The International Journal of Management Education 17 (2019) 100308

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The International Journal of

Management Education
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijme

Which skills and competences to develop in accountants in a

T
country in crisis?
Sofia Asonitoua,∗, Trevor Hassallb
a
Department of Business Administration, University of West Attica, 250 Thivon Ave., 12241, Aegaleo, Athens, Greece
b
Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This research investigated the incorporation of professional skills into Greek accounting educa-
Accounting studies tion studies. It was driven by complaints from employers and other stakeholders that Higher
Employability skills Education is not keeping pace with global trends in the economy. Questionnaires (N = 1626)
Higher education helped to identify and rank professional skills reflecting the opinions of three stakeholder groups
Greece
(accounting teachers, business administration and accounting students, and accountants). Ways
Crisis
to reform the curriculum were identified and a Priority Index was calculated to classify the skills
requiring development, while strategic maps revealed an overall picture of conceptual differ-
ences between groups. The findings indicated that professional skills were considered important,
but a gap existed between the importance assigned by the different stakeholder groups to re-
levant skills and also on how they should be developed by the educational process. The results
identified the necessity to advance the critical thinking abilities of prospective accountants
through new teaching approaches and through the development of a curriculum that supports
graduates’ employability and sustainable development. Accounting faculty can use the outcomes
of this research to improve accounting education studies; furthermore, this research combined
with similar studies can add to the educational reforms required to exit the continuing socio-
economic crisis in Greece.

1. Introduction

Generic graduate skills or attributes encompass skills, knowledge and abilities of university graduates, beyond disciplinary
content knowledge, which are applicable to a range of contexts (Barrie, 2012). Graduates equipped with a range of generic skills are
able to perform tasks successfully in their professional environment and within a globalised and technology-driven context. As
automation and technology disrupt social interaction and globalisation requires working across cultures and languages, generic skills
help practitioners to build trusting relationships with their clients and colleagues (Pincus, 2017). Although there is no one single list
of generic employability skills, they usually include communication and interpersonal skills, ethics, planning and organising, crea-
tivity, self-management, learning, problem-solving and others (Accounting Education Changes Commission [AECC], 1990; Roepen,
2017). In the framework of this study the term “generic employability skills” is used interchangeably with the term “professional
skills” because they are perceived “as a hierarchy of increasingly complex outcomes ranging from precursor and generic foundation
skills to contextualized disciplinary abilities and complex human capabilities and aptitudes” (Barrie, 2012, p. 91).
The mandate for business and accounting graduates to also possess non-technical skills has been emphasized by academics,

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sasonitou@uniwa.gr (S. Asonitou).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2019.100308
Received 6 October 2018; Received in revised form 21 June 2019; Accepted 21 June 2019
1472-8117/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Asonitou and T. Hassall The International Journal of Management Education 17 (2019) 100308

employers, professional bodies and policy makers (Institute of Management Accountants [IMA], 1994; International Federation of
Accountants [IFAC], 2006; European Union [EU], 2009a, b; Smith & Paton, 2014). This requirement stems from employers' com-
plaints about the lack of job-readiness of higher education (HE) graduates both at undergraduate and graduate level (Chhinzer &
Russo, 2018; Mihail & Kloutsiniotis, 2014). Despite efforts from Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to improve graduates’ job
readiness through new instructional methods (Burdon & Munro, 2017; Carriger, 2016; Grimm & Blazovich, 2016; Stephenson, 2017),
renewed internship structures (Jackling & Natoli, 2015) or focus on specific skills (Hamdani, 2018; Wilkin, 2017), there is still
evidence that a gap persists in business and accounting graduates (Bayerlein & Timpson, 2017; Cavanagh, Burston, Southcombe, &
Bartram, 2015; Chaffer & Webb, 2017; Howcroft, 2017).
In the Greek context of continuing financial recession and despite high unemployment rates, 77% of employers state that they face
difficulties to recruit candidates with proper skills to cover local needs. In recent studies, employers reported, among other weak-
nesses, the lack of graduates' soft skills especially with regards to teamwork, problem solving, positive attitude, knowledge and
information management, communication skills and creativity (EY Greece, 2017; OECD, 2017). In the opinion of employers, this
identified lack of relevant skills has obvious consequences on the country's ability to regain its economic status (Maditinos et al.,
2011; Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research, 2017).
Regarding accounting, there is still limited research in the area of Greek accounting graduates’ essential skills and corresponding
market needs. A clear view of the required and important abilities of business administration and accounting (BAA) graduates would
help accounting educators to create an up-to-date curriculum incorporating the most important skills for prospective accountants,
positively shaping the accounting profession and supporting the country by creating highly employable and innovative thinkers that
can successfully compete in a global competitive environment.
Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the views of relevant stakeholders (accounting teachers, students and
accountants) in Greece regarding: a) the importance and, therefore, the requirement for accountants to possess professional skills; b)
the degree to which BAA students acquire professional skills during their studies; c) the possible gap between expected and actual
delivery of skills by accounting education; and d) ways to incorporate professional skills into the BAA curriculum.
In order to assist in the incorporation of skills, taking into account resource shortages, the authors: 1) adopted a Priority Index (PI)
to test which skills are most in need, and 2) designed a “strategic map” for each group of participants to illustrate an overall picture of
the stakeholders’ conceptions (Montano, Donoso, Hassall, & Joyce, 2001).
To our knowledge no other study has investigated the key professional skills required by Greek entry-level accountants by
surveying a wide variety of participants i.e. students from nine HEIs, tenured and non-tenured teachers and practising accountants
from various professional fields (tax consultants, financial accountants, management accountants and auditors). Although this study
is exploratory in nature, it is expected that the findings of the research presented in this article will provide new insights into BAA
graduates' employability skills in Greece. The contribution of this study is its potential to improve accounting education and, con-
sequently, the practice of the accounting profession by offering an enhanced understanding of the importance assigned to inclusion of
skills into the learning process. Academics can concentrate efforts in developing academic material and teaching techniques for
promoting further the students’ professional skills while accounting students can benefit by acknowledging the importance assigned
to skills by accountants and focus on improving themselves.
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 explores the Greek context with regards to the financial crisis, lack
of skills and delivery of accounting courses; Section 3 presents a review of relevant literature in this area; methodology, research
questions and research design are illustrated in Section 4; Section 5 contains the findings of the survey; and Section 6 discusses the
results. Finally, limitations are reviewed and future research outlined, together with concluding arguments.

2. The Greek financial crisis, higher education and accounting educational practice

2.1. Higher education, financial recession and the market needs

Greece is undergoing a deep financial recession for almost a decade now. Its main characteristics have been a radical decrease of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 26.23% and the highest unemployment rate in the Eurozone for young citizens at approximately
29%; (World Bank, 2014; OECD a, b, 2017; Artelaris, 2017). The causes of this crisis are varied and structural in their nature,
including short term political planning, declining competitiveness, inability to absorb EU funds to create a modern infrastructure,
corruption of political staff, economic scandals, excessive public debt and a state clientelism attitude (Liddle, 2009; Pagoulatos &
Triantopoulos, 2009; Pelagidis & Mitsopoulos, 2011). A stereotype of low esteem for entrepreneurship in combination with high state
salaries in the pre-crisis period led graduates to seek employment in the public sector where limited skills were required (Foundation
for Economic & Industrial Research, 2017; Saiti & Prokopiadou, 2008). Additionally, mechanisms that should normally link graduate
employment opportunities with labor market requirements have proven very weak and, so far, HE has been unable to establish
satisfactory relationships with the market in order to absorb new approaches, diffuse modern knowledge and prepare students
accordingly. Also, a high percentage of existing companies did not operate in new competitive sectors that required highly qualified
graduates, but rather in the production of low-tech products that face high competition from eastern non-European countries (OECD,
2017; Tsitouras, 2016).
The existing structure and vision of HE and the flawed economic and consumption-driven growth model have been unable to create a
competitive economy. The “shrinking” of the public sector due to the severe financial crisis signals that Greek HEIs should stop “pro-
ducing” future public servants but, instead, it should focus on developing highly-skilled and knowledgeable graduates, able to innovate
and create valued products and services for the global market (EY, 2017; Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research, 2017).

