Honors Theses and Capstones

Date of Award

Spring 2022

Project Type

Senior Honors Thesis

College or School

PAUL

Program or Major

Business Administration: Accounting

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

First Advisor

Jonathan Nash

Abstract

Accounting firms are continually working to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their work. As part of these efforts, firms adopt new technologies like bots, analytics, and specialized software. As accounting firms become increasingly reliant on newer technologies, colleges need to continually reevaluate their required curricula to ensure that their students are adequately prepared for their future careers in accounting. To fill a gap in the extant literature, the objective of this study is to examine the technologies and skills accounting firms value and the proficiency of new hires with these technologies and skills. To complete this objective, a survey was created and distributed to employees of the top 100 accounting firms. The results suggest accounting firms believe Microsoft technologies are most important for new hires. However, new hires lack proficiency in Microsoft Business Intelligence (Microsoft BI). In addition, data visualization soft skills are valued by firms, and firms feel that their new hires are moderately proficient in Tableau. This may result in changes to accounting curricula that result in the incorporation of more technology. For the soft skills, it appears that skills with accounting software technologies are most important, as data processing and mathematical reasoning would be most used in a software such as Microsoft BI or CaseWare. It is important to consider the need of learning the theoretical side of accounting, but with the rapid technology surge in the world, the need for education of technology could prove beneficial to the accounting industry.

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