Topics for Your Undergraduate Accounting Information Systems (AIS) Course-An Exploratory Study of Information Technology (IT) Skills and Firm Size

Abstract

Given the wide range of technologies that businesses employ, and the rapid changes in technology, it is important to assess periodically the critical IT skills students need to prepare them for the work environment. This study presents results from over 100 practicing accountants regarding the IT skills they feel are most important for an undergraduate AIS course. The top ten IT skills for small firm (SF) respondents, respectively, are: spreadsheets, Microsoft Word, Internet research, Internet, QuickBooks, ensuring privacy, Cloud Computing, preventing and responding to cybercrime, software security, and managing and retaining data. The top ten IT skills for medium-large firm (MLF) respondents, respectively, are: spreadsheets, Internet, Internet research, ensuring privacy, Microsoft Word, preventing and responding to cybercrime, managing and retaining data, file systems, Cloud Computing, and Business Intelligence Tools. While SF respondents perceive QuickBooks and software security are more important, respondents from MLF think file systems and Business Intelligence Tools are more important. When determining AIS course content it is important to include the most relevant IT skills, based on what practice thinks students need, and this study indicates firm size is a factor for some IT skills. Designers of undergraduate AIS courses, therefore, need to consider the importance of the IT skills in conjunction with the size of the firms that will employ their students when selecting topics for inclusion.