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2.2. Higher education accounting studies and graduates skills

Unemployment has also affected financial and accounting services (15.8% decrease between 2008 and 2016), indicating that
competition will be fierce for prospective accountants who possess high quality skills. Accounting education in Greece follows a
rather traditional mode, emphasizing technical accounting knowledge. Students are educated in large classes, often containing more
than 100 students, especially during the first academic years. The main teaching method is lectures and a teacher-centred concept
dominates accounting classes. Other methods, such as peer teaching, group projects, role-playing, case studies, active participation
and simulations, are rarely used and are highly dependent on a teacher's initiative, resources and the Institute's approach. The
curriculum design and course development are the responsibility of teaching staff. Currently, the teachers' goal in accounting classes
is to establish a good technical background for their students, while interpersonal skills are not a priority or consideration. A capacity
for inquiry, abstract logical thinking, critical analysis, speaking and listening skills, historical consciousness, and international and
multicultural knowledge are not among the current objectives of HE accounting courses in Greece. Following the reforms in other
Western countries it is imperative that research is conducted in Greece to examine whether comparable changes would support
innovation and entrepreneurship in Greek HE.

3. Literature review

Surveys on skills and competences required of accountants started in the 1980s in the U.S.A. The American Accounting
Association (AAA, 1986), “Big 8 White Paper” (1989), statements of AECC (1990, 1992, 1993), and the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants (AICPA, 1999) have been influential in highlighting the expectation-performance gap between practice
and accounting education. These reports highlighted how the change in the accounting profession due to technology evolution,
changing management practice, international competitiveness and the “knowledge society” have significantly affected the way ac-
countants perform their tasks (Howieson, 2003). Importantly the AECC (1990, 1992) stressed that the changes affect every field of
accounting profession, financial accounting, management accounting, auditing, taxation, industry accounting and public accounting.
All previous studies provided a framework of “new” professional abilities (social, generic or soft skills) that accountants should
develop along with a strong technical knowledge. Professional requirements for accountants triggered implications for the accounting
education field and numerous studies followed in an effort to investigate essential amendments. Albrecht and Sack (2000) advised all
HE departments to reconsider their degrees, curricula and course content along with pedagogy and a proactive faculty development
agenda in order to open new opportunities for accounting education. Initially in western European and Anglo-Saxon countries and,
most recently, in non-western countries, researchers explore diverse combinations of stakeholders in order to identify and rank the
most important skills for graduate accountants.
Bui and Porter (2010) analysed the expectation-performance gap in competences (i.e. knowledge, skills, attitudes) by inter-
viewing students, academics, graduate trainees and employers; these authors found that employers expected accounting graduates to
possess a sound knowledge of accounting principles and concepts, a basic understanding of business and good communication,
teamwork and interpersonal skills with large big firms placing more emphasis on soft skills as compared with smaller firms. The
majority of studies that focused on employers' expectations of graduates’ skills found that the market seeks graduates who demon-
strate both generic and technical skills. Employers are dissatisfied with the level of skills possessed by recent graduates (Hassall,
Joyce, Montano, & Donoso, 2003, 2005, 2001, pp. 421–429; Ahadiat & Smith, 1994; Jackling & De Lange, 2009; Kavanagh and
Drennan, 2008; Pan & Perera, 2012; Tymon, 2013). Hancock, Howieson, Kavanagh, Kent, and Segal (2010) found that when em-
ployers had to choose between applicants of similar technical background they chose applicants who displayed strength in generic
capabilities such as communication and presentation, teamwork and good interpersonal skills, self-management, initiative and en-
terprise, problem solving, technological competence, planning and organising skills, self-management, analytical and critical ana-
lysis, ability to engage clients, to negotiate and to act strategically.
In the past, students presented a different response to employers or educators. For example, Usoff and Feldmann (1998) and Baker
and McGregor (2000) found that students did not appreciate the value that employers placed on non-technical skills such as com-
munication, energy, drive, and enthusiasm and personal integrity. A change was identified by De Lange, Jackling, and Gut (2006),
who reported that students considered that the most important skills are communication, problem solving and broader knowledge
and experience. A point deserving the educators’ attention is that, in the same study, students gave a lower rating to ethical reasoning.
Educators tend to place more emphasis on intellectual capabilities of students (Watty, 2005) while they admit that they lack expertise
in embedding generic skills in the curriculum (Bui & Porter, 2010). A new perspective on generic skills is provided by the research of
Parry and Jackling (2015). These authors have stated that generic skills are important not only because they increase the employ-
ability of graduates, but also because they have evolved into a “cultural capital” in themselves as “they offer a pathway to social
inclusion”, indispensable for migrants who wish to assimilate into big firms (p. 526). Emotional intelligence (EI) skills were in-
vestigated among the overall skill set of practice-based accountants in Canada; the researchers found that more emphasis should be
given to client relationships and client service, oral and written communication skills, integrative thinking and analytical skills
(Coady, Byrne, & Casey, 2017).
Other studies have investigated whether auditors need a different skills set to other professional areas. Burnett (2003) and
Crawford, Helliar, and Monk (2011) found that the top-rated professional skills for auditors were analytical and critical thinking,
written and oral communication, and decision making while internship were considered as the top education innovation. Wells,
Gerbic, Kranenburg, and Bygrave (2009) found that newly hired accountants in New Zealand ranked “ability to understand and
respond to clients’ requirements in a timely manner, ability to set and justify priorities and ability to organise work and manage time

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effectively” as the three most important capabilities. In the management accounting field, similar studies have been undertaken by
Novin, Pearson, and Senge (1990), Montano et al. (2001), Hassall, Joyce, Montano, and Donoso (2001, pp. 421–429; 2003; 2005) and
Botes and Sharma (2017); their results show that non-technical abilities are of supreme importance for management accountants,
where oral and written communication, prioritizing and organising workload attract the top positions in the importance ranking for
employers and students. According to the PI (Montano et al., 2001), the priorities for future development are for time management,
communication and group working skills. In the last decade researchers in developing countries and countries in transition have
started to explore the expectation-performance gap between accounting education and accounting practice. Their results are similar
to those of western Anglo-Saxon countries although employers occasionally show a higher appreciation for technical accounting skills
versus social skills (Lin, 2008; Gallhofer and al., 2009; Awayiga, Onumah, & Tsamenyi, 2010; Majzoub & Aga, 2015; Lim, Heang Lee,
Yap, & Ling, 2016; Ayoubi, Alzarif, & Khalifa, 2017).
In the Greek context, the first study on accounting education and required competences for accountants was of Asonitou and
Hassall (2008), which discussed how the global trend of reforms should influence Greek educational studies. Mandilas, Kourtidis, and
Petasakis (2014) investigated the opinions of employers, teachers and students from one academic department and found that the
department should emphasize the development of communication abilities and critical thinking among other student skills.
Santouridis, Tsifora, Trivellas, and Nikolopoulos (2014) and Santouridis (2015) who focused on IT skills, found that the IT content of
accounting and finance curricula is at a very satisfactory level. Other studies explored ways to improve the level of professional skills
of BAA students including the use of action research projects (Asonitou, 2013; Asonitou & Koutoulas, 2013), new instructional
methods (Asonitou, 2015a) and internship contribution to employability skills (Asonitou, 2015b). Finally, Asonitou (2015c) ex-
amined barriers to embedding generic skills into the curriculum and found that these mainly arise from the educational system
structure, lack of explicit policy and students' passive learning culture. Further contribution to the relevant research about ac-
countants’ professional skills, is the current study which was conducted at a time of economic recession and high graduate un-
employment. The study focuses on three stakeholder groups: BAA students, accounting teachers and accountants.

