Accounting Education and the Provision of Soft Skills: Implications of the Recent NZICA CA Academic Requirement Changes

JEL Classification: I20; I21 PsycINFO Classification: 3530 FoR Code: 1399; 1501 Introduction Over the past two decades, the business world has witnessed a dramatic change due to technology, business complexity, and globalisation. As a result, accountants need to master not only the technical skills of their job but also various 'soft skills', including the ability to communicate, coordinate, work under pressure and solve problems (Albrecht & Sack, 2000). The demand for such skills and competencies has caused a change in accounting education, providing both technical skills and soft skills to accounting students in order to adequately prepare them for the business world in the 21st century (Mohamed & Lashine, 2003). Meanwhile, the changes in academic requirements initiated by the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) means that students need to complete only a three year degree as opposed to a four year degree. This study investigates whether stakeholders such as accounting graduates, employers and the accounting profession perceive that a shorter degree would result in accounting students developing fewer skills and competencies. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine the role of tertiary accounting education in the provision of soft skills to accounting graduates, and how this may be affected by the recent changes in academic requirements undertaken by NZICA. In 2010, NZICA began collaborations with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia (ICAA) with the aim to "strengthen the leadership of the chartered accountancy profession into the future and provide greater value to members on both sides of the Tasman" (NZICA, 2010, n.p.). The overall goal of the collaboration was "to deliver a 21st century, world class programme that meets the needs and expectations of future candidates, while retaining the quality of its existing qualifying programme" (NZICA, 2010, n.p.). The collaboration resulted in NZICA making changes to its tertiary academic requirements. Up till 2012 students were required to complete a four year bachelor's degree which included 30 credits of liberal studies along with the required courses provided by an NZICA accredited tertiary institution. In contrast, the new programme commencing from 2013 will require students to only complete a three year bachelor's degree and the required courses in the following topics provided by an NZICA accredited tertiary institution: Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Taxation, Audit, Business Finance/Treasury, Economics, Statistics, Organisational Management, Commercial and Corporate Law and Accounting Information Systems (NZICA, 2012). This new initiative taken by NZICA appears to take on a more technical approach as it has eliminated an entire year of education for students, along with 30 credits of liberal studies. It would appear that the new CA academic requirements may have a huge impact on the current tertiary accounting education being provided across the nation. The purpose of accounting education has always been difficult to specify as it changes accordingly to global business environments, the requirements set by the accounting professions and the ever increasing demand for accountants (Milne, 2001; Zraa, Kavanagh & Hartle, 2011). Over two decades ago, the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) stated that "pre-entry education should lay the base on which life-long learning can be built. In other words, graduates should be taught how to learn" (1990, p. 2). From this definition, it seems the purpose of accounting education should be to incorporate a range of skills sets with an emphasis on providing students the ability to adapt to the changing environment in the workplace, and deal with challenges that they will face in both their professional and personal lives. Thus, while the purpose of accounting education cannot exclude the technical capabilities, it is evident that the purpose, as emphasized by Hassall, Joyce, Arquero Montano & Donoso Anes (2005), has shifted from providing only the technical capabilities to also providing non-accounting capabilities and soft skills. …