Employers' Expectations on Today's Accounting Profession: A Malaysian Case‐Study Available to Purchase

The accountant's role today has been dramatically expanded, that is, from being the steward of assets and preparer of financial statements to a more challenging one, namely, one who is involved in various areas of management. Hence in response to the changing needs of the business environment, potential employers of accounting graduates now seek additional qualities from the graduates, besides them being technically competent. Some of these qualities include possessing qualitative skills such as being more effective communicators, possessing strong leadership skills and being able to think logically and critically. An attempt is made in this research to determine the current scenario of potential employers of Malaysian accounting graduates, notably with respect to their requirements of qualitative skills. This is determined from an analysis of a sample of 500 classified advertisements from a major local daily, spanning a period of 12 months, namely July 1995 till July 1996. From this research, it was evident that besides seeking academic qualification, computer literacy and relevant working experience, the majority of potential employers required the accounting graduates to possess additional qualities such as leadership, motivation, innovative skills, being independent and able to work under pressure.