Republic of the Philippines City of Olongapo

GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314

Concept Paper

Members:

Amlog, John Rico

Cac, Beverly

Edquiban, Lenar Dean

Ramos, Chaireen

Vinarao, Anthony

BSA 3A A.Y. 2023-2024

 Republic of the Philippines City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314

Selected Employers' Preference on Employability Skills of 4th Year BS Accountancy Students in

Gordon College

Statement of the Problem

Accountants face a continuously changing work environment due to advancements in technology and
globalization. Such challenges may also lead to a change on the relevant characteristics that today’s
employers are inclined to prefer for their future employees. Without enough foresight toward such
preferred employability skills could waste the school’s efforts in preparing the prospective graduates and
cause them difficulty to adapt to the working environment. Consequently, the mismatch between skills
and labor market demand (Briones, G., et al,. 2021) could lead to a rising unemployment rates. In 2020,
statistics reported an 8.7% unemployment rate of which 24% are college graduates which concerns the
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Additionally, an oversupply of graduates for specific fields were
reported. Hence, the researchers aim to determine the selected employers’ preference on the employability
skills of 4th year BS accountancy students in Gordon College. This study wants to find out the
employability skills preferred by the employers and find out if the preferences would differ significantly
among the profile groups.

Literature Review

Employability of Accountancy Students

Accountancy is a profession that requires specific education to train graduates for a career of pursuing
jobs in the field of business and accounting. This program encompasses the study of financial accounting,
taxation, management, auditing, and law (Kolawole and Ogungbade, 2021). Higher education has
traditionally focused on knowledge acquisition rather than practical application in the workforce, but
recent shifts emphasize the importance of shaping them into potential professions that possesses the
appropriate and desired employability skills. According to Encio et al., (2016), generally, employers play
a crucial role as key stakeholders of colleges, serving as significant contributors by offering employment
opportunities to graduates. The primary objective of academic endeavors within these institutions is to
hone and equip the students with the necessary and appropriate knowledge, skills, and competencies
demanded by various industries. Concerns arise within the accounting profession regarding the skills of
graduates, as they often fall short of employers' expectations upon entering the workforce. Accountancy
graduates tend to face criticism for their perceived inefficiency due to lacking the necessary skills
required by employers, leading to some of them not acquiring jobs after graduating (Heang et al., 2019).
Therefore, it is crucial for accounting graduates to possess professionally recognized skills and
knowledge essential for the field, especially in navigating the challenges of today's business environment
(Hood, 2018; Islam, 2017).

Skills Required in Accountancy Profession: Generic and Technical Skills

According to Usha Mistry (2021), employability skills, considered a subset of Professional and
Personal Attributes (PPI), include soft, transferrable, and generic skills crucial for various job roles.
Employability is defined as the ability of an individual to secure and retain employment while being able
 Republic of the Philippines City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314

to adapt to new opportunities and lifelong learning for success in business careers. Stakeholders prioritize
integrating employability into higher education (Mistry, 2021). Employers in today's dynamic economic
environment demand a diverse set of skills from accounting graduates due to the increasing importance of
the accounting profession in navigating global markets. In order to secure a spot in the industry, the
developing firms require more experts with appropriate skills.

Generic Skills of Accountancy Students

Employers mostly requires accountancy graduates interested in applying to them to possess a broad
range of generic skills besides the technical accounting skills. Abayadeera and Watty (2014) also supports
this idea of emphasizing the importance to embody generic skills in the accounting field. Generic skills,
as described by them, are capabilities separate from technical skills that accountancy graduates are
required to have for employability and career success which is not often possessed by accountancy
graduates. The study showed that employers tend to give more attention to graduates who has leadership
potential, excellent in verbal communication, and interpersonal skills. Ebaid (2021) also highlighted that
the employers in the accountancy profession places great value on the applicants possessing key generic
skills. Such skills can be shown by professionalism in conduct, interpersonal, and personal skills. This
view is also shared by Ghani et al. (2018) that employers perceive these skills as necessary to the industry.

