Building Accounting Students' Communication Skills

All business students take one or two introductory courses. While many do not become accountants, they do become users of information. Students need to learn how to effectively find, interpret, use, and communicate information in a written report. Business students who have developed outstanding communication will be better prepared to compete in today's job market. following case study reviews a series of pedagogical assignments that link synthesizing written reports with learning how to use information and critical thinking and analytical skills. THE NEED FOR COMMUNICATION SKILLS business world has been one of the driving forces in getting universities to focus more of their educational resources on improving students' communication skills. In a 2006 study sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today's Global Economy? the three top-rated employer priorities in the intellectual and practical areas were: 1. Teamwork and the ability to collaborate with others in diverse group settings (76%), 2. ability to effectively communicate both orally and in (73%), and 3. Critical thinking and analytical reasoning (73%). (1) profession also requires programs to prepare students with oral and written communication skills. In its 1986 report, Future Education: Preparing for the Expanding Profession, the Bedford Committee emphasized that accounting should be viewed as a broad economic information development and distribution process, based on the design, implementation, and operation of multiple types of information systems. (2) Committee recommended a number of changes to education, including an expansion of educational requirements that develop students' capabilities for analysis, synthesis, problem solving, and communication. Big 8 firms (now the Big 4) produced a white paper in 1989, titled Perspectives on Education: Capabilities for Success in the Profession, that expanded on the Bedford Committee report and noted that graduates need to be proficient in three skill sets: communication, intellectual, and interpersonal. (3) American Association (AAA) appointed the Education Change Commission (AECC) as a result of the Bedford Committee report and the Big 8 white paper. AECC produced position statements and issue statements. In 1992, it published Position Statement No. 2, The First Course in Accounting, in which it recommended that the first course of curricula should be Introduction to Accounting rather than Introductory Accounting, and it should help students perform financial analyses, derive information for personal or organization decisions, and understand business, governmental, and other organizational entities. (4) IMA[R] (Institute of Management Accountants) sponsored a study in 1994 that produced a report titled What Corporate America Wants in Entry-Level Accountants. (5) study indicates that corporate America ranks strong communication skills as a desirable key skill in future employees. Communication became a key objective for universities and business schools after professionals in the industry made suggestions about the Business and college curricula generally require one public speaking course and one composition course. incorporation of assignments into other courses in the curricula would reinforce the communication and students need and industry requires them to have. It is sometimes referred to as writing across the curricula. Research has addressed numerous ways to incorporate assignments into curricula, particularly into upper-level courses. …