Graduating Accountancy Students’ Digital Competencies on Industry 4.0 Career Preparedness Moderated by: Experiential Learning

Abstract

Industry 4.0 continues to revolutionize every sector in the industry, including the accounting profession, requiring a new set of technical skills and competencies from aspiring accountants. A gap exists between what the industry requires and what the academe produces. Thus, the research aims to investigate the role of experiential learning on digital competencies and career preparedness, in the context of Industry 4.0, of the graduating accountancy students at Don Honorio Ventura State University (DHVSU). This study employed a correlational research design. The participants are the 115 graduating accountancy students of DHVSU Main and Mexico Campuses. A three-partsurvey questionnaire was administered through Google Forms. Descriptive statistics, Pearson-r, and multiple regression analysis were used in the analysis of data. The findings indicated a high level of digital competence, career preparedness, and knowledge gained from experiential learning. The variable digital competence significantly corresponded to the students’ career preparedness under Industry 4.0. The effect of experiential learning on digital competency and career preparedness was also found to be significant. The findings carry significant implications for key stakeholders, underlining the importance of students acquiring a higher degree of digital competence to effectively navigate the challenges that Industry 4.0 has brought to the accounting profession.