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Core Subjects in Accounting Academic Programmes: Development of Pervasive Skills

Monique Keevy Associate Professor School of Accountancy College of Business and Economics University of Johannesburg, South Africa 011 559 4053 mstrauss@uj.ac.za Orchid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2580-7367

ABSTRACT

Accounting education has, in recent years, increasingly emphasised the need for developing

pervasive skills. This paper reports on a South African study of the perceptions of aspirant

chartered accountants (CAs) on the importance of the core subjects during the academic

programme, in developing pervasive skills, in the categories of ethical behaviour and

professionalism, personal attributes, and professional skills. A questionnaire with open- and

closed-ended questions was administered to aspirant CAs who had completed their academic

programme, and were in the process of completing their training programme. Aspirant CAs

reported that overall pervasive skills were most prevalent in the subject of Strategy. Ethical

behaviour and professionalism skills were most prevalent in the subject of Audit, personal

attribute skills were most prevalent in the subject of Strategy while professional skills were

most prevalent in the subject of Accounting. Taxation received the lowest ranking overall for

pervasive skills as well as for the different categories of skills. Educators need to make

greater efforts to inculcate pervasive skills by using real-life, practical examples in their core

subjects. Furthermore, pervasive skills should be integrated into core subjects, as these are

complementary in nature, but also by integrating core subjects can enhance the acquisition of

the pervasive skills.

Keywords: Academic programme, accountants, core subjects, higher education, pervasive

skills, soft skills, teaching methods.

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1. Introduction

This paper reports on a South African study of the perceptions of aspirant chartered

accountants1 (CAs) on the importance of core subjects in developing pervasive skills, as

recommended by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), during the

university academic programme. In accounting literature, pervasive skills are also referred to

as soft skills, transferable skills, non-technical skills, social and interpersonal skills, generic

skills or employability skills (Boyce, Kelly, Williams & Yee, 2001; Ballantine & McCourt

Larres, 2009; Jackling & De Lange, 2009; Dixon, Belnap, Albrecht & Lee, 2010; Watty,

Jackling & Wilson, 2014; SAICA, 2017). These skills are not subject- or domain-specific

(Boyce et al., 2001; Ballantine & McCourt Larres, 2009). Traditionally, accounting bodies

and educators considered a technical focus more beneficial in higher education (Gammie,

Gammie & Cargill, 2002; Jackling & De Lange, 2009). However, over the last few decades,

the business environment of accounting professionals has changed significantly. Changes in

the business world, coupled with globalisation, advances in technology, corporate scandals

and increasing regulations, have created the need for accountants to demonstrate a wide range

of both technical and pervasive skills (Albrecht & Sack, 2000; Gammie, Cargill & Hamilton,

2010).

Against this backdrop, accounting bodies have developed several frameworks and

reports to address the changes in the profession (American Accounting Association (AAA),

1986, 1989; Albrecht & Sack, 2000; Lines & Gammie, 2004; Pathways Commission, 2012).

Specifically, SAICA developed a Competency Framework, which specified not only the

technical skills that should be taught, but most notably, the pervasive skills that aspirant CAs

should acquire during qualification (SAICA, 2017). The Competency Framework2 groups the

pervasive skills into three categories, namely, (i) ethical behaviour and professionalism (IA),

(ii) personal attributes (IB) and (iii) professional skills (IC). The 2017 Competency

Framework also contains the technical skills, referred to as ‘core subjects’ in this paper,

which are grouped into six main categories, namely: (i) Accounting and External Reporting

(also referred to as ‘Financial Accounting’); (ii) Auditing and Assurance (also referred to as 1 The term ‘aspirant CA’ used in this study, refers to an individual/accounting trainee that has already completed the academic programme and two years of the required three-year training programme. 2 SAICA is undertaking a project (CA2025) to revise the most recent version (2017) of the Competency Framework. The proposed Competency Framework will no longer have the three categories of pervasive skills as set out above, as well as the six core subjects (technical skills). However pervasive and technical skills will still be evident in the proposed CA2025 Competency Framework (SAICA, 2019). This paper, however, reports on the pervasive skills and core subjects as expressed in SAICA’s 2017 Competency Framework (SAICA, 2017).

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‘Auditing’); (iii) Management Decision-Making and Control (also referred to as

‘Management Accounting’); (iv) Financial Management; (v) Taxation; and (vi) Strategy,

Risk Management and Governance (also referred to as ‘Strategy’) (SAICA, 2017).

