University Education Efficiency for Accounting/Business Graduates - Essay Example

Running Head: Accounting/Business Education Accounting/Business Education [Institute’s Accounting/Business University Education Since centuries, accounting and business remained major sectors that contributed enormously in the human society. Although their objectives were different in various eras, such as during ancient times, accounting was a tool to record only transactions of emperors, rulers, and elite members of the society, while in another era, it came down to help business individuals and entrepreneurs on local level as well. However, it is an observation that although their objectives at frontline were diverse, accounting continued to play a significant role in providing fundamental basis to individuals in every era. Moreover, learning of accounting practices was a part of home education; however, in recent years, the field of education has developed rapidly due to advancements in the extent of human knowledge, and nowadays, an individual comes across numerous fields for his/her profession that offers various benefits and prospects. In this regard, nowadays, universities are offering advanced education in accounting and business fields that has been very beneficial for students in acquiring sound skills of recording transactions, creating balance sheets, planning budgets, etc. Such higher education allows individuals to reach the level of employability and employment in their lives, a significant objective of individuals in the contemporary society for acquiring business and accounting education (Nabi and Bagley, 1998). For such purpose, educational institutions particularly higher educational educations at university level are playing a crucial role in providing accounting and business education to students that may facilitate them in achieving the abovementioned contemporary form of success in the society. However, experts have indicated that higher educational institutions have not been successful in fulfilling their responsibility in an efficient manner that has resulted in gap between outcomes of universities and prospects of employers in the market scenario (Gush, 1996). In specific, this paper will endeavor to identify and evaluate the role of higher educational institutions in equipping business and accounting graduates with skills required by their prospective employers. In addition, the paper will attempt to identify differences in approach of universities and employers that will allow in better understanding of the topic in critical manner. Analysis of the literature related to approaches of educational institutions has indicated that a number of researchers are putting their efforts to reduce the gap between perspectives of university education and market employers; however, there is still huge gap between the two stakeholders of the industry. As earlier mentioned, employability is one of the crucial factors that result in abovementioned gaps. Nowadays, employability has become the major objective of graduates acquiring accounting and business education at higher educational institutions and has replaced the previous purpose of knowing about a specific subject in detail. This paradigm shift has been one of the problematic issues that have caused gap between the two stakeholders, as universities are still providing education for previous motive that has now become a thing of past (Gush, 1996). Another factor identified during the study regarding this gap is difference between employability and employment. Still, a number of universities are offering accounting education to ensure employment in the future, whereas, individuals are now seeking skills along with understanding of accounting principles that may ensure employability rather than employment. For such purpose, recent educators (Dickinson, 2000) have introduced the notion of training along with accounting education at higher educational institutions that will facilitate students in acquiring employability and matching skills required by prospective employers in the market. In specific, employment refers to any work that can be done right away by an individual, whereas, employability refers to skills that an individual possess to carry out tasks in a flexible manner. In this regard, universities that are focusing on ‘employment’ are not equipping individuals with required skills expected by employers, and educational institutions that are training students to acquire employable skills have been successful in complementing prospects of the employers (Metzger and Duoc, 2007). In other words, employers seek flexible individuals that can adjust in any workplace environment based on their skills after getting some specialized training, and not individuals that are rigid in terms of their skills. For example, if an accounting graduate is only excellent at planning pre and post budgets and estimating profits/losses; however, not good at presentation and communication skills, it is likely that he may end at employment stage rather than employability. Since globalization, organizations are confronting a huge wave of frequent changes that incline them to hire, as well as fire accounting and business graduates at regular intervals, and thus, it is now very imperative that individuals are flexible enough to change and transform into changing environments. In this regard, universities will have to make efforts to equip students with skills rather than just comprehensive knowledge about business and accounting, and thus, a paradigm shift is now very essential for such higher educational institutions (Carmona and Onzono, 2007). For instance, graduates of accounting education excellent in accounting standards and theories would have to be aware about accounting issues at ground realities that often cause fraud in the organizations, and only theoretical understanding may not allow individuals to act appropriately at the workplace. Another crucial factor identified during the analysis is that knowledge and information about only accounting or business has now become a conventional notion, and due to rapid alterations in global economy, employers are now looking for individuals that possess skills of different careers allowing them to cope with the effects of globalization in an efficient manner (Steven and Fallows, 2000). This is the reason that a number of individuals are now seeking education in two different majors rather than focusing on only one, such as HRM with e-commerce, or ERP with business management, or accounting with management. Similarly, universities are offering accounting or business education in different subjects that may facilitate individuals in becoming potential candidates for their prospective employers (Carmona and Onzono, 2007). In this regard, in order to understand and evaluate the role of university education in equipping business graduates with skills required by prospective employers, it is crucial to distinguish between ‘transferable’ and ‘subject’ skills that may allow the investigator to come to a conclusion as whether universities are providing such skills or not. A number of studies (Carmona and Onzono, 2007) have focused on these two different categories of skills, and most of them indicated it is important for universities to equip students with subject skills along with transferable skills that will be advantageous in acquiring job placement by the graduate students. Experts indicated that communication skills and teamwork management were some of the significant skills required by employers in the market. Until a decade ago, curriculum only included subject skills; however, in recent years, universities are including skills proficiency programs in their curriculum by introducing internship programs in their business graduate programs that have been efficient in providing transferable skills to the students along with subject skills (Dickinson, 2000). In this regard, universities have now begun to distinguish between ‘employment’ (subject skills) and ‘employability’ (transferable skills) that is a significant achievement of higher education institutions. Moreover, it is an observation (Metzger and Duoc, 2007) that economic recession is enforcing companies to cut down their human resource volume, and thus, a number of employers are in process of firing staff. In other words, employers are now seeking employees that can perform various tasks under a single job placement, encouraging the factor of flexibility once again. Thus, universities will have to be more flexible as now, diversified skills is now the updated notion of transferable skills, and as employers are now focusing more on variety of different skills rather than detailed knowledge about one or two subjects (Dickinson, 2000). This shift in recruitment strategies of the employers is a crucial factor that will allow future studies to evaluate the role of university education in equipping students with skills required by the employers, as it was only about subject skills and transferable skills. However, it is now about diversity of transferable skills, and thus, it will take time for universities to transform their approach in this way (Brown and Reitman, 2005). At the same time, analysis has specified that employers do not seek individuals with only transferable skills, and thus, subject skills are important as well from the perspective of employers that have always been the focus of university curriculum. In addition, experts (Gush, 1996) have noted that a number of students leave university to acquire vocational training, and end up in acquiring inappropriate employment that indicates that although diversity of transferable skills is priority of employers; however, absence of formal education can be detrimental for individuals in the market scenario. In other words, students with transferable skills acquired from higher educational institutions dominate individuals with same skills but from vocational institutions (Bennett and Dunne, 1999). Few experts (Brown and Reitman, 2005) have argued that although presence of university background is essential and significant in the process of employability; however, such requirement is short-term, and only social skills enable individuals in maintaining their employment, as well as employability on long-term basis. They have indicated that although academic superiority will allow individuals to impress employers initially; however, only social skills, such as communication, team, and organizational skills will decide an individual’s status in the company rather than his knowledge of accounting principles. Additionally, experts (Assiter, 1995) have indicated that it is possibility that individuals with academic excellence may be able to maintain their employability and employment; however, they will not be able to acquire promotion in the company, and individuals with social skills will be successful in such motives on a long-standing scale. Thus, they have suggested that higher educational institutions should begin addressing these issues along with setting academic goals (Barnett and Coate, 2005). Lastly, in my opinion, it is a recommendation that universities should now include and offer vocational trainings into their curriculum; however, it is the responsibility of students to inquire about their industry before stepping into it as lack of knowledge also results in their failure despite their equipment of subject and transferable skills. At the same time, university education should provide awareness about different industry’s perspectives that will enable students to utilize their skills in efficient manner. In addition, IT has advanced rapidly and nowadays, a number of companies use different accounting software for their transactions, and thus, awareness of such major software will be beneficial for accounting and business graduates. Besides, employers have been dishonest in their practices as well, as evidence has indicated that they look for individuals with accounting/business skills on their showcase, but hire individuals based on social skills, and thus, employers should be sincere to allow higher educational institutions to perform their tasks in an efficient manner. Conclusively, the paper has discussed and evaluated the role of university education in equipping business students with skills required by their prospective employers. It is an expectation that the paper will be beneficial for students, teachers, and professionals in better understanding of the topic. References Assiter, Alison. (1995). Transferable skills in higher education. Routledge. Barnett, Ronald and Coate, Kelly. (2005). Engaging the curriculum in higher education. McGraw-Hill Professional. Bennett, Neville and Dunne, Elisabeth. (1999). “Patterns of core and generic skill provision in higher education.” Journal of Higher Education. Volume 37, Issue 1, pp. 71-93. Brown, Marshall A. and Reitman, Annabelle. (2005). High-level resumes. Career Press. Carmona, Salvador and Onzono, Santiago. (2007). “The changing business model of B-schools.” Journal of Management Development. Volume 26, Issue 1, pp. 22-32. Dickinson, Mary. (2000). “Giving undergraduates managerial experiences.” Education + Training. Volume 42, Issue 3, pp. 159-169. Gush, Jacqui. (1996). “Assessing the role of higher education in meeting the needs of the retail sector.” Education + Training. Volume 38, Issue 9, pp. 5-13. Metzger, Christoph and Duoc, Truong Quang. (2007). “Quality of business graduates in Vietnamese institutions.” Journal of Management Development. Volume 26, Issue 7, pp. 629-643. Nabi, Ghulam R and Bagley, David. (1998). “Graduates’ perceptions of transferable personal skills and future career preparation in the UK.” Journal of Career Development International. Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 31-39. Steven, Christine and Fallows, Stephen. (2000). “Building employability skills into the higher education curriculum.” Education + Training. Volume 42, Issue 2, pp. 75-83. Read More