4. Methodology and research questions

The purpose of this study was both exploratory and descriptive. It attempted to investigate the situation in Greece regarding
inclusion of professional skills in accounting courses taught in HE. Since there is a sparsity in literature on this topic, the main
purpose of the study was to describe the current situation and identify ways to explore if and how professional skills could be
included in the curriculum of accounting courses. For this purpose the following five research questions were formulated and ad-
dressed to accounting faculty, BAA students and accountants:

1) How do direct stakeholders (teachers, students, accountants) rate the importance of the inclusion of professional skills into HEI
courses in Greece?
2) How do direct stakeholders (teachers, students, accountants) rate graduates' performance in relation to professional skills in the
Greek context?

To identify the gap between the perceptions and the exhibited performance of graduates we formulated the following research
question:

3) Is there a gap between the importance assigned to accountants' professional skills and those exhibited by graduates in Greece?
(expectation-performance gap)

The low availability of resources limits the capabilities and desire of teachers to develop simultaneously a broad range of pro-
fessional skills. Consequently, teachers need to establish priorities. We formulated the following research question to help with this
decision:

4) How can teachers establish priorities in the development of professional skills given the limited resources of the educational
system?

International literature has shown that skills’ development should be reflected in the accounting curriculum despite the limited
space and time available to educators. In order to identify what stakeholders believe on this issue we formulated the following
research question:

5) If it is imperative to introduce professional skills, what is the best way to incorporate them in the accounting curriculum in
Greece?

Research questions 4 and 5 address the fourth aim of the present study, as shown in the Introduction section. Detailed description
of measurement tools, analysis and sampling techniques are included in the following subsections.

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4.1. Measurement instruments

In order to address research questions 1, 2 and 3, we adapted the research instrument from a tool created by Montano et al.
(2001), thus facilitating comparative analyses. Three (similar) questionnaires were created and each group of stakeholders (students,
teachers, practitioners) was requested to answer the corresponding questionnaire for this group. The procedure included initially a
cognitive interview with three students from the students' group. The interview revealed the opinions and the thoughts of students
regarding the topic of the present research. Their comments were incorporated into the first draft of the corresponding instrument.
Following the interviews, three pilot tests with the students’ group were performed. During this process and following the statistical
tests, three items from the original instrument of Montano et al. (2001) were excluded as they presented difficulties in their trans-
lation and the understanding of students. A panel of experts was used for the cognitive interview with the group of teachers and a
panel of experts was used for the cognitive interview with the group of practitioners. The panel of teachers included experienced
accounting academics, with a profound interest in the relative topic who provided valuable comments for the adjustment of the
instrument. Similarly, the panel of accountants included practitioners from differing professional fields (i.e. financial accountants, tax
experts, auditors) who contributed with their knowledge and experience to this endeavor. The whole procedure of amending the
questionnaires, pilot tests and final distribution, lasted from 2010 to 2013. The final version consisted of 19 items (listed in Table A2,
appendix A) using Likert scales ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) points.
Research question 5 about curriculum development was addressed through the use of a second tool, also adapted from a similar
instrument used by Montano et al. (2001). Initial cognitive interviews and use of relevant literature review indicated elimination of 6
out of 12 items of the initial instrument and the inclusion of 3 more items. The same statistical tests and procedures were followed for
both instruments. Statistical tests included descriptive and profile analysis of participants, factor analysis, T-tests, ANOVA, calcu-
lation of a PI and creation of strategic maps. Data reliability was tested for all scales of the questionnaires and can be considered as
good for the importance and exhibited performance scale (0.88 and 0.95) and satisfactory for the curriculum development scale
(0.60).
During the quantitative phase, the researcher included in the questionnaire a covering letter explaining the aim of the study and
reassuring participants of the confidentiality and anonymity of their responses. Confidentiality and anonymity were also maintained
during the collection of data from accountants through the internet. The researchers had no access to the electronic addresses of
participants. All questionnaires were sent to participants and responses were received through the Economic Chamber of Greece
(ECGr) which keeps the personal electronic addresses of all accountants in Greece.

4.2. Sampling analysis

The final list of participating institutions included students and faculty from nine Greek HEIs. The authors employed the cluster
and quota sampling technique for the students, the census technique for the teachers and the random selection technique for the
accountants. Clustering entails grouping participants according to several criteria. Initially, the authors grouped institutions by region
(Attica/periphery) and type (Universities/Higher Technological Educational Institutions [HTEIs]). For the following stage, the cri-
teria of convenience and responsiveness were considered. Students were contacted during class time and were not notified in ad-
vance, the researcher having obtained permission from their teachers to do so. Students outside Attica were contacted through their
teachers who agreed to distribute, collect and return the completed questionnaires to the researcher. The final list of the participating
institutions included 4 universities and 5 HTEIs. Distribution to accountants was done electronically through the ECGr and the
Human Resources (HR) department of 2 of the 5 private companies that were contacted: PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PwC) and a local
auditor firm (SOL AE). The mean age of accountants was 33.8 years; forty percent of the sample were working as salaried accountants
in private companies, 24% were owners of an accounting office, 14.7% were working as salaried accountants in a tax/accounting
company and 7.3% were consultants in an auditing/consulting company. Further details regarding the participants are provided in
Table A1 Appendix A).

4.3. Priority Index – PI

The questionnaire contained a listing of nineteen skills and personal attributes that have been identified as important by previous
researchers in this area (Hassall et al., 2001, pp. 421–429; 2003) arranged into 6 groups: Communication (four items), Group working
skills (three items), Problem-solving skills (three items), Time management (two items), IT (two items), Other skills and professional
values (5 items). Items were coded with a letter, for example C1: Present and defend points of view and outcomes of their own work,
in writing, to colleagues, clients, and superiors, G1: Work with others in teams in harmony. In Table A2, Appendix A, there is a full list
of items' categorisation. All three groups were asked, based on their experience and personal opinion, to score each of the attributes
for two different classifications: i) the importance of professional skills for accountants, and ii) the professional skills’ level exhibited
by graduates.
An analysis that could identify the areas most in need of urgent remedy would be most valuable given the low availability of
resources. Educators, could then tailor their capabilities and the future curriculum reforms to satisfy high-priority needs. In order to
identify the professional skills that require immediate, major improvement, we developed the PI to facilitate a joint analysis of both
characteristics (“importance” and “level exhibited”). The PI was firstly introduced in the research of Montano et al. (2001). The
formula for the PI is as follows:

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S. Asonitou and T. Hassall The International Journal of Management Education 17 (2019) 100308

exhibg
PIi = impi
exhibi

Where:
PIi = Priority Index for each individual skill, impi = the importance score for each individual skill, exhibg = the mean of the
scores for the skill levels exhibited (for all skills), exhibi = the score for the level exhibited for that individual skill.
If two skills have an equal importance score, the PI will be higher for the one with the lower exhibited performance level score.
Therefore, the PI statistic designates the priority of a particular skill in relation to the necessity to focus on its development. If a skill
presents low importance and a high exhibited level, then it will provide low PI scores which could possibly be misleading, in the sense
that the low PI signifies a low priority. For example, skill B development has a lower priority than skill A (0.75 and 1.5, respectively),
although skill B has higher importance than skill A (3 and 1, respectively). Skill A development has a higher priority (1.5) although it
has lower importance (1) than skill B (Table A3, Appendix A).

5. Findings

5.1. Importance ranking

The total group of participants (N = 1626) rated the importance of professional skills for accountants highly. The overall mean
was 6.27, very close to 7, which is the highest point on the Likert scale. The results confirm that the respondents recognise the need to
include professional skills into accounting courses. Excluding the IT knowledge, which captured the first and second positions within
all three groups the third position was also common for the three groups, O4. Differences were seen in the fourth position, where
faculty chose O3, students chose O5, and practitioners chose T2. Table B (Appendix B) presents in detail all importance ranking
results for the three groups.