Some researchers (de Villiers, 2010; Keevy & Maré, 2018) suggest that pervasive

skills should be embedded in the current technical content, given its complementary nature,

while others have called for the transformation of the methods used in accounting curricula

(Albrecht & Sack, 2000; Lines & Gammie, 2004). Educators have responded to these calls by

introducing bespoke methods to address the teaching of pervasive skills in accounting

curricula, notably, business simulations (Riley, Cadotte, Bonney & MacGuire, 2013; Phillips

& Graeff, 2014; Rudman & Kruger-van Renen, 2014; de Villiers, 2016; Burdon & Munro,

2017), case studies (Sawyer, Tomlinson & Maples, 2000; Cullen, Richardson & O’Brien,

2004; Dyball, Reid, Ross & Schoch, 2010; Fortin & Legault, 2010; Doran, Healy,

McCutcheon & O’Callaghan, 2011; Turner & Baskerville, 2013; Moilanen, 2017),

cooperative and collaborative learning exercises (Ballantine & McCourt Larres, 2007; 2009;

Stainbank, 2009; Stoner & Milner, 2010; Doran et al., 2011; Opdecam & Everaert, 2012),

and educational games (Viviers, Fouché & Reitsma, 2016). However, these studies do not

recommend the particular subject in which these delivery methods should be embedded.

Other studies (Hardy & Deppe, 1995; Adler & Milne, 1997; Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008;

Boland, 2012; Phillips & Graeff, 2014; Maughan, 2016; Samkin & Keevy, 2019) have

examined the perceptions of students or graduates in terms of pervasive skills development

during the university academic programme. Similarly though, none of these studies

considered the particular subject, except for Barac and Du Plessis (2014) who investigated

the integration of pervasive skills into core subjects from the viewpoint of heads of academic

departments.

The present study therefore makes the following specific contributions. First, the

paper extends the work of Barac and du Plessis (2014) by ascertaining, from the standpoint of

aspirant CAs, their perceptions of the importance of the core subject in developing SAICA’s

pervasive skills during the academic programme. Second, although accounting education is

bound by frameworks and expectations, the literature (Bayerlein & Timpson, 2016) still

points to a gap between skills attained at university and skills expected in the working

environment. Jackling and De Lange (2009) attribute this gap to the technical focus in higher

education institutions. Samkin and Stainbank (2016) add that educators are thus faced with

the challenge of balancing the teaching of pervasive skills with technical content.

Consequently, this paper contributes to the literature by investigating the perceptions of

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aspirant CAs on the importance of core subjects to the development of their pervasive skills

and identifying potential shortcomings in the development of pervasive skills within the

delivery of core subjects.

The paper commences with a review of existing international and local research. This is

followed by a description of the research method and a presentation of the empirical findings.

The conclusions, limitations and areas for future research are presented in the last section.

2. Literature review

The traditional method of lecturing to merely transfer information and having formal

assessments to evaluate the understanding of that information is not considered effective in

developing pervasive skills (Sawyer et al., 2000; IFAC, 2015). However, the increasing

technical content required of the accounting curriculum means educators continue to rely on

these passive teaching techniques (Boyce et al., 2001). There is however, general consensus

that teaching methods must change (AAA, 1986; 1989; Lines & Gammie, 2004). Some

authors contend that experiential learning should be implemented in the technical content to

enhance skills development, as students learn through actual experience and reflection

(Dewey, 1997; Kolb & Kolb, 2005). This could be further enhanced through real-life tasks

and challenges (Dewey, 1997). Moreover, it has been suggested that a combination of

teacher-centred (passive teaching) and student-centred (active teaching) methods should be

used (Dewey, 1997). Jointly, these methods produce well-rounded accounting graduates with

a strong technical foundation as well as additional skills to aid their long-term career success

(Mohammed & Abdullah, 2018).

Traditionally, South African academic programmes have focused on teacher-centred,

content-driven delivery methods (Hesketh, 2011). Added to this, South African educators

report that they are not ultimately responsible for developing pervasive skills (Strauss-Keevy,

2014). South African aspirant CAs support this view, stating that the training programme is

better suited to developing pervasive skills than the academic programme (Keevy & Maré,

2018). However, de Villiers (2010) points out that even though educators are faced with the

pressures of limited teaching time, an overloaded curriculum and reduced resources, they are

nonetheless responsible for producing accounting graduates, equipped with a set of skills that

will stand them in good stead for the business world.

