A detrimental disconnect between accounting major curricula and job requirements

Illustration: TBS

In Bangladesh, students tend to stay away from the subject "accounting" because of an internal fear of mathematics and calculations. Consequently, despite having a good range of salary and career opportunities, students do not pursue this field. If we are to count the total number of  Chartered Accounting (CA) professionals in Bangladesh, a disheartening figure emerges. 

Numerous professions have emerged in the accounting field. Startup organisations too require accountants to maintain their records of monetary transactions and calculations. Some companies also hire undergraduate students as accounting interns at a salary range of Tk5,000-8,000 per month.

There are even job opportunities for graduate and post-graduate students with or without experience requirements. These jobs are offered by public, private and multinational companies, financial institutions, small and medium enterprises and so on.

From the analysis of several job advertisements, it is clear that companies are looking for basic qualifications such as a Bachelors or Masters degree in accounting. Moreover, the candidates' ability to determine forecasted budgets, cost analysis, basic recordings, journalising etc. These requirements vary from role to role but entry-level jobs require basic knowledge in accounting.

On the other hand, for senior-level jobs, some companies ask for professional degrees. For example, in CA firms like KPMG and Acnabin, employees have either completed or are currently doing their CA degree. Even while hiring interns many firms tend to prefer those who show their interest in pursuing CA.

Commerce background students start learning accounting from class 9. But in our education system, students from science backgrounds can also select accounting as their major for graduation. Consequently, this creates a knowledge gap problem. 

Moreover, language also works as a barrier even for commerce students. In high school, they learn accounting terms in Bangla but in most universities, the medium is English so these students experience some challenges.

By analysing the course curricula of several public, private and national universities, it is clear that their curricula do not align with each other. For example, the curriculum of Dhaka University for accounting majors mostly focuses on accounting-related subjects with a duration of six months. On the other hand, private universities have a duration of four months and a fewer number of accounting courses but they include arts and other technical subjects as well. National universities have an almost similar type of curriculum as the public universities.

Be it a public, private or national university, all of them have a brief course outline and materials designed for the degree. Whatever those courses teach mostly aligns with entry-level job requirements, except for those requiring technical skills.

In this technologically advanced world, everything is now being computerised and so is the accounting sector. Most organisations list at least basic MS Excel skills as a job requirement. The advanced job roles ask for other software expertise such as QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero etc. Now the question is whether the universities teach those or not.

Incorporation of basic MS Excel-related courses is found in most universities. However, no course was found to be taught at any university in our research. Nevertheless, there are claims that universities should not spoon-feed everything to the students. There are several sites where students can learn those as per their necessity and job field. The options can be Commonwealth-funded courses for the member countries or Coursera.

The students pursuing CA are often hired by organisations only after completing their first phase with a good salary. The ones completing all three phases are usually employed in top positions. Hence, the CA curriculum seems to be admired by the corporate environment. Moreover, CA graduates are often invited to universities as guest faculties.

Since the CA curriculum does not differ that much from the job requirements of the accounting field, the question is - what is the actual cause behind the gap in accounting fields? 

After interviewing some students from different universities, we have found out that the subject itself has a reputation for being difficult. Furthermore, students are not properly aware of the job opportunities and advantages of this sector. In addition, the lack of mathematical skills also makes some students anxious.

To mitigate this problem, accounting-related seminars and conferences can be organised where professional speakers can present their experiences in the industry. In addition, the merits of this sector can be highlighted and open discussions with the students need to be welcomed to resolve their fear and irrational assumptions about this sector.

Fatima Hossain Samiha is a student at BRAC Business School, BRAC University.

Abdulla Al Sahad Romel is a student at Dhaka University.

Dr Syed Far Abid Hossain is an Assistant Professor at BRAC Business School, BRAC University, Dhaka. Email: syed.farabid@bracu.ac.bd.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.