5.2. Exhibited performance ranking

An ANOVA test was conducted to examine the three groups' exhibited performance means. The teachers' group has a higher
perception of students' performance (4.48) as compared to that of student (4.42) and practitioner (4.31) groups. The overall mean of
the total group was 4.37, which is close to the average point of the 7-grade Likert scale. The three groups agreed that students
demonstrate strong IT training and are good in communication skills such as C2 and C3. Students' abilities were low at P3 (teachers
and students rank) and at P1 (accountants rank). Table C (Appendix C) combines the three groups’ performance ranking and the
ANOVA test results.

5.3. Differences between importance and exhibited performance

In order to find out whether there is a gap between the perceived importance of professional skills for accountants and the de-
monstration of those skills by graduates, paired comparisons of the mean scores on each survey question were conducted with respect to
the two dimensions of the respondents’ views (table D1, Appendix D). The overall mean scores for the exhibited performance were
substantially lower than the perceived importance. Results of paired-samples t-test showed that p < 0.05 (Sig. value
p = 0.000 < 0.05) which means that there is statistical difference between the two dimensions (importance and performance of skills).

Fig. 1. Difference between the Overall Importance and the Overall Exhibited Performance of professional skills in Greece for accounting graduates.

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Fig. 1 shows the difference between the Overall Importance and the Overall Exhibited Performance of professional skills in
Greece.
The difference between the mean scores indicates a wide gap between the importance perception scores and the present-status
assessment scores. The lowest differences in the means related to computer skills, teamwork and use of visual aids and listening skills.
The highest differences between importance and skill demonstration for the overall sample is in the skill O4 (2.358) followed, in
declining order, by the skills O3 (2.288), T1 (2.221), and P1 (2.179).

5.4. Priority Index ranking – combined results

The Priority Index (PI) provides a measure of priority for the development of the corresponding skill. A high PI factor reveals a low
exhibited performance of the specific skill by students. The skill that accounting teachers identify as ranking first is according to the
overall sample the ability to “identify and solve unstructured problems” (P1) which is closely related to the teaching of case studies. The
second skill that teachers should support is the ability to “Have a comprehensive and global vision of the organisation” (O4), the third
skill that needs attention is to “Be aware of social and ethical responsibilities” (O3). The full importance, exhibited performance and PI
rankings, for overall group, and for each group separately are shown in Table D2 (combined results) (Appendix D).

5.5. Strategic maps

In the previous analysis, two different attributes for each skill (importance and exhibited performance) were combined into a
single indicator, the PI. An alternative tool for integrating the analysis of two attributes (importance and exhibited performance) into
one item is the strategic map which is a graphical tool (a scatter graph) used in quality projects to prioritize actions, thereby directing
attention to those items that combine a high importance and a low performance level (Smialer, 1995; Walker, 1997). Each attribute
can be represented on a strategic map, where the scores for the exhibited performance of the skill are represented on the horizontal
axis and the importance scores on the vertical one. Two cutting lines that cross a central point of the scale split the map into four areas
(Fig. 2). The attributes in Area 1 are those with high importance but low performance level scores. Area 1 is the high priority zone in
terms of our attention as accounting educators. Area 2 (high importance and high performance) and Area 3 (low importance and low
performance) are zones with lower priority. Teachers could act on these skills if all priorities in area 1 were satisfied or if some skills
were moved to Area 1. The items in Area 4 are characterized by low importance and the performance level is high so they do not need
attention. Educators could even consider moving resources from Area 4 to other areas. This case is represented in the lower right
quadrant of the strategic map which is shown in the following Figure:
The importance and exhibited performance scores of each group (teachers, students, and accountantants) were used in order to
create the corresponding strategic maps. In the figures below an overview of the three strategic maps is presented revealing the areas
where the majority of skills lie for each group.

5.5.1. Strategic map for accounting teachers (Fig. 3)

Teachers’ strategic map results coincide with the previous analysis derived from Priority Index.
Area 1 (upper left quadrant) includes skills of high importance and low performance: “G2, O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, T1, T2, P1, C1, C3,
and C4”. The most important and less developed abilities for teachers are: Communication, problem solving and time management
skills, learning and professional values. Included in the above list of twelve items are the three skills most in need of development and
therefore accounting teachers should consider effective teaching methods to improve students’ competences.
Area 2 (upper right quadrant) contains skills of high importance and high performance which are according to previous analysis
computer skills and teamwork skills: “I1, I2, and G1”. These results imply that current accounting graduates are performing well in IT
and group working skills and no further measures are needed.
Area 3 (low left quadrant) comprises skills of low importance and low performance including: “P1, P3, G3”. Possibly, teachers
believe that these competences (problem-solving and task delegation) are of low importance at the specific stage of students’ life and
opportunities will appear to develop them in the course of their career.

Fig. 2. Strategic map.

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Fig. 3. Strategic map for accounting teachers.

Fig. 4. Strategic map for BAA students.

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Fig. 5. Strategic map for accountants.

Area 4 (low right quadrant) comprises skills of high performance and low importance and in this case there is only one skill: “C2:
using visual aids in presentations”. This result is consistent with the previous PI analysis of teachers (PI = 5.23) indicating that
current accounting education is performing well in this area according to the teachers’ group.
The overall graph indicates that teachers believe that twelve out of nineteen skills examined here need further improvement.
Therefore, they should concentrate their efforts to develop skills that are included in Area 1 of the graph.

5.5.2. Strategic map for BAA students (Fig. 4)

Students' strategic map indicates clearly differing views between the students' and teachers’ perspectives on skills importance.
Area 1 (upper left quadrant) contains skills of high importance-low performance: “O3, O4, O5, and C4”. Only four out of the total
nineteen skills are included in this category, while teachers and practitioners have included 12 skills. This result highlights the
difference between the three groups.
Area 2 (upper right quadrant) comprises skills of high importance and high performance: “I1, I2, C3, and T2”. Apart from
computer skills there is a difference between teachers and students view on the rest of skills included in this area. Students consider
themselves performing well also in the listening skill to gain information and to understand opposing points of view.
Area 3 (low left quadrant) comprises skills of low importance and low performance: “P1, P2, P3, O1, O2, C1, G2, G3, and T1”.
These belong to the groups of problem solving skills, learning skills, group working skills and time management. Nine out of the
nineteen skills are included in this area, while teachers and accountants have included only three. This result in combination with the
result of Area 2, points to the low importance that students attribute to certain professional skills.
Area 4 (low right quadrant) comprises skills of high performance and low importance: “C2, G1”. Teachers have included only one
skill (C2) while accountants have not included any skill in this category. It seems that students have higher opinion on their per-
formance than teachers and accountants have.
Overall results demonstrate that only five out of the nineteen skills illustrated here are of high importance and low performance
for students. Therefore, these are the skills that need immediate attention to remedy according to students’ group. In addition, nine
out of the nineteen skills examined here are of low importance and low performance for students. This result may imply ignorance
concerning the real professional activities and the importance of these specific abilities for a successful career in accounting.

5.5.3. Strategic map for accountants (Fig. 5)

Area 1 (upper left quadrant) comprises skills of high importance and low performance: “O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, T1, T2, G2, G3, P1,
P2, and C4”. These abilities belong to the groups of “learning and professional values, time management, group working skills
(leadership and task delegation), problem solving and communication skills (critically read written work, making judgements on
their relevance and value). Twelve out of nineteen skills examined here are included in the above list, indicating the range of talents
which are important but not successfully delivered in HE.
Area 2 (upper right quadrant) comprises skills of high importance and high performance: “I1, I2, G1, C3” which represent IT
skills, group working (work in harmony) and listening. Accountants seem to agree more with students than with teachers’ view.
Area 3 (lower left quadrant) comprises skills of low importance and low performance: “C2, C1 (but marginally close to area 1),
and P3”. Only three skills are included here, which is close to the teachers' opinion. Possibly, accountants believe that these com-
petences are of low importance at the specific stage of students’ life and opportunities will appear to develop them in the course of
their career.
Area 4 (lower right quadrant) comprises skills of high performance and low importance: There is no skill with these char-
acteristics according to accountants.

