title: Accounting students’ need for important generic and technical accounting skills in university education and as accountants in the workplace

authors: AL Mallak, Mohammed Ali A

subjects: Generic skills

abstract: Recent changes in the nature of accounting have led to an increasing amount of importance being placed on generic and technical accounting skills within the accounting workforce. However, universities providing training to accounting students do not always adequately teach these skills, such as communication skills, decision making skills and teamwork skills. Very few studies to date have focussed on the generic skills perceived as being important by accountants and accounting students in the Middle East and in Saudi Arabia in particular. This study aimed to research the generic and technical accounting skills perceived as being important by accounting students studying this subject at the major universities in Saudi Arabia and by accountants working at nine major companies in Saudi Arabia. The study employed a survey questionnaire that followed a mixed methods research protocol. Survey respondents were asked about the skills that they perceived as being important, how well the skills were taught and to what extent the skills were used during their degree course, their current level of skill the level of skills they currently held and the level of skill required to get a job in the accounting workforce, and the comparative importance of generic skills compared to technical accounting skills. Survey respondents were also asked to rank a selection of generic skills (communication skills, interpersonal skills, problem solving skills, capacity for analysis and presentation skills) and technical accounting skills in order of importance, and were asked whether there were other generic and technical accounting skills that were important in the workplace. The study explored the differences and similarities between the views of accounting students and accountants, and also the similarities and differences between different subgroups as follows:
 Undergraduate students vs. postgraduate accounting students,
 Male students vs. female accounting students,
 Accountants working for government organisations vs. those working at non-government organisations,
 Male vs. female accountants,
Overall, the study found that the responses of the accountants and the accounting students matched quite closely. One major difference between the two groups was that accounting students were much more likely to be unsure as to the level of skill needed in order to get a job. Accountants were also more likely than accounting students to rate the technical accounting skills above the generic skills. Another very striking finding was that presentation skills were consistently rated as the least important skill by all groups and that it was the skill area that was least likely to have been covered by the accounting degree course. The reasons for this may be cultural or may arise from uncertainty about the definition of “presentation skills”. The findings of this study differed from others in that the accountants in our survey were more likely to consider technical accounting skills as being more important than generic skills. This may be a result of culture and the Saudi Arabian context. These findings suggest that further work in the Saudi Arabian context is necessary.

text: Accounting students’ need for important generic and technical accounting skills in university education and as accountants in the workplace Recent changes in the nature of accounting have led to an increasing amount of importance being placed on generic and technical accounting skills within the accounting workforce. However, universities providing training to accounting students do not always adequately teach these skills, such as communication skills, decision making skills and teamwork skills. Very few studies to date have focussed on the generic skills perceived as being important by accountants and accounting students in the Middle East and in Saudi Arabia in particular. This study aimed to research the generic and technical accounting skills perceived as being important by accounting students studying this subject at the major universities in Saudi Arabia and by accountants working at nine major companies in Saudi Arabia. The study employed a survey questionnaire that followed a mixed methods research protocol. Survey respondents were asked about the skills that they perceived as being important, how well the skills were taught and to what extent the skills were used during their degree course, their current level of skill the level of skills they currently held and the level of skill required to get a job in the accounting workforce, and the comparative importance of generic skills compared to technical accounting skills. Survey respondents were also asked to rank a selection of generic skills (communication skills, interpersonal skills, problem solving skills, capacity for analysis and presentation skills) and technical accounting skills in order of importance, and were asked whether there were other generic and technical accounting skills that were important in the workplace. The study explored the differences and similarities between the views of accounting students and accountants, and also the similarities and differences between different subgroups as follows:
 Undergraduate students vs. postgraduate accounting students,
 Male students vs. female accounting students,
 Accountants working for government organisations vs. those working at non-government organisations,
 Male vs. female accountants,
Overall, the study found that the responses of the accountants and the accounting students matched quite closely. One major difference between the two groups was that accounting students were much more likely to be unsure as to the level of skill needed in order to get a job. Accountants were also more likely than accounting students to rate the technical accounting skills above the generic skills. Another very striking finding was that presentation skills were consistently rated as the least important skill by all groups and that it was the skill area that was least likely to have been covered by the accounting degree course. The reasons for this may be cultural or may arise from uncertainty about the definition of “presentation skills”. The findings of this study differed from others in that the accountants in our survey were more likely to consider technical accounting skills as being more important than generic skills. This may be a result of culture and the Saudi Arabian context. These findings suggest that further work in the Saudi Arabian context is necessary.