However, a study in contrast to this, conducted by Afolabi in 2014, suggests that generic skills should
not be the main focus or desired qualities of employers when looking for applicants from accountancy
graduates but rather see such skills as complement only for the technical skills.

Technical Skills of Accountancy Students

Employers also demand accountants with strong technical skills, emphasizing core competencies
outlined by international standards like the IES and AICPA's CPA Core Competency Framework. In the
Philippines, the BOA has set a Core Competency Framework for accounting graduates. Studies show
consistency in the importance of core competencies like interpersonal communication and critical
thinking across different sectors and job profiles for professional accountants. In terms of technical skills,
employers tend to lean more on applicants who has a sound understanding of the fundamental technical
accounting skills such as strong foundation on the basics. But ability to apply it in actual practice is what
the employer wants. (Botes et al., 2016). More than half of the employers asked in the research of (name)
believed that colleges are preparing students for the workforce.

According to Qasim (2015), both generic and technical skills are vital in the line of work of
accounting for an employee to effectively participate in their specific roles in the organization. Such skills
include critical reasoning, problem solving and analysis, business ethics, management, computer
knowledge, oral communication, and leadership which are important for an accountancy graduate to
possess to give him a leverage when applying. This is confirmed in the study of Shamsuddin A et al.,
(2016). Results show that the employability skills of accounting graduates are categorized into functional,
communication, organizational, technical, and business management skills.

Goal Statement
 Republic of the Philippines City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314

This research is a descriptive-quantitative design. It determined the employability skills of the 4 th year
BS Accountancy students preferred by selected employers that include formal accounting qualification,
analytical skills, technology skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, problem solving skills,
capacity for innovation, leadership, organizational and commercial awareness, and management skills. It
also determined the significant difference among the preferences when grouped according to profile
factors.

Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the employability skills preferred by the selected employers in terms of:

1.1 Formal Accounting Qualification

1.2 Analytical Skills

1.3 Technology Skills

1.4 Communication Skills

1.5 Interpersonal Skills

1.6 Problem Solving Skills

1.7 Capacity for Innovation

1.8 Leadership

1.9 Organizational and Commercial Awareness

1.10 Management Skills

2. Is there a significant difference among the preferences when grouped according to profile factors in
terms of:

2.1 Gender

2.2 Age

2.3 Position

2.4 Type of Business

2.5 Company Size

2.6 Years of Graduate

The researchers will adopt the main instrument used in this study that is a self-constructed
questionnaire in which the indicators were lifted from existing literatures, studies and theories cited. The
questionnaire was divided into two parts. Part 1 pertains to demographic profile of the respondents while
 Republic of the Philippines City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314

Part II on the employers preferred employability skills rated as ‘highly preferred’, ‘preferred’,
‘moderately preferred’, ‘slightly preferred’, and ‘not preferred’.

Significance of the Study

This study aims to identify the selected employer’s preferred employability skills for 4th-
year accountancy students of Gordon College. The following groups will be the beneficiaries of
the study:
For the students, the results of this study will help the students to know the employability
skills that are preferred by employers in the field of work. The study will enable them to enhance
those skills not only when they are already in the field for work but as early as possible. It will
help them to be ready for work and a higher possibility of employment.

For the employers, this will help the employers in a way that they can be open with the
acceptance of fresh graduates as they have the skills that they need for the work. It will help
them to lessen the possible training and seminars for enhancing and improving their employee's
skills.

For the professors, the study will help them to identify the skills that their students need
to improve on. Through this, they can design a strategy of teaching where it enhances the
student's skills that they need for work.

For the school, school will benefit from the study as they will be able to create a
curriculum for the students that enhances and improves the employability skills of students. This
will also help the school to achieve its mission statement, to produce well-trained, skilled,
dynamic, and competitive individuals responsive to the changing needs.

For future researchers, this study can be their reference for their future endeavors
regarding the related studies. The study can encourage future researchers to look and study for
more employability skills that employers want and prefer. It sets a standard for comparison
studies allowing researchers to evaluate the efficacy of similar treatments in various educational
situations.