The Value of Soft-Skills in the Accounting Profession: Perspectives of Current Accounting Students

Abstract

With employers increasingly demanding a greater range of softer skills such as effective communication, the paper is intended to identify current accounting students’ perspectives on soft skills, identify their self-assessed competence in the respective soft skills, and suggest ways in which accounting students can gain soft skills.  We assessed students’ level of perception/knowledge of soft skills, its’ importance and their self-assessment of their level of possession of these skills. With a sample size of 313 participants, we found that there were fewer gaps in what students perceived as being important in the accounting profession and how prepared they are in fulfilling the expectations.  In addition, we found that the universities were placing more emphasis on developing these soft skills that have shown to be beneficial in students’ careers.