Professional Competencies for Student Success in an Increasingly Global, Digital, and Virtual World

Introduction

Accounting education has long provided its students with the body of knowledge required to begin their careers in the accounting profession, which was most often in the public accounting arena. As the knowledge base for the profession has grown, so too has its demands that entry-level employees demonstrate at least some of the professional skills that accountants of the past likely developed on-the-job. Each year, top accounting students vie for coveted positions at “Big 4” accounting firms, and the competition for those positions is highly selective. It is presumed that the students interviewing for those positions have the requisite body of accounting knowledge that their degree suggests. It is often some of the other competencies that will distinguish one student from another. In this chapter, the author examines four competencies that accounting graduates need to be successful in an increasingly global, digital, and virtual environment. These are: (1) digital acumen, technological skills, and information literacy; (2) accounting knowledge, as outlined in the revised CPA Evolution Model Curriculum (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants [AICPA] & National Association of State Boards of Accountancy [NASBA], 2021); (3) organizational and communication skills, and (4) intellectual curiosity leading to life-long, self-directed learning.