A Comparative Study of the Perceptions of Accounting Educators and Accountants on Skills Required of Accounting Education Graduates in Automated Offices

Abstract

The study dealt with perception of accounting educators and senioraccountants on skills required of accountingeducation graduates for effective job performance in automated offices. The study adopted a descriptiveresearchdesign.The population consisted of 149 respondents, made up of 80 accounting educatorsin public tertiaryinstitutionsand 69 senioraccountants in government ministries in Enugu metropolis of Enugu State, Nigeria. Theentire population was used for the study and no sample was drawn. Two research questions and two hypothesesguided the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher.The instrument was validated by three experts. A 32 item questionnaire was used for data collection. The datacollected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while t-test was used to test the hypothesesat 0.05 levelof significance. The findings of the study revealed that accounting education graduates requiretechnology skills suchas computer operations skill, word processing soft ware, spreadsheet software etcand soft skills such as ability toanalyze and interpret financial data, interact with diverse groups; Listen actively to one’s boss etc for effective jobperformance in automated offices. The study concluded that Technology and soft skills are required by accountingeducation graduates for effective job performance in automated offices. It was recommended among others thattechnology and soft skills should be an integral part of accounting education curriculum.