Employer Preferences for the Background of Entry-Level Accountants: Degree, Certification, Verification, Internship, and Experience

Abstract

Abstract In this article, we report the results of a survey of employers' judgments about ideal accounting recruits. Our sample of 276 respondents includes 181 individuals who identified their job as "accountant," 74 who identified their job as "personnel" or "other," and 21 who did not identify their job. The results of the study indicate that there are still some deficiencies in accounting graduates' background qualifications. The areas include verifying computations by hand and job and internship experiences, especially ones involving computers. We conclude that revisions in accounting curricula may need to focus on continuing improvement in computer proficiency and in the area of hand verification of computations.