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Table 1
Number of skills appearing in each area of the strategic maps.
Area 1 high importance - low Area 2 high importance - high Area 3 low importance - low Area 4 high performance - low
performance performance performance importance

Teachers 12 3 3 1
C1, C3, C4, P1, T1,T2 I1, I2, G1 P1, P3, G3 C2
O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, G2
Students 4 4 9 2
C4, O3, O4,O5 I1, I2, C3, T2 P1, P2, P3, O1, O2, C1 C2, G1
G2, G3, T1
Accountants 12 4 3 0
O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, T1 I1, I2, G1, C3 C2, C1, P3
T2, G2, G3, P1, P2, C4

Table 1 quantifies the difference in the opinions of the three groups in relation to the importance and performance of the
examined skills. Teachers and practitioners are in accordance in their views, while students overstate their performance and un-
derestimate the importance of skills.
For teachers and accountants, the majority of skills are concentrated in Area 1 where there is High Importance and Low
Performance; therefore, these require the most attention and belong to the groups of professional values, learning, time management,
problem solving and communication skills. For the student group, the majority of skills are shifted towards the centre of the quadrant
and Area 3. Students consider many skills to be of low to medium importance and performance, and these belong to the groups of
problem solving, learning, time management and group working skills. It is important to consider that the students were asked to
evaluate themselves and their peers and, thus, the results arise from their own self-efficacy rating.

5.6. Curriculum development

A second instrument was included in this research to explore respondents' views about possible ways to incorporate the required
skills within the Greek accounting curriculum, using a tool adapted by Montano et al. (2001). Details on the instrument and
methodology can be found in section 4.1 about measurement instruments. There were minor variations to respondents' numbers
(from 1626 to 1605 valid returned instruments). We computed and ranked the means of the scale about curriculum policy to outline
the overall group's professional skills (N = 1605). The total sample agreed that there is a need to “develop professional skills si-
multaneously with the teaching of the technical accounting knowledge”, followed by “skills development should be integrated into all
subject areas”. The accountant and student groups agreed over this ranking, but the teachers ranked this proposition fourth. The third
item ranked by the overall sample was “the development of skills must be an explicit goal of HEIs”, which was ranked number 7 by
the teachers' group (Table 2).
The findings of this study point to the gap that exists between the importance assigned to specific skills and the actual exhibited
skills by graduates. It was revealed that there are differences in the perception of importance and performance between teachers,
students and accountants while all three groups agreed that skills should be developed simultaneously with the teaching of technical
accounting knowledge.

6. Discussion

In Greece, the debate about professional skills' development has started to intensify in recent years. The socio-economic crisis,

Table 2
Curriculum statements ranking.
Curriculum Statements Overall Accounting Teachers Students Accountants
N = 1605 N = 61 N = 764 N = 780

Mean Rank Mean Rank Mean Rank Mean Rank

Cur1-Should develop skills at the cost of teaching technical accounting knowledge 3.04 9 2.80 9 3.33 9 2.77 9
Cur2-Should develop skills simultaneously with the teaching of technical- 5.59 1 5.67 1 5.42 4 5.74 1
accounting knowledge
Cur3-Should develop skills by adding teaching time and specific courses 5.30 5 5.34 3 5.12 5 5.48 4
Cur4-Skills development should be integrated into all subject areas 5.57 2 5.30 4 5.57 2 5.59 2
Cur7-Employers appreciate skills as much as they appreciate technical-accounting 4.80 6 5.08 6 4.71 6 4.87 6
knowledge
Cur8-Students are taught satisfactorily the skills they will need in the future 3.52 7 4.94 8 3.82 7 3.16 7
Cur9-Accounting courses prepare students for a successful career 3.39 8 5.23 5 3.60 8 3.11 8
Cur10-The development of skills must begin in High School 5.45 4 5.42 2 5.51 3 5.39 5
Cur11-The development of skills must be an explicit goal of HEI 5.57 3 5.02 7 5.69 1 5.49 3

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along with the continuing low employment rates and the “brain drain” phenomenon, have raised questions concerning graduate's
employability competences. The present study refers to the preparedness of graduates for future employment through the acquisition
of proper professional skills, as these are perceived by relevant stakeholders (accounting educators, students and accountants). Five
research questions were developed, and the findings are discussed below.
Question 1: “How do the direct stakeholders (teachers, students, accountants) rate the importance of introducing professional skills into
HEI courses in Greece?”
The total group of participants (N = 1626) rated the importance of specific professional skills for accountants highly (overall
mean 6.27 on the 7-point Likert scale), indicating that they rate highly the importance of introducing these skills into HEI courses in
Greece. An ANOVA test was conducted to examine the importance mean between the 3 groups and found statistically significant
differences (p < 0.05) between the three groups. The results confirm that the respondents recognise the need to introduce pro-
fessional skills into accounting courses. This finding accords with other similar studies (Botes & Sharma, 2017; Jones, 2010; Palmer,
Ziegenfuss, & Pinsker, 2004), that illustrate that professional skills are recognised in many contexts. Of the 19 professional skills, all
three groups ranked first in importance the use of IT skills (I1, I2) and the acquisition of a “comprehensive and global vision of the
organisation” (O4) followed by “social and ethical responsibilities” (O3) for teachers, “Have knowledge of the accounting profession”
(O5) for students, “Organise the workloads to recognise and meet tight, strict, and coinciding deadlines” (T2) for practitioners.
Relevant studies in other countries have shown that computer skills were ranked third or even lower in importance. Top ranked
skills in studies conducted in other countries, are communication, analytical/critical thinking, problem-solving and broader
knowledge and experience (Bayerlein & Timpson, 2017; Bui & Porter, 2010; Hassall, Joyce, Montano, & Donoso, 2005; Montano
et al., 2001; Pan & Perera, 2012), adding to the growing consensus that the accounting profession which was once driven by technical
skills has now moved on to a broader more generic skills set (Howieson, 2003). Communication and interpersonal skills were not
positioned as top priority in the three Greek groups. There is inconsistency between the Greek context and that of other Western
countries; this study outcome was expected, because in Greece a high bureaucratic, complex and continuously changing regulatory
context requires constant IT usage and knowledge. The nature and complexity of laws, as well as, the high percentage of small and
very small firms leave accountants with little space to act as business advisors or in management supporting roles, as evidenced in
other contexts (Asonitou, 2014; Marriott & Marriott, 2000).
Question 2: “How do the direct stakeholders (teachers, students, accountants) rate graduates’ performance in relation to pro-
fessional skills in Greece?”
BAA graduates' actual performance is related to the perception of the successful delivery of professional skills by the educational
process. The overall mean of the total group (N = 1626) was 4.37, which is rather low and closer to the average point of the 7-point
Likert scale. An ANOVA test was conducted but it failed to find any statistically significant differences between the three groups
(p > 0.05), indicating that they agreed on the ranking of fourteen out of the nineteen skills. The overall mean of the faculty group
was 4.48, for the students group was 4.42 and for practitioners group was 4.31, showing that the market positioned the performance
of graduates lower than the other two groups. It is also noticeable from the strategic maps that the students’ perspectives about the
combination of importance-performance scores is quite different from that of teachers and practitioners. Teachers and practitioners
agree on their views about importance and performance while students tend to overstate their performance and underestimate the
importance of skills (Table 1).
Question 3: “Is there a gap between the importance assigned to accountants’ professional skills and those exhibited by graduates
in Greece?” (Expectation-performance gap).
A paired samples t-test was conducted to examine the differences between BAA students’ perceived importance and actual de-
monstration of skills. The results revealed that p < 0.05, which means that there is statistically significant difference between these
two dimensions (importance and performance of skills). The highest gap is for the following skills:

1) Ο4 - A comprehensive and global vision of the organisation - (mean difference = 2.358). This substantial difference between the
actual and expected skills may be due to prospective accountants' narrow education. Although most BAA department curricula
include a range of courses besides accounting i.e. marketing, human resources and management, these are not interrelated or are
insufficiently related to the wider business environment and the accounting context. Secondly, the teaching methods (usually
lectures) do not allow for a deep understanding of the relationships and the dependences among an enterprise's different func-
tions. Various studies have shown that broad accounting education and use of innovative teaching methods are indispensable for
the development and acquisition of professional skills (Albrecht & Sack, 2000; Barabasch & Watt-Malcolm, 2013; Devlin &
Samarawickrema, 2010; Paisey & Paisey, 2007; Stes, De Maeyer, Gijbels, & Van Petegem, 2012; Willcoxson, Wynder, & Laing,
2010).
2) Ο3 - Be aware of social and ethical responsibilities - (mean difference = 2.288). This gap may be due to the gap between the
learning experience and the social reality in Greece. Ethics are taught mechanically through lecturing without any experiential
flavour to enrich the learning context (Dellaportas & Hassall, 2013). In the past an “unethical” business society was allowed to
grow with high corruption rates which have influenced the economic and social life in Greece (Bekiaris, Efthymiou, & Koutoupis,
2013; Labrianidis & Vogiatzis, 2013).
3) Τ1 - Organise the workloads to meet conflicting demands and unexpected requirements - (mean difference = 2.221). This gap
signifies a deficit in the organisation and performance of accountants' working lives, which is related to accountants' ability to
handle pressure and manage their time efficiently. These are highly-appreciated skills in the demanding business environment,
and also ones that are not taught in HEIs with a few exceptions that have started to recently appear, recognising that there is a
growing demand for job-related courses such as management skills and applied technology skills. In recent years, private

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institutions and colleges have emerged in the market and offer courses that teach specifically these kinds of professional skills. In
addition to these changes, world wide web is evolving into a dynamic field of educational entrepreneurship for the new for-profit
entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs focus on the “cash-cows” of courses like business skills and provide slices of excellence versus
the mediocre comprehensive universities (Brint, 2002; Duderstadt & Womack, 2003; Lanham, 2002). This signifies the market's
need for this service, and that there are customers who are willing to pay for it.

The overall gap between the actual and the importance scores in all professional skills of BAA students (Fig. 1) should alarm all
stakeholders in HE. Academics and policy makers should reflect and act on specific measures that should be taken to remedy this
situation. Curriculum reforms, innovative teaching methods, technology and teacher training courses could be some of the measures
to reverse the above results.
Question 4: “How can teachers establish priorities on the development of professional skills given the limited resources of the educational
system?”
The PI was calculated in order to distinguish the skills that are considered important and at the same time have the lowest exhibited
performance by graduates. Taking into consideration the PI from all three groups the skills that should attract are attention first are:

• P1 - Identify and solve unstructured problems

• O4 - Have a comprehensive and global vision of the organisation
• O3 – Be aware of the social and ethical responsibilities
• T1 - Organise the workloads to meet conflicting demands and unexpected requirements
• P3 - Integrate multidisciplinary knowledge to solve problems
The strategic maps unveiled an overall visual picture of stakeholders’ perspectives on the positioning of skills which is in
agreement with the PI above. An insight of the most needed skills indicates a shift from book-oriented learning towards a broad open
education about accounting. Where there is scarcity of resources, teachers should consider removing future resources from IT into the
development of other skills that are in immediate need since there is already a satisfactory provision of general and specific IT courses
(Santouridis, 2015).
Question 5: “If it is imperative to introduce professional skills, then what is the best way to incorporate them within the accounting
curriculum in Greece?”
Students and practitioners agreed that “Skills development should be integrated into all subject areas”. Importantly teachers
believe that “should develop skills by adding teaching time and specific courses”. This is a disappointing result by faculty signalling
that they may agree on skills importance but still they hesitate when there is a need to actually engage. They probably worry that
there will be no time to cover all the technical content or they may even do not know how to teach these skills. Their view is in
contrast to the recommendations of the Big 8 White Paper (1989), Albrecht and Sack (2000), IFAC (2006) who insisted that the
required capabilities should be integrated throughout the curriculum. For example to relegate writing to a single course implies to
students that the skill will not be useful throughout their careers and does not require continuing attention. It is indicative that the
item “the development of skills must be an explicit goal of HEIs” was ranked in 7th position by teachers. Similar results about
integrating skills into all accounting subjects were obtained by González, Montano, and Hassall (2009). The Greek students and
accountants agreed with the Spanish students and accountants.

7. Conclusions

Our results are aligned with the overall situation of the Greek educational context. We found that there is an expectation –
performance gap between the market and the graduates of business and accounting departments. The importance assigned to pro-
fessional skills was highly rated, however, graduates do not leave university with the desired level of vocational skills that the market
expects. Our results signify the lack of skills such as time management, delegating tasks, dealing with uncertainties, applying in-
terdisciplinary knowledge and other necessary qualities in order to manage complex daily issues. The skills with the highest PI are
indicative of the fragmented level of educational delivery of accounting, showing that teachers should include more case studies into
the curriculum, should embed accounting content into a business context and should provide a holistic approach to the accounting
studies that would help students situate accounting concepts into the overall business and enterprise functioning. Even more sig-
nificant is that stakeholders expect HE to improve the ethical level of prospective accountants.
Although teachers place a little higher the importance of skills than practitioners do, the results signal that teachers only “the-
oretically” accept the necessity for skills’ incorporation into the curriculum. Practically, there are hesitation in engaging and barriers
to the development of skills and competences explained above.
Practitioners explicitly refer to the need to introduce vocational competences into the academic curriculum confirming that this is
as important as technical accounting knowledge. From the strategic maps, we deduce that students have much lower estimation of
professional skills than teachers and practitioners do, indicating the necessity to provide students with a more realistic view of
accounting professional reality and the need to connect more firmly academia to the market and the implication this may have for the
decrease of unemployment rates. Having the 21st century graduate in mind, we believe that skills should be viewed not as a me-
chanical routine ability i.e. how to make presentations, but as the process that will arm prospective accountants with vision, am-
bitions, self-trust, creativity, enabling them to contribute to local competitiveness so that the country can turn from the “brain drain”
to the “brain gain” situations.

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Limitations: This study has certain limitations and the reader should consider these when interpreting the results. The use of self-
reported questionnaires could raise questions about the construct validity of the scales (Spector & Brannick, 1995). However, the
application of self-report questionnaires is considered the most valid method of data collection when subjective perceptions regarding
an issue are to be addressed (Schmitt, 1994). The second potential limitation is the lack of homogeneity among the sample of
accountants; however, as the skills’ discussion is still in an early phase in Greece, we consider that the study has provided an overall
perspective on the skills issue.
Future research: Future research could unveil commonalities and differences in key areas of practice (Murphy, 2016) and examine
the opinion of employers on the subject. Also, the results of this study could be further discussed and analysed by exploring the views
of stakeholders to gain insight and enrich understanding. Other future research should investigate further the barriers to the skills
development from all stakeholders (Asonitou, 2015c) and whether HEIs and academics are responding adequately to legal re-
quirements for skills incorporation to the curriculum design.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Declarations of interest

None.