Consequently, the literature review below focuses on good practice of the core

subjects. International or local institutions may require different core subjects as part of their

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accounting academic programmes. This study, however, focuses on the core subjects which

are required for accreditation by SAICA (SAICA, 2017).

2.1 Financial Accounting

It has been reported that lectures and reading assignments are better suited to presenting basic

financial accounting terms, concepts and techniques, as students view Financial Accounting

as a “number-crunching discipline that can be mastered only be memorizing a myriad of

rules” (Campbell & Lewis, 1991, p. 278). This misconception by students can be remedied by

using appropriate delivery methods (Campbell & Lewis, 1991). For example, Phillips and

Graeff (2014) use in-class simulations requiring students to role-play buying and selling

merchandise and preparing the financial accounting entries for those transactions. Phillips

and Graeff (2014) argue that students are unable to see how financial accounting can be

applied to their personal lives; this intervention thus moved students away from surface

learning to deep learning.

Turner and Baskerville’s (2013) real-life business case study allowed students to

apply theoretical concepts when analysing listed companies. Subsequently, students had to

record their personal reflections in a learning journal. Ballantine and McCourt Larres (2009),

in their Financial Accounting course, examined attitudes to the acquisition of pervasive skills

in two different groups of students − the first group in a cooperative group learning

environment compared to the second, in a traditional group learning environment. The former

was found to be more effective in imparting skills, as it required additional intervention from

educators in terms of group formation, instruction and management (Ballantine & McCourt

Larres, 2009).

Stainbank (2009) reports on a financial accounting project requiring students to work

in self-selected teams. After completing a written project, the teams were required to make an

oral presentation of their results to other teams and educators. In another financial accounting

project, students were required to choose a career to research, prepare a curriculum vitae,

formulate questions to interview professionals in their chosen field, write, peer-review and

revise other groups’ papers and lastly, to present and peer-review others’ presentations. This

project, even though not specifically focusing on financial accounting knowledge, enhanced

several skills (Sergenian & Pant, 1998). In a first-year Financial Accounting class, Opdecam

and Everaert (2012) used lectures and team learning for their students. The team learning

path specifically resulted in greater skills development given that the team members had

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additional resources at their disposal, such as opportunities to consult with the instructor,

opportunities for reflection, listening to presentations and consultation with team members.

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2.2 Auditing

Barac, Kirstein, Kunz and Beukes (2016) assert that audit education is particularly

challenging given its practical nature, and that “students are expected to contextualise their

learning and apply it to real-world situations” (p. 392). de Villiers and Fouché (2015) are of

the view that Auditing is interrelated with the other core subjects and thus requires

knowledge of those other subjects to effectively perform an audit. Educators often do not

create adequate scope for developing the skills required in the audit field (de Villiers &

Fouché, 2015). This could, however, be addressed by using experiential methods such as

guest lectures (Burdon & Munro, 2017), case studies, team projects and student presentations

(Barac et al., 2016).

Burdon and Munro (2017) successfully used a simulation by giving students client

evidence (for example, invoices, inventory listings and asset registers) together with video

recordings of key clients. They then allowed students to carry out site visits. Siegel, Omer

and Agrawal (1997) used a video recording in their class to demonstrate practical audit issues

such as the proposal and client acceptance issues, preliminary planning, mid-engagement

planning and evaluation and lastly, audit completion. de Villiers (2016) used an audit

simulation to develop auditing competencies but also included pervasive skills. Students were

given actual working papers and engagement letters to see how audit theory was applied in

practice, while the use of videos simulated a stock count.

2.3 Management Accounting and Financial Management

Rudman and Kruger-van Renen (2014) report that traditional Management Accounting

classes merely consist of a discussion of the topic’s theory, followed by a working example

consisting of calculations. Consequently, students struggle to link the theory to practice once

they enter the workplace. Rudman and Kruger-van Renen (2014) therefore developed a

simulation in which students were required to prepare a strategic business plan using their

management accounting knowledge and technology skills.

In another Management Accounting module, an intervention to develop pervasive skills

consisted of a series of enrichment tutorials that complemented the content-based tutorials

(Merino & Aucock, 2017). Wynder (2004), in his Management Accounting class, assisted

students to learn about the business environment and the role of a management accountant by

allowing them to analyse the existing procedures to identify the key determinants in a

simulated, computerised case study. His intent was to develop students’ higher-order skills

through the use of case studies.