year: 2012

title: Developing and testing a cost-effectiveness analysis to prioritize green infrastructure alternatives for climate change adaptation

authors: Reu Junqueira, Juliana

subjects: Green infrastructure

abstract: Green infrastructure has been increasingly identified as an option to help manage climate change impacts in urban areas, although its implementation is still not widely promoted in urban planning. This is because of the lack of detailed analysis for decision-makers regarding construction and maintenance costs for different types and how effective various measures are at managing precipitation at a catchment scale. This paper contributes to fill this gap in knowledge by developing a green infrastructure cost-effectiveness ranking index (GICRI) able to evaluate the stormwater runoff volume reduction of multiple green infrastructure alternatives under different climate change scenarios, over differing spatial configurations and combining this performance data with their construction and maintenance costs. After applying this model over two case study areas, this paper provides three main insights. First, climate change projections have a significant impact on green infrastructure cost-effectiveness. Second, as green infrastructure cost-effectiveness is influenced by the spatial scale, there are different challenges for larger cities and smaller regional towns. Building on this, the paper argues that GICRI can be a simple and fast heuristic to increase the use of green infrastructure by informing decision-makers regarding how and where to prioritize investment or where greater modelling is needed.

text: Developing and testing a cost-effectiveness analysis to prioritize green infrastructure alternatives for climate change adaptation Green infrastructure has been increasingly identified as an option to help manage climate change impacts in urban areas, although its implementation is still not widely promoted in urban planning. This is because of the lack of detailed analysis for decision-makers regarding construction and maintenance costs for different types and how effective various measures are at managing precipitation at a catchment scale. This paper contributes to fill this gap in knowledge by developing a green infrastructure cost-effectiveness ranking index (GICRI) able to evaluate the stormwater runoff volume reduction of multiple green infrastructure alternatives under different climate change scenarios, over differing spatial configurations and combining this performance data with their construction and maintenance costs. After applying this model over two case study areas, this paper provides three main insights. First, climate change projections have a significant impact on green infrastructure cost-effectiveness. Second, as green infrastructure cost-effectiveness is influenced by the spatial scale, there are different challenges for larger cities and smaller regional towns. Building on this, the paper argues that GICRI can be a simple and fast heuristic to increase the use of green infrastructure by informing decision-makers regarding how and where to prioritize investment or where greater modelling is needed.

year: 2022-11-23

title: Serendipity, shot-gun, strategic: Does it make a difference?

authors: Glover, Marewa

subjects: Maori

abstract: Kaupapa Māori research methodology
demands practical outcomes of tangible
benefit to Māori. This paper reflects on the
steps taken to ensure benefit resulted from
my PhD research on the
cessation of Māori smoking behaviour, and I ask where is that
benefit now?
Ensuring benefit starts before the
project begins when the idea is conceived.
Thus, I first reflect back to the birth of the
idea. Then the consultation undertaken,
and the conduct of the research, is reviewed
with a utilisation focus. The personal costs
undertaking research are then considered
the sections looking at contribution and
career. Finally, the question from the title
this paper is posed. Examples of the
barriers to strategic action, such as,
competition and the difficulty of achieving
consensus are presented. Finally, the
consequences of the research are outlined.

text: Serendipity, shot-gun, strategic: Does it make a difference? Kaupapa Māori research methodology
demands practical outcomes of tangible
benefit to Māori. This paper reflects on the
steps taken to ensure benefit resulted from
my PhD research on the
cessation of Māori smoking behaviour, and I ask where is that
benefit now?
Ensuring benefit starts before the
project begins when the idea is conceived.
Thus, I first reflect back to the birth of the
idea. Then the consultation undertaken,
and the conduct of the research, is reviewed
with a utilisation focus. The personal costs
undertaking research are then considered
the sections looking at contribution and
career. Finally, the question from the title
this paper is posed. Examples of the
barriers to strategic action, such as,
competition and the difficulty of achieving
consensus are presented. Finally, the
consequences of the research are outlined.

year: 2003