the other hand the practitioners debate that the instability that is seen in t he environment of the business needs further skills than the theoretical learning in order to take care of the changes that are taking place rapidly. Hence, there exists a justification that the accounting education needs to provide the experienced accountants with the abilities to satisfy the organizational demands along with the swift transformations in the working environment (Apostolou et al., 2015). Hence, research on this topic is essential in order to gain effective level of understanding of the gap that is available in the accounting education and thereby take steps in order to mitigate the issue.
In the current time period there no perfect equation and therefore the education system may be providing the students with the tasks and the jobs that may not be existent in the future or the jobs that is not existent in the current time period. There have been several scholars who have explained that eighty percent of the jobs that are not existent in the current time period will be existent by the year 2025 (Ngoo et al., 2015). The students in the current time period have to pay for their tuition fees in the universities in New Zealand and the fees structure increases for the international students rather than the domestic students. In this respect, the education that is provided to the students may not be in line with the requirements that would be needed when the students enter the working environment and therefore the money spent by the students and the governments in the education system may seem to be high as the education given may not be of any help in the future when they start working (Taplin et al., 2017). Hence, the paper looks to make a comparison of the experience of the students in accordance to the practices.
The aim of the paper is to undertake a survey in order to gather the opinion of the students of Wintec who are learning accounting regarding what they think are the demanded skills in order to get an accounting job after the completion of education and compare that to the literature regarding the desires the employers have when they are recruiting in their organizations
A questionnaire is constructed and forwarded to the accounting students of Wintec in order to gather their opinion on the preciseness of the modules and the learning objectives. The idea about the skills that are given by the school will be known as well.
The literature has been constructed in order to gain further information on what the other researchers have discovered with respect to the perspectives of the employers in the skills that are required for the accounting scenarios. The paper even looks to identify the probable ways of bridging the gap that is existent on the topic as well.
With the transformations that are taking place in the world of business in a rapid manner it is essential to know whether the schools are educating the students adequately or are they educating the students for the suitable skills that is needed to practice accounting in working environment. The research looks to discover the gap that is existent between the expectations of the students to what is essential for the working environment.
The research questions that are related to this topic are:
Q1. What are the things that the student has learned from the secondary education?
Q2. What are the skills does the students thinks would be required by them before entering the business workplace?
This section of the paper has been constructed in order to provide an extensive idea about the topic that has been taken into consideration and what the other researchers have commented on this topic. The recommendations and the suggestions that have been provided by the other researchers on this topic would be assessed and compared in accordance to which an idea can be gathered with the help of which the current research paper would move forward.
Apostolou et al. (2016) undertook a research to in order to discover the accounting education and what expectations are there from the accounting education from the perspective of the specialized accountant candidates. The research looks to ascertain the degree to which the accounting education encompasses the demands and the needs of the students who are studying administrative sciences and economics and discover who the accountant students are and to assess the outcome that is gathered. A review of literature was initiated on the accounting education quality, even regarding how accounting education has altered from the previous time period and how improvements and enhancements in the education of accounting globally has been affected the educational scenario in Turkey. By following the review of literature, a questionnaire was manufactured and forwarded to the students who are studying administrative sciences and economics at Uludag University to gather their opinion with regards to the accounting education that they are gaining. The result indicated that students have recommended that certain alterations should be initiated in order to enhance the accounting education, which is inclusive of the opportunities with regards to training course that is to be given to accounting students, professional introductions should be enhanced, skills related to communication and ability and knowledge to resolve management issues needs to be a primary focus for the purpose accounting education.
Bloch et al., (2017) cited that there have been few researchers who have recommended that there exists a gap among accounting education and the one that is expected from accounting practice. It is believed that teachers provide more stress on training the students in order to satisfy the academic needs rather than making them knowledgeable in order to take on accounting practices in the business environment. Stevenson et al., (2016) undertook a research in order to discover the issues and strategies that can be constructed in order to answer the issue by making an survey of the accounting teachers and the practitioners of accounts in Botswana. In this respect, a questionnaire was generated and forwarded to 60 accounting graduates who are operating in various auditing and accounting companies in order to collect their opinion on the preciseness of the accounting processes of the University of Botswana with regards to the improvement and enhancement of the skills and expertise that is demanded in the profession of accounting. The results have indicated that the working accountants think skills and knowledge that are essential for accounting profession includes the knowledge and idea on computer technology, decision making in relation to the business, and general decision making.
Patel et al., (2016) planned a survey that was forwarded to 18 lecturers associated to the subject of accounting and finance in Botswana to gather their opinion on the gap that is existent between accounting education, and the one that is essential for accounting practice. The teachers reacted that the development of the technology of computer, decision making process of the business, common level of making decisions is imperative for student gain knowledge and learn. The respondents likewise showed that the advancement of risk assessment, skills related to customer orientation and verbal communication skills have not been significant in the education of accounting.
Bui et al., (2017) have addressed to that there have been problems related the accounting educational programs and argued whether it gave enough ion order to support the enhancement generic skills of the students. Additionally, there have been questions encompassing of whether the nature and the quality of experiences of the students has been satisfied. Parvaiz et al., (2017) proposed that a poor involvement in education may negatively affect mind set of the students in relation to accounting and their choice of selecting this for doing major and undertake a way of profession. There have been secondary research in order to recover subject outlines for IA subjects and therefore 12 colleges were picked in order to collect their IA subject outlines. Thereafter, primary research with the help of a questionnaire was undertaken. The questionnaire was constructed in view of the subjects ascertained by the literature review. The review included 30 questions inspiring responses by encompassing a scope of demographic information and data on the content of the subject, conveyance, evaluation, and educational aims and techniques. Most of the questions were close-ended ones, requiring number based reactions or reactions on different scales. With the help of this research () found that there is minimal formal confirmation of development of generic skills whether for the most part technical skills and expertise were incorporated into the course objectives and frameworks.
Brewer et al., (2014) proposed that the education gap might be caused by improper technical staff. It recommended that in spite of the fact that a PhD may have the technical knowledge and information, they may not have proficient experience and in this manner cannot convey to the students what is happening in reality in the world. A survey was demonstrating that a CPA certification is seen to be essential similar to an effective teacher on the grounds that the work skills and experience enable instructor to comprehend practice in an effective manner and in this manner convey more precise and significant data to the students.
Cameron, & O’Leary (2014) proposed that in college, promotions are attached more to further researches and publishing of journals, which may influence focus of the teachers on further research and less on the activities related to teaching. The research also indicates that sizes of the class, teacher resources and funds have an impact on the ability of the students to study.
This section of the paper looks to provide an idea about the data type and the process that would be initiated by the researcher in order to gather the data that would be ideal for the purpose of analysis in this research paper. There are numerous kinds of data that are available to the researcher to select, but the researcher with the help of their own knowledge has to select the data that is ideally suited for this topic. In this manner the research design and approach would be constructed by the researcher and accordingly the participants who would be selected would be identified as well. The process of constructing the questionnaire and the kind of question that would be available in the questionnaire is even addressed. The limitations faced by the researcher during the collection of the data and the kind of response that has been collected will even be addressed. The ethical implications that have been observed and used by the researcher in this paper is even addressed in an effective manner.
The approach refers to the models and the theories that would be used by the researcher in order to collect the suitable data for the research. It is seen that primary data with the help of survey analysis would be collected in order to gather the responses of the students and thereby undertake analysis (Alsharari, 2017). In this respect, it is seen that deductive approach will be undertaken by the researcher as models and theories that are already available in the market would be used by the researcher in order to gather the effective data and thereafter undertake the process of data analysis.
The research design addresses the style and the method that would be used for the purpose of gathering the data and the way in which these data would be explained in order to have a clear picture of the actual result in accordance to the topic. It is seen that there have been several designs that have been used by the researcher (Sugahara, & Watty 2016). However, in accordance to this paper, the researcher has chosen descriptive research design because of the fact that all the responses that would be gathered with the help of survey analysis would be explained in a descriptive manner and thereby attains the results that are desirable by the researcher.
In this paper quantitative research methodology has been chosen as quantitative data analysis would be undertaken in which all the responses would be transformed into numerical values and will be measured with the help of variable scales in order to discover the result.
The population that has been targeted in this research is Waikato Institute of Technology New Zealand and the business students who are studying in this university. A survey questionnaire link is forwarded to the tutor of CBITE accounting in order to post on the moodle site of Wintec and thereafter share with the students within their class. It is anticipated that one-third of the students will respond and return the questionnaire.
Qualtrics, which is a free online survey tool, has been used in order to construct the survey. There are three sections in the questionnaire.
The first seven questions ask about the personal information of the respondents and thereafter followed by the questions that are extensively related to this topic. There are a total of twenty questions and the last two questions of the questionnaire are open ended questions where the respondents can share their own opinion on this topic.
The researcher has discovered certain kinds of limitations as well and one of the limitations has been the simplicity of the sample size. The research based on the responses of only the students of Wintec may not provide adequate information on this topic.
The reliability of the responses may not be attained as the respondents may not share the accurate information in the survey and this misleads the result.
There may be a misinterpretation of the results in accordance to the literature and thereby misleading results may be attained.
The researcher has maintained ethics as their most essential element and abided with the ethical codes and rules that have been laid by the domestic and the international bodies (Stephenson, 2017). The data that have been gathered have been true and authentic sources and the all the measures that have been taken and used in this paper are true and fair and thereby indicating that the results that would be obtained would be precise and fair.
Reference List
Alsharari, N. M. (2017). The development of accounting education and practice in an environment of socio-economic transformation in the Middle East: The case of Jordan. International Journal of Educational Management, 31(6), 736-751.
Apostolou, B., Dorminey, J. W., Hassell, J. M., & Rebele, J. E. (2015). Accounting education literature review (2013–2014). Journal of Accounting Education, 33(2), 69-127.
Apostolou, B., Dorminey, J. W., Hassell, J. M., & Rebele, J. E. (2016). Accounting education literature review (2015). Journal of Accounting Education, 35, 20-55.
Bloch, R., Kleinman, G., & Peterson, A. (2017). Can Gown Help Town? Exploring the “Gap” between Accounting Practice and Academia and Providing a Theory for Why it Exists. In Parables, Myths and Risks (pp. 23-61). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Brewer, P. C., Sorensen, J. E., & Stout, D. E. (2014). The future of accounting education: Addressing the competency crisis. Strategic Finance, 96(2), 29-38.
Bui, B., Hoang, H., Phan, D. P., & Yapa, P. S. (2017). Governance and compliance in accounting education in Vietnam–case of a public university. Accounting Education, 26(3), 265-290.
Cameron, R. A., & O’Leary, C. (2015). Improving ethical attitudes or simply teaching ethical codes? The reality of accounting ethics education. Accounting Education, 24(4), 275-290.
Howcroft, D. (2017). Graduates’ vocational skills for the management accountancy profession: exploring the accounting education expectation-performance gap. Accounting Education, 26(5-6), 459-481.
Ngoo, Y. T., Tiong, K. M., & Pok, W. F. (2015). Bridging the gap of perceived skills between employers and accounting graduates in Malaysia. American Journal of Economics, 5(2), 98-104.
Parvaiz, G. S., Mufti, O., & Wahab, M. (2017). Skills acquisition shortfall: A study of professional accounting education. Business & Economic Review, 9(2), 135-164.
Patel, C., Millanta, B., & Tweedie, D. (2016). Is international accounting education delivering pedagogical value?. Accounting Education, 25(3), 223-238.
Stephenson, S. S. (2017). Accounting Community of Practice pedagogy: a course management invention for developing personal competencies in accounting education. Accounting Education, 26(1), 3-27.
Stevenson, L., Crawford, L., & Ferguson, J. (2016). 9 Mind the Gap! Exploring Academics’ and Professional Practitioners’ Views of Accounting Knowledge. Knowledge and Practice in Business and Organisations, 116.
Sugahara, S., & Watty, K. (2016). Global convergence of accounting education: An exploratory study of the perceptions of accounting academics in Australia and Japan. Asian Review of Accounting, 24(3), 254-273.
Taplin, R., Kerr, R., & Brown, A. (2017). Monetary valuations of university course delivery: the case for face-to-face learning activities in accounting education. Accounting Education, 26(2), 144-165.
Webb, J., & Chaffer, C. (2016). The expectation performance gap in accounting education: A review of generic skills development in UK accounting degrees. Accounting Education, 25(4), 349-367.
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