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Moilanen (2017), in his Management Accounting module, had students complete their

own case assignment and attach a short learning diary. Adler and Milne (1997), in their third-

year Management Accounting class, conducted a case study and a seminar session in a

collaborative learning environment. These methods jointly developed several skills desired

by universities, employers and the profession alike. Ballantine and McCourt Larres (2007), in

their Management Accounting class, required students to work in a cooperative learning

environment on unstructured case studies. In addition, students were required to maintain an

individual and group learning journal to reflect on their own involvement and to identify

individual contributions to the group effort.

Cullen et al. (2004), in their Financial Decision-Making module, used case studies to

formatively assess students through a combination of interactive, small group presentations,

which required role-play by both tutors and students. In addition, group reports and

individual learning diaries were prepared by students. The case studies came from a variety

of sectors covering professional services, retail, manufacturing and the public sector.

2.4 Taxation

Viviers et al. (2016) report that several active learning methods within the subjects of

Financial Accounting, Auditing, Management Accounting and Finance have been developed,

but that Taxation is lagging behind the other subjects. They therefore developed an

educational game that took the form of a race against time where student teams had to

participate in interactive, tax-related activities. The game was designed to incorporate

technical content, but most importantly, it sought to foster pervasive skills. Furthermore,

Sawyer et al. (2000) developed a taxation case study which represented a typical client

engagement for a professional tax adviser. Students were required to identify and research

taxation issues, provide written advice to their client, complete and file an application for a

binding ruling and consult with a unit on behalf of the client.

Mabutha’s study (2017) specifically focused on how ethics − a sub-category of

SAICA’s pervasive skills − could be incorporated into the taxation curriculum. He reported

that the technical topics of tax planning, tax avoidance and tax evasion were fields where

ethics could suitably be linked. Furthermore, he found that case studies were an effective

method to expose students to different types of ethical challenges that they could encounter in

the taxation environment.

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2.5 Integration of core subjects

In Fortin and Legault’s (2010) study, students were involved in a real-business case study

where they experienced the professional life of a public accountant. Students took on the role

of either auditor, advisor, expert witness or controller. Cases focused on different areas of

practice such as financial and tax planning, business opportunities, settlement of legal

disputes, business combinations, organisational environment and ethical conduct. Students

were required to solve the integrated case studies by applying relevant theories, identifying

and analysing problems and making recommendations verbally or in writing. In some

instances, students were required to solve cases through role-play.

Maughan (2016) analysed the effectiveness of a capstone course in developing

pervasive skills from the perspective of students, tutors and educators. The objective of the

course was to enable students to integrate and contextualise the technical knowledge

(Accounting, Finance, Management Accounting, Auditing and Taxation) from their

accounting course with the business environment. The interrelated aspects of these disciplines

were traced through the financial statements of listed companies, focusing on analysis,

interpretation, disclosure and corporate governance.

Samkin and Keevy (2019) report on a real-life case study integrating the subject areas

of Strategy, Financial Management and Management Accounting. During the case study,

students were required to prepare a credit application, similar to what is expected in a

financial institution. It was apparent that the real-life case study assisted students in seeing

the link between the technical content and real-world application. Furthermore, when

collaborative learning is used with another delivery method such as a case study, pervasive

skills can be enhanced even further.

Table 1 below provides the key findings of the pervasive skills developed in the core

subjects and the methods used by these researchers as detailed in the literature review. As

Lines and Gammie (2004, p. 24) observe, “the widening range of required knowledge, skills

and values demands the utilisation of a variety of assessment methods, in order to capture the

entire range of key capabilities necessary in today’s professional accountant”. Furthermore,

pervasive skills should be integrated into all subjects in the accounting curriculum, and the

development of these skills should be the explicit goal of the academic programme (Arquero

Montańo, Jiménez Cardoso & Joyce, 2004).

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Table 1: Summary of the findings on methods used in core subjects to develop

pervasive skills

[INSERT TABLE 1 HERE]

In a South African study, Barac and du Plessis (2014) asked the heads of department

of 14 university undergraduate programmes to indicate the extent to which the different

categories of pervasive skills were integrated into the core subjects. This study did not take

into account Strategy3 as a core subject. Barac and du Plessis (2014) found that ethical

behaviour and professionalism (category IA) had ‘extensive integration’ in the subject of

Auditing, while only ‘some integration’ in the other four subjects: Accounting, Management

Accounting, Financial Management and Taxation. With regards to personal attributes

(category IB), all five subjects had ‘some integration’, with the least integration for Taxation.

