Critical Skills for Today's Accounting and Business Graduates

This paper describes skills that today’s accounting and business students must acquire to achieve success in the corporate world. Students without these skills may get jobs but will ultimately find themselves underemployed in dead-end jobs. Although specialized knowledge in a discipline is important, it is the mastery of core skills such as communication and ethical awareness that really prepare students for today’s fast-changing work environment. The perceived purpose of college education has shifted in the past century from “morality/values” to “cognitive immersion” to “career preparation.” Today’s focus on “career preparation” has actually brought about a return to the “morality/values” and cognitive immersion” approaches of the past.