Assessing Alignment of the USJ-R BSA and BSMA 4th Year Students’ IT Skills with the Entry-level IT Skills Deemed Important in the Accounting Industry

Abstract

This study assessed the alignment between IT skills developed by 4th-year Bachelor of Science in Accountancy (BSA) and Bachelor of Science in Management Accounting (BSMA) students at the University of San Jose-Recoletos and the entry-level IT skills necessary in the accounting industry. The study used quantitative data from 205 respondents, including 102 students and 103 accounting professionals. Convenience and stratified random sampling were employed, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for data analysis. After gathering the data, it is revealed that the skills deemed necessary in the industry are significantly higher than those developed by the students (U=365.5, p>0.05). Overall, there needs to be more alignment between the IT skills developed by the students and those necessary in the accounting industry, indicating a gap between expectations and performance. This result correlates to the framework "expectation-performance gap," which generally pertains to the gap between what is needed in the industry by the professionals and what is developed by the accounting students. The study recommends expanding the accounting curriculum, particularly in information technology, to bridge the knowledge and skill gap for future accounting graduates.