APPENDIX A

Table A1
Survey responses

Groups Group characteristics Numbers of distributed Valid returned ques- Gender

questionnaires tionnaires

Copies Percentage Male Female

(%) (%) (%)

Group A Accounting 34.4% had 6–10 years teaching experience 20% more than 10 121 61 50% 42 19
teachers years exp (69%) (31%)
Group B Accounting & 4th year of study or higher 864 (undergrad = 700 774 90% 338 436
BA students (postgrad = 164) (44%) (56%)
Group C Accountants 70.5% tax accounting 42% financial accounting 25.3% man- 15,499 791 5% 414 377
agement accounting 13.6% auditing (52%) (48%)
TOTAL 3 GROUPS 16,484 1626 10% 794 832
(49%) (51%)

Table A2
Codification of instrument items (adapted from Montano et al., 2001)

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

C1 Present and defend points of view and outcomes of their own work, in writing, to colleagues, clients, and superiors
C2 Use visual aids in presentations
C3 Listen effectively to gain information and to understand opposing points of view
C4 Critically read written work, making judgements on their relevance and value
GROUP-WORKING SKILLS
G1 Work with others in teams in harmony
G2 Assume leadership positions when necessary
G3 Organise and delegate tasks
PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS
P1 Identify and solve unstructured problems
P2 Find creative solutions
P3 Integrate multidisciplinary knowledge to solve problems
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS
T1 Organise workloads to meet conflicting demands and unexpected requirements
T2 Organise workloads to recognise and meet tight, strict, and coinciding deadlines
IT SKILLS
I1 Use relevant software
I2 Use electronic information sources
LEARNING AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES
O1 Have a commitment to life-long learning
(continued on next page)

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Table A2 (continued)

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

O2 Ability to develop methods of effective learning

O3 Be aware of their social and ethical responsibilities
O4 Have a comprehensive and global vision of the organisation
O5 Have knowledge of the accounting profession (work areas, professional values)

Table A3
Example of PI analysis

For skill A PI = 1
1.5
= 1.5
1
For skill B PI = 3
1.5
= 0. 75
6

APPENDIX B

Table B
Importance ranking among the three groups.

Professional Skills Overall Rank Teachers Rank Students Rank Acc. Rank F- value P-value
(n = 1626) (n = 61) (n = 774) Practitioners Sig.
(n = 791)

Imp. Mean Imp. Mean Imp. Mean Imp. Mean

(S.D) (S.D) (S.D) (S.D)

C1 Present and defend points of view and 6.00 (1.15) 17 6.20 15 6.07 13 5.91 (1.23) 18 4.799 .008***
outcomes of their own work, in writing, to (0.98) (1.06)
colleagues, clients, and superiors
C2 Use visual aids in presentations 5.45 (1.45) 19 5.67 19 5.84 18 5.06 (1.55) 19 62.135 .000***
(1.39) (1.22)
C3 Listen effectively to gain information and 6.34 (0.98) 8 6.36 11 6.28 7 6.39 (0.92) 10 2.614 .074*
to understand opposing points of view (0.85) (1.04)
C4 Critically read written work making jud- 6.34 (0.95) 7 6.51 6 6.26 8 6.40 (0.88) 8 5.533 .004***
gements on their relevance and value (0.78) (1.02)
G1 Work with others in teams in harmony 6.25 (1.03) 12 6.31 12 6.14 10 6.35 (0.92) 12 8.025 .000***
(0.92) (1.12)
G2 Assume leadership positions when neces- 6.18 (1.04) 14 6.15 17 6.06 15 6.29 (0.92) 14 9.894 .000***
sary (0.83) (1.14)
G3 Organise and delegate tasks 6.26 (1.02) 11 6.41 9 6.11 12 6.39 (0.87) 9 15.797 .000***
(0.84) (1.14)
P1 Identify and solve unstructured problems 6.03 (1.14) 16 6.30 13 5.96 16 6.07 (1.10) 16 3.634 .027**
(0.88) (1.18)
P2 Find creative solutions 6.23 (1.02) 13 6.15 16 6.13 11 6.34 (0.94) 13 8.191 .000***
(1.09) (1.08)
P3 Integrate multidisciplinary knowledge to 5.88 (1.21) 18 6.08 18 5.79 19 5.95 (1.13) 17 4.645 .010***
solve problems (1.28) (1.27)
T1 Organise workloads to meet conflicting 6.32 (0.95) 9 6.38 10 6.18 9 6.46 (0.83) 7 17.752 .000***
demands and unexpected requirements (0.89) (1.04)
T2 Organise workloads to recognise and meet 6.51 (0.89) 4 6.54 5 6.37 5 6.64 (0.78) 4 19.159 .000***
tight, strict, and coinciding deadlines (0.84) (0.97)
I1 Use relevant software (e.g. Databases, 6.68 (0.73) 2 6.67 2 6.59 2 6.77 (0.62) 2 12.854 .000***
spreadsheets, word processors) (0.59) (0.83)
I2 Use electronic information sources 6.73 (0.67) 1 6.74 1 6.61 1 6.85 (0.49) 1 25.948 .000***
(0.51) (0.80)
O1 Have a commitment to life-long learning 6.29 (1.04) 10 6.43 8 6.06 14 6.51 (0.88) 6 39.046 .000***
(0.88) (1.15)
O2 Ability to develop methods of effective 6.09 (1.02) 15 6.26 14 5.94 17 6.23 (0.96) 15 16.830 .000***
learning (0.81) (1.07)
O3 Be aware of their social and ethical re- 6.46 (0.93) 5 6.66 4 6.32 6 6.59 (0.79) 5 19.098 .000***
sponsibilities (0.68) (1.05)
(continued on next page)

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Table B (continued)

Professional Skills Overall Rank Teachers Rank Students Rank Acc. Rank F- value P-value
(n = 1626) (n = 61) (n = 774) Practitioners Sig.
(n = 791)

Imp. Mean Imp. Mean Imp. Mean Imp. Mean

(S.D) (S.D) (S.D) (S.D)

O4 Have a comprehensive and global vision 6.62 (0.79) 3 6.67 3 6.50 3 6.75 (0.65) 3 20.115 .000***
of the organisation (0.67) (0.90)
O5 Have knowledge of the accounting profes- 6.39 (0.90) 6 6.49 7 6.41 4 6.37 (0.87) 11 .651 .522
sion (work areas, professional values) (0.76) (0.93)
MEAN 6.27 (0.99) 6.37 6.19 6.33 (0.91)
(0.87) (1.05)

The significance levels are: *, 0.10; **, 0.05; ***, 0.01.

APPENDIX C

Table C
Exhibited performance ranking among the three groups.

Professional Skills Overall Rank Teachers Rank Students Rank Acc. Rank F- value P -
(n = 1626) (n = 61) (n = 774) Practitioners value
(n = 791)

Exhibited Exhibited Exhibited Exhibited

mean (Std. mean (Std. mean (Std. mean (Std.
Deviation Deviation Deviation Deviation

C1 Present and defend points of view and 4.16 (1.49) 15 4.33 (1.33) 10 4.16 (1.45) 17 4.15 (1.54) 11 .418 .658
outcomes of their own work, in writing, to
colleagues, clients, and superiors
C2 Use visual aids in presentations 4.37 (1.63) 7 4.85 (1.29) 4 4.57 (1.63) 5 4.14 (1.62) 12 16.887 .000
C3 Listen effectively to gain information and 4.61 (1.51) 4 4.51 (1.42) 7 4.60 (1.52) 4 4.63 (1.51) 4 .225 .798
to understand opposing points of view
C4 Critically read written work, making jud- 4.38 (1.55)) 6 4.56 (1.53) 6 4.33 (1.58) 13 4.41 (1.53) 6 .876 .417
gements on their relevance and value
G1 Work with others in teams in harmony 4.89 (1.46) 3 4.90 (1.27) 3 4.90 (1.51) 3 4.87 (1.42) 3 .102 .903
G2 Assume leadership positions when neces- 4.25 (1.59) 12 4.38 (1.39) 9 4.33 (1.62) 12 4.15 (1.57) 10 2.631 .072
sary
G3 Organise and delegate tasks 4.27 (1.58) 9 4.31 (1.34) 11 4.35 (1.60) 9 4.19 (1.58) 9 1.977 .139
P1 Identify and solve unstructured problems 3.85 (1.58) 19 4.11 (1.53) 18 3.94 (1.55) 18 3.74 (1.61) 19 4.099 .017
P2 Find creative solutions 4.15 (1.60) 16 4.26 (1.48) 15 4.17 (1.56) 15 4.12 (1.65) 13 .351 .704
P3 Integrate multidisciplinary knowledge to 3.87 (1.66) 18 4.07 (1.62) 19 3.91 (1.68) 19 3.81 (1.64) 18 1.122 .326
solve problems
T1 Organise the workloads to meet con- 4.10 (1.63) 17 4.13 (1.48) 17 4.17 (1.60) 16 4.03 (1.67) 15 1.466 .231
flicting demands and unexpected require-
ments
T2 Organise the workloads to recognise and 4.48 (1.61) 5 4.30 (1.49) 14 4.51 (1.60) 6 4.46 (1.62) 5 .611 .543
meet tight, strict, and coinciding dead-
lines
I1 Use relevant software (e.g. Databases, 5.06 (1.57) 2 5.03 (1.71) 2 5.07 (1.54) 2 5.05 (1.59) 2 .037 .964
spreadsheets, word processors)
I2 Use electronic information sources 5.27 (1.62) 1 5.34 (1.56) 1 5.23 (1.65) 1 5.29 (1.60) 1 .368 .692
O1 Have a commitment to life-long learning 4.37 (1.61) 8 4.66 (1.48) 5 4.34 (1.58) 10 4.38 (1.65) 7 1.115 .328
O2 Ability to develop methods of effective 4.27 (1.54) 10 4.41 (1.42) 8 4.21 (1.53) 14 4.32 (1.55) 8 1.204 .300
learning
O3 Be aware of their social and ethical re- 4.18 (1.72) 14 4.26 (1.69) 16 4.34 (1.66) 11 4.01 (1.76) 16 7.014 .001
sponsibilities
O4 Have a comprehensive and global vision 4.27 (1.66) 11 4.31 (1.51) 12 4.44 (1.57) 8 4.09 (1.74) 14 8.861 .000
of the organisation
O5 Have knowledge of the accounting pro- 4.22 (1.65) 13 4.31 (1.35) 12 4.45 (1.62) 7 3.98 (1.66) 17 15.800 .000
fession (work areas, professional values)
MEAN 4.37 (1.59) 4.48 (1.47) 4.42 (1.58) 4.31 (1.61)

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S. Asonitou and T. Hassall The International Journal of Management Education 17 (2019) 100308

APPENDIX D

Table D1
Comparison of differences between importance and exhibited performance scores (PAIRED-SAMPLES T-TEST)

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS OVERALL IMP- OVERALL OVERALL (DIF- TEACHERS STUDENTS PRACTITIONERS
ORTANCE EXHIBITED FERENCE)

A B A-B IMP EXHIB IMP EXHIB IMP EXHIB

C1 Present and defend points of view and outcomes of 6.00 4.16 1.845 6.20 4.33 6.07 4.16 5.91 4.15
their own work, in writing to colleagues, clients,
and superiors
C2 Use visual aids in presentations 5.45 4.37 1.081 5.67 4.85 5.84 4.57 5.06 4.14
C3 Listen effectively to gain information and to un- 6.34 4.61 1.727 6.36 4.51 6.28 4.60 6.39 4.63
derstand opposing points of view
C4 Critically read written work, making judgements on 6.34 4.38 1.965 6.51 4.56 6.26 4.33 6.40 4.41
their relevance and value
G1 Work with others in teams in harmony 6.25 4.89 1.362 6.31 4.90 6.14 4.90 6.35 4.87
G2 Organise and delegate tasks 6.18 4.25 1.930 6.15 4.38 6.06 4.33 6.29 4.15
G3 Assume leadership positions when necessary 6.26 4.27 1.987 6.41 4.31 6.11 4.35 6.39 4.19
P1 Identify and solve unstructured problems 6.03 3.85 2.179 6.30 4.11 5.96 3.94 6.07 3.74
P2 Find creative solutions 6.23 4.15 2.085 6.15 4.26 6.13 4.17 6.34 4.12
P3 integrate multidisciplinary knowledge to solve 5.88 3.87 2.013 6.08 4.07 5.79 3.91 5.95 3.81
problems
T1 Organise workloads to meet conflicting de- 6.32 4.10 2.221 6.38 4.13 6.18 4.17 6.46 4.03
mands and unexpected requirements
T2 Organise workloads to recognise and meet tight, 6.51 4.48 2.039 6.54 4.30 6.37 4.51 6.64 4.46
strict, and coinciding deadlines
I1 Use relevant software (e.g. Databases, spreadsheets, 6.68 5.06 1.623 6.67 5.03 6.59 5.07 6.77 5.05
word processors)
I2 Use electronic information sources 6.73 5.27 1.467 6.74 5.34 6.61 5.23 6.85 5.29
O1 Have a commitment to life-long learning 6.29 4.37 1.925 6.43 4.66 6.06 4.34 6.51 4.38
O2 Ability to develop methods of effective learning 6.09 4.27 1.822 6.26 4.41 5.94 4.21 6.23 4.32
O3 Be aware of their social and ethical responsi- 6.46 4.18 2.288 6.66 4.26 6.32 4.34 6.59 4.01
bilities
O4 Have a comprehensive and global vision of the 6.62 4.27 2.358 6.67 4.31 6.50 4.44 6.75 4.09
organisation
O5 Have knowledge of the accounting profession (work 6.39 4.22 2.178 6.49 4.31 6.41 4.45 6.37 3.98
areas, professional values)
MEAN 6.27 4.37 6.37 4.48 6.19 4.42 6.33 4.306

Table D2
Combined results and PI

Professional Skills Overall Ranking Teachers' Ranking Students' Ranking Practitioners' Ranking
(n = 1626) (n = 61) (n = 774) (n = 791)

Import Exhib PI Import Exhib PI Import Exhib PI Import Exhib PI

ance ited ance ited ance ited ance ited

C1 Present and defend points of view and outcomes 17 15 12 15 10 10 13 17 6 18 11 14

of their own work, in writing, to colleagues,
clients, and superiors
C2 Use visual aids in presentations 19 7 19 19 4 19 18 5 17 19 12 19
C3 Listen effectively to gain information and to 8 4 15 11 7 13 7 4 15 10 4 15
understand opposing points of view
C4 Critically read written work making judgements 7 6 11 6 6 11 8 13 8 8 6 12
on their relevance and value
G1 Work with others in teams in harmony 12 3 18 12 3 17 10 3 19 12 3 17
G2 Assume leadership positions when necessary 14 12 9 17 9 14 15 12 13 14 10 9
G3 Organise and delegate tasks 11 9 8 9 11 8 12 9 12 9 9 8
P1 Identify and solve unstructured problems 16 19 1 13 18 4 16 18 1 16 19 3
P2 Find creative solutions 13 16 7 16 15 9 11 15 4 13 13 7
P3 Integrate multidisciplinary knowledge to solve 18 18 5 18 19 7 19 19 3 17 18 6
problems
T1 Organise workloads to meet conflicting demands 9 17 4 10 17 3 9 16 2 7 15 4
and unexpected requirements
T2 Organise workloads to recognise and meet tight, 4 5 10 5 14 5 5 6 10 4 5 10
strict, and coinciding deadlines
(continued on next page)

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S. Asonitou and T. Hassall The International Journal of Management Education 17 (2019) 100308

Table D2 (continued)

Professional Skills Overall Ranking Teachers' Ranking Students' Ranking Practitioners' Ranking
(n = 1626) (n = 61) (n = 774) (n = 791)

Import Exhib PI Import Exhib PI Import Exhib PI Import Exhib PI

ance ited ance ited ance ited ance ited

I1 Use relevant software (e.g. Databases, spread- 2 2 16 2 2 16 2 2 16 2 2 16

sheets, word processors)
I2 Use electronic information sources 1 1 17 1 1 18 1 1 18 1 1 18
O1 Have a commitment to life-long learning 10 8 13 8 5 15 14 10 14 6 7 11
O2 Ability to develop methods of effective learning 15 10 14 14 8 12 17 14 11 15 8 13
O3 Be aware of their social and ethical responsibil- 5 14 3 4 16 1 6 11 7 5 16 2
ities
O4 Have a comprehensive and global vision of the 3 11 2 3 12 2 3 8 5 3 14 1
organisation
O5 Have knowledge of the accounting profession 6 13 6 7 12 6 4 7 9 11 17 5
(work areas, professional values)

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