Lastly, for the professional skills (category IC), there was ‘much integration’ for Accounting,

Management Accounting, Financial Management and Auditing, while only ‘some

integration’ for Taxation. Moreover, Barac and du Plessis (2014) maintain that the reason

why the IA category is extensively integrated in Auditing, is that the individual skills in the

Competency Framework have a close relationship with SAICA’s professional code of

conduct and its disciplinary rules which are addressed in the auditing curriculum.

Nevertheless, there is a need to integrate ethical behaviour and professionalism into the other

subjects by “requiring students to critically consider the ethical implications of actions

required in response to problem-based scenarios and questions” (Barac & du Plessis, 2014, p.

66). The IFAC (2015) has added to this by indicating that academic programmes must deal

with the values of ethical behaviour by allowing students to explore and make connections

between corporate failures and fraud.

3. Research method

This study examined the perceptions of aspirant CAs on the importance of core subjects in

transferring SAICA’s pervasive skills during the academic programme. In order to explore

aspirant CAs’ views in this regard, a web-based questionnaire was used to elicit the necessary 3 In South Africa, the core subject of Strategy, Risk Management and Governance was only introduced into SAICA’s curriculum in 2009, with the development of the Competency Framework (SAICA, 2009). This subject is embedded within other core subjects such as Auditing (governance portion) and Financial Management and/or Management Accounting (strategy and risk management portion).

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information. Barac and du Plessis (2014) investigated the perceptions of heads of department

on the integration of pervasive skills into core subjects. The present study, however, is based

on the views of aspirant CAs; therefore a bespoke questionnaire was designed to address the

research question. A questionnaire was considered a suitable research instrument given the

large population anticipated in the empirical work (Batinic, Reips, Bosnjak & Werner, 2000).

The questionnaire was pilot-tested on a selected group of aspirant CAs. The pilot assessed

whether the questions in the questionnaire met the intended objective of the study. No major

amendments were required following the pilot test.

The population for the empirical work included all aspirant CAs who wrote the first

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) in 2014. As this is the final assessment

before qualifying as a CA, the aspirant CAs had already undergone the full scope of the

academic programme and would have had first-hand knowledge of the six core subjects and

the pervasive skills relevant to qualifying as a CA (SAICA, 2018).

In total, 2 050 e-mails were dispatched, yielding a response rate of 66%. The

questionnaire in its entirety was part of a bigger data set. Therefore, only 48% of respondents

addressed the portion of the questionnaire relevant to this paper, as none of the questions in

the questionnaire was compulsory. Questionnaire response rates can often be disappointing

(Lowe & Locke, 2005). For example, recent studies conducted in South Africa reported

response rates of 17% (Barac, 2012) and 28.9% (Malan & Stegmann, 2018). Therefore, the

sizeable response rate achieved for this paper contributes to the reliability and usefulness of

the information. Possible non-response bias was investigated by determining how

representative the respondents were of the total population. At the time of sending the

questionnaire, 14 universities in South Africa were accredited by SAICA. Respondents from

13 universities were represented in the results, as respondents from one university did not

complete the questionnaire. Furthermore, training programmes serve as the practical training

ground for aspirant CAs and are classified as large, medium or small firms, commerce and

industry or the public sector. Respondents from all training programmes were represented in

the results. Therefore, respondents in this study can be seen as being representative of the

total population.

The first part of the questionnaire elicited information on the university where the

participants had completed their academic programme as well as their current training

programme. The part of the questionnaire relevant to this study included four sections (see

Sections 4.1 and 4.2) with closed-ended, ranking questions of a quantitative nature.

Participants were asked to rank the degree to which each core subject contributed to their

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pervasive skills development during their academic programme. The ranking of the core

subjects was from 1 (most important) to 6 (least important). Participants could use each

number only once. Open-ended questions were also included to support findings from the

ranking questions.

As previously stated, SAICA’s 2017 Competency Framework classifies pervasive

skills into three categories, namely, (i) ethical behaviour and professionalism (IA), (ii)

personal attributes (IB) and (iii) professional skills (IC). These categories are further

subdivided into 28 individual skills (SAICA, 2017). The web-link on the questionnaire

contained a sidebar guiding participants on the skills included within each of the three

categories when answering the questions. For example, when answering the questions for a

particular pervasive skill category, a sidebar appeared containing the list of the different skills

under each category (see Table 2). Furthermore, given that the participants, at the time of

completing the questionnaire, would have already completed the academic programme and

two years of the required minimum three-year training programme, they would have been

aware of the pervasive skills, as these skills also need to be attained during the training

contract and recorded in a portfolio of evidence (SAICA, 2018).

