IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accted/v23y2014i2p119-134.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Communication Skills of Accountants: What we Know and the Gaps in our Knowledge

Author

Listed:
  • Harshini P. Siriwardane
  • Chris H. Durden

Abstract

This paper critically reviews 19 studies published between 1972 and 2012 that investigated the written and/or oral communication skills of practicing accountants. The core aim of the review was to identify skills considered important and highlight gaps regarding what is known about existing and desired communication skills in the accounting profession. Key findings include that most studies did not detail the basis used to select the skills examined, used very broad skill-set categories and/or did not sufficiently incorporate information already established in the literature. Differing views on the importance of communication skills were found between educators and accountants. Knowledge gaps identified relate to the communication skills considered most important at varying career stages and different career paths, the specific types of oral and written communication skills needed and the role and importance of oral versus written and informal versus formal communication skills. A fundamental concern is that much of the existing communication skills research is crucially out of date. Of the 19 studies reviewed, only three have been published in the past decade. This suggests that further research is needed in the area.

Suggested Citation

  • Harshini P. Siriwardane & Chris H. Durden, 2014. "The Communication Skills of Accountants: What we Know and the Gaps in our Knowledge," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 119-134, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:accted:v:23:y:2014:i:2:p:119-134
    DOI: 10.1080/09639284.2013.847329
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09639284.2013.847329
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09639284.2013.847329?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul De Lange & Beverley Jackling & Anne‐Marie Gut, 2006. "Accounting graduates’ perceptions of skills emphasis in undergraduate courses: an investigation from two Victorian universities," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(3), pages 365-386, September.
    2. Binh Bui & Brenda Porter, 2010. "The Expectation-Performance Gap in Accounting Education: An Exploratory Study," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1-2), pages 23-50.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. GETAHUN, Mohammed & MERSHA, Deresse, 2020. "Skill Gap Perceived Between Employers And Accounting Graduates In Ethiopia," Studii Financiare (Financial Studies), Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 24(2), pages 64-90, June.
    2. Tracey J. Riley & Kathleen A. Simons, 2016. "The written communication skills that matter most for accountants," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 239-255, June.
    3. Mohammed Hossain & Tyge Kummer & Conor O’Leary, 2015. "Successful Implementation Of Written Communication Across An Accounting Degree Program," Business Education and Accreditation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 7(1), pages 43-56.
    4. Popoola, Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson & Ahmad, Ayoib B Che & Kehinde, Oyewumi Hassan, 2016. "Determinants of Internal Audit Task Performance in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions: A Conceptual Approach," MPRA Paper 75944, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Nanja Kroon & Maria do Céu Alves, 2023. "Fifteen Years of Accounting Professional’s Competencies Supply and Demand: Evidencing Actors, Competency Assessment Strategies, and ‘Top Three’ Competencies," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, February.
    6. Siriwardane, H.P. & Low, K.-Y. & Blietz, D., 2015. "Making entry-level accountants better communicators: A Singapore-based study of communication tasks, skills, and attributes," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 332-347.
    7. Komarev, Iliya & Preobragenskaya, Galina, 2022. "A framework of market-relevant accounting competencies for the Gulf Cooperation countries (GCC)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    8. Apostolou, Barbara & Dorminey, Jack W. & Hassell, John M. & Rebele, James E., 2015. "Accounting education literature review (2013–2014)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 69-127.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peggy Coady & Seán Byrne & John Casey, 2018. "Positioning of emotional intelligence skills within the overall skillset of practice-based accountants: employer and graduate requirements," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 94-120, January.
    2. Hamood Mohammed Al-Hattami, 2021. "University Accounting Curriculum, IT, and Job Market Demands: Evidence From Yemen," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    3. Lin Mei Tan & Fawzi Laswad, 2018. "Professional skills required of accountants: what do job advertisements tell us?," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 403-432, July.
    4. Atanasko Atanasovski & Marina Trpeska & Zorica Bozinovska Lazarevska, 2018. "Accounting Students' and Employers' Perceptions on Employability Skills in the SEE Country," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(3), pages 55-71.
    5. Rob Jones, 2017. "Enlightenment through engagement? The potential contribution of greater engagement between researchers and practitioners," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5-6), pages 414-430, November.
    6. Arquero, José Luis & Fernández-Polvillo, Carmen & Hassall, Trevor & Joyce, John, 2017. "Relationships between communication apprehension, ambiguity tolerance and learning styles in accounting students," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 13-24.
    7. Monique Micallef & Cheryl Mifsud & Lauren Ellul & Peter J. Baldacchino & Simon Grima, 2023. "The Skill Set Required in the Accounting Workplace: Perspectives of Accounting Graduates and Warrant Holders," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(4), pages 117-145.
    8. Gohar Saleem Parvaiz & Owais Mufti & Saleem Gul, 2017. "Problems and Challenges in Skills Development: A Perspective from Professional Accounting Education," Business & Economic Review, Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan, vol. 9(4), pages 83-110, December.
    9. Elisabeth Sinnewe & Daifei (Troy) Yao & Laura De Zwaan, 2023. "Developing critical thinking: An examination of contemporary practices in accounting," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 403-425, March.
    10. Bernadette Smith & William Maguire & Helen Haijuan Han, 2018. "Generic skills in accounting: perspectives of Chinese postgraduate students," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(2), pages 535-559, June.
    11. Apostolou, Barbara & Dorminey, Jack W. & Hassell, John M. & Watson, Stephanie F., 2013. "Accounting education literature review (2010–2012)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 107-161.
    12. Patricia Lee Huff, 2014. "The Goal Project: A Group Assignment to Encourage Creative Thinking, Leadership Abilities and Communication Skills," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 582-594, December.
    13. Paul Wells & Paul De Lange & Peter Fieger, 2008. "Integrating a virtual learning environment into a second‐year accounting course: determinants of overall student perception," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(3), pages 503-518, September.
    14. Rafael Bautista-Mesa & Horacio Molina Sánchez & Jesús Nicolás Ramírez Sobrino, 2018. "Audit workplace simulations as a methodology to increase undergraduates’ awareness of competences," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 234-258, May.
    15. Satoshi Sugahara & Kazumi Suzuki & Gregory Boland, 2010. "Students' major choice in accounting and its effect on their self‐efficacy towards generic skills," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(2), pages 131-147, July.
    16. Binh Bui & Hien Hoang & Duc P. T. Phan & P. W. Senarath Yapa, 2017. "Governance and compliance in accounting education in Vietnam – case of a public university," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 265-290, May.
    17. Giovanna Lucianelli & Francesca Citro, 2018. "Accounting Education for Professional Accountants: Evidence from Italy," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(8), pages 1-1, June.
    18. Snead, Ken C. & Kraft, Margo J. & Lozada, Aida R. & McGrath, Richard N. & Biswas, Tania & Zhou, Fuzhao, 2023. "An Application of Judgement Modeling to Examine Inter-Cultural Differences Regarding Perceptions of Business Skill Importance," MPRA Paper 120040, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 26 Jan 2024.
    19. Craig Cameron & Jennifer Dickfos, 2014. "'Lights, Camera, Action!' Video Technology and Students' Perceptions of Oral Communication in Accounting Education," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 135-154, April.
    20. Athanasios MANDILAS & Dimitrios KOURTIDIS & Giannoula FLOROU & Stavros VALSAMIDIS, 2016. "Accounting Education And Research In Relation To Business Needs," Scientific Bulletin - Economic Sciences, University of Pitesti, vol. 15(3), pages 3-12.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:accted:v:23:y:2014:i:2:p:119-134. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAED20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.