The vocational skills gap in accounting education curricula: empirical evidence from the UK

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the relative importance of a set of vocational skills and the extent to which accounting educators in the UK incorporate these skills into their accounting education curricula so that students can run a successful accounting career upon their graduation. Using a questionnaire method, the data was collected from two major stakeholders; namely accounting educators and final-year accounting students. The findings indicate that there is a degree of overall agreement between the two groups opinions’ that vocational skills required by accounting employers encompass not only technical and cognitive skills but also transferable skills such as communication, self-reflection, teamwork and organisational skills. The results of this paper should be of interest to accounting educators, curriculum designers and faculty who are responsible for reviewing and updating accounting curricula.