Abstract
Currently, the labor workforce in the Philippines needs accountants brought about by the ASEAN integration. As such, there is a greater demand for universities to produce graduates who are ready to face the real world of business. To produce quality graduates, the technical and soft skills of the accountancy graduates must be in harmony. This study aimed to ascertain the technical and soft skills matching in relation to the first job experience of accountancy graduates. A descriptive-correlational design was utilized in this study. Stratified random sampling was utilized to get the 70-study sample. Self-constructed questionnaires were used in this study. Content validity was done by five experts. Percentages, mean, stand and regression were used in the analysis of data. The work profile revealed the following: 37.14% of accountancy graduates are working in the audit sector, 34.29% worked in General Accounting/Finance; 70% of respondents are currently working with 1 - 3 years of experience, while 30% working beyond 3 years from the date of graduation; 45.71% of the respondents underwent internship at Alas Oplas & Co. CPAs, and 58.57% of accountancy graduates who took the internship program spent at least 160 hours on their internship. Regression analysis revealed that the technical skills gained in the internship program of the accountancy graduates were significantly related to the technical skills applied during their first job experience. On the other hand, the Accountancy Program’s soft skills are significantly related to the soft skills applied during their first job experience.
Highlights
Every educational institution has to ensure that its graduates are marketable and ready to face to world of reality after graduation
Regression analysis revealed that the technical skills gained in the internship program of the accountancy graduates were significantly related to the technical skills applied during their first job experience
There is no study about the relationship of technical and soft skills needed in actual job in relation to first job experience of Accountancy graduates
Summary
Every educational institution has to ensure that its graduates are marketable and ready to face to world of reality after graduation. There is no study about the relationship of technical and soft skills needed in actual job in relation to first job experience of Accountancy graduates. It is imperative that there should be match between the product of the tertiary educational institution to the current demands of professionals needed for the labor workforce. The Philippines is preparing its pool of professionals who will take advantage of the mobility with its neighboring ASEAN countries to serve the region. The ASEAN Economic Community AEC has an estimated population of over 600 million and this has created a competitive market for human capital provided by Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, and Vietnam (Wailerdsak, 2013). ASEAN as an economic bloc is positioned to transform the region toward free movement of goods and services (CHED Memorandum Order, 2007)
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