Table 2: List of individual skills included in the IA, IB and IC categories of SAICA’s

pervasive skills

[INSERT TABLE 2 HERE]

SAICA distributed the questionnaire via e-mail to aspirant CAs on behalf of the

researcher. The questionnaire contained a dedicated URL. The participants were directed to a

website and asked to complete the questionnaire by clicking on the URL. An independent

statistical consultant was appointed to create a website and control the online administration

and recording of the data and the accuracy of the statistical analysis and interpretations. In

line with ethical practices (Ary, Jacobs & Sorenson, 2010; Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012),

the completion of the questionnaire by participants was voluntary and anonymous.

Furthermore, electronic consent was obtained from all participants to ensure that data

collected could be collated and reported in aggregate.

4. Empirical findings

4.1 Respondents’ views on the importance of the core subjects in developing pervasive

skills

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The objective of this section in the questionnaire was to elicit respondents’ views on the

importance of the core subjects in developing their pervasive skills. The results are set out in

Table 3 below, and are presented from the most important to the least important, based on the

mean.

Table 3: Respondents’ views on the importance of core subjects in developing

pervasive skills

[INSERT TABLE 3 HERE]

The results from Table 3 are analysed further in Table 4 by comparing respondents’

views per university on the of the core subjects in developing their pervasive skills.

Table 4: Comparison of respondents’ views per university on the importance of core

subjects in developing pervasive skills

[INSERT TABLE 4 HERE]

From the results above, respondents indicated that Strategy (mean = 2.77) was ranked

the highest in developing pervasive skills, while Taxation (mean = 4.54) was ranked the

lowest. Respondents from 8 of the 13 the universities felt that Strategy was the most

important in developing pervasive skills. However, respondents from 4 universities believed

that Accounting was the most important subject in this regard. There was general consensus

that Taxation was the least important in imparting pervasive skills, with respondents from 12

of the 13 universities expressing this opinion (see Table 4). A respondent’s comment

clarifying the low ranking of Taxation is given below:

‘I do not feel that one needs to apply too much more than technical knowledge to Tax, as there are rules that need to be adhered to and followed for reporting.’ (Respondent 264, large firm)

Specifically mentioning the subject of Auditing, one respondent remarked that this

subject can only be understood when the principles are applied in practice (Respondent 143,

large firm). Other respondents felt that an improvement was required in the way Auditing is

taught at university (Respondents 253, 825, large firm). This is because the current ‘level is

not sufficient to develop robust pervasive skills’ (Respondent 928, commerce and industry).

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Several respondents emphasised the relevance and practicality of Strategy, as

indicated in the comments below:

‘The introduction of Strategy in university has forced us to keep current on [the] economic environment.’ (Respondent 1447, public sector) ‘I found that throughout my university program, Financial Management (including Strategy, Risk Management) was the one subject where we really made to think of the qualitative rather than only the quantitative factors influencing decisions. This type of thinking definitely stimulates the development of the pervasive skills. I think that in all the subjects above the questioning approach could consider the role, context and audience.’ (Respondent 914, large firm)

‘Financial Management and Governance and Strategy was quite sufficient in CTA.’ (Respondent 1341, large firm)

However, even though Strategy was ranked highest in imparting pervasive skills, a

comment was made regarding possible improvements:

‘Strategy is the only topic subject that provides a connection to actual practicality. I found the scenarios developed during university were impractical and are never likely to occur in real life. There should be a bigger focus on the basic principles as these are the basics used daily in practice.’ (Respondent 383, large firm)

Several general views were also shared, suggesting that the academic programme did

not adequately prepare students with pervasive skills, as indicated below:

‘I do not believe that there was enough focus on pervasive skills during my under- aspirant CA and post-aspirant CA career. I do believe that these skills were developed when I commenced with my training contract. I do not believe that the university I attended equipped me with the practical skills I need, to conduct my job e.g. information and computer technology was not considered a valuable component of the course and was only completed up until 1st year level. Consequently, my Excel skills were developed when I commenced with my training contract.’ (Respondent 358, commerce and industry)

‘More can be done to entrench pervasive skills in university programme.’ (Respondent 1447, public sector) ‘The University programme contributes to technical skills. Communication skills are not developed enough to be tested as aimed in the APC.’ (Respondent 682, large firm)

‘I believe the university programme focused more on technical competency. The main focus was getting the answer right, to the last decimal. It’s during the

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training programme at the audit firm that the pervasive skills started kicking in, gradually. It’s not something that you can learn from a book, it’s through consistent practice that one can demonstrate the skill.’ (Respondent 864, medium firm)

Furthermore, there were several comments of the same nature, conveying that the

academic programme did not focus on pervasive skills (Respondents 258, 749, 1377, large

firms), and ultimately, did not prepare respondents for the work environment (Respondent

972, public sector), given that the delivery focused predominantly on technical content

(Respondents 586, 1038, large firm). A pertinent comment was made by one respondent:

‘Overall there was not a large focus on creating strong managers with good analysis skills and personal skills and an ability to implement technical knowledge in a professional environment. Rather, there was a focus on ensuring technical strength, forgetting about the environment in which our technical knowledge will be used. However, it is difficult for students to imagine the corporate environment and to know the correct business manner when in varsity.’ (Respondent 1358, large firm)

Therefore, the practical experience afforded by the training programme was where most of

the pervasive skills were developed (Respondents 901, 1065, medium firm). Specific mention

was made of all three categories of pervasive skills. For example, Respondent 922 (large

firm) conveyed that “personal attributes” (IB category) and “professional skills” (IC

category) were not properly addressed in a university context whereas respondent 782 (large

firm) was of the view that the “professional skills” (IC category) and “ethical values” (IA

category) were only addressed during their experience in the auditing firm.

In contrast, certain respondents indicated that all subjects were important in

developing pervasive skills (Respondent 305, large firm; Respondent 573, medium firm).

Other respondents (Respondent 19, medium firm; Respondent 797, public sector;

Respondents 234, 1296, 1443, large firm) indicated that there should be more integration of

core subjects with real-world case studies, as this ‘integration/bigger picture concept gives

the necessary context for the development of pervasive skills’ (Respondent 204, medium

firm). Other respondents (Respondent 340, large firm; Respondent 386, medium firm)

suggested more integrated assignments across all core subjects to allow ‘students to think

about all competency areas’ (Respondent 386, medium firm).

The IFAC (2015) indicates that pervasive skills are not acquired solely from specific

courses but rather, from both the academic programme and the training programme as well as

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through life-long learning. This viewpoint was echoed by Respondent 936 (medium firm)

who remarked: ‘I believe that pervasive skills are developed through experience in the field,

more than in one particular field’. Another respondent was of the opinion that the academic

programme merely focused on passing examinations and not on the development of pervasive

skills (Respondent 573, medium firm). These skills are enriched and attained during the

training programme (Respondent 573, medium firm; Respondent 1310, large firm;

Respondent 1370, public sector).

Countering the views expressed above, three respondents argued that ‘pervasive skills

were [a] major focus during university studies’ (Respondent 690, public sector) and that

universities assisted meaningfully in developing those skills (Respondent 865, public sector;

Respondent 1096, medium firm). Moreover, another respondent commented that the business

ethics course that was completed during the second year of the academic programme greatly

assisted in the acquisition of pervasive skills (Respondent 1330, commerce and industry).

4.2 Respondents’ views on the importance of core subjects in developing the IA, IB and

IC categories of pervasive skills

The objective of the following three sections of the questionnaire, as set out in Tables 5, 6

and 7 below, was to ascertain respondents’ views on the importance of the core subjects in

developing the IA, IB and IC categories of pervasive skills. The results are presented from

the most important to the least important, based on the mean.

Table 5: Respondents’ views on the importance of the core subjects in developing the

IA category

[INSERT TABLE 5 HERE]

Regarding the skills applicable to ethical behaviour and professionalism, the subject

of Auditing was ranked the highest by respondents, followed by Strategy. Given the technical

focus of the IA skills in Auditing and Strategy, it appears realistic that these subjects were

ranked the highest by respondents. Several of the individual skills in the IA category (for

example, protects the public interest; acts competently with honesty and integrity; maintains

objectivity and independence; avoids conflict of interest; protects the confidentiality of

information; and adheres to laws, professional standards and policies) are covered during the

technical component of Auditing and Strategy (SAICA, 2017). Furthermore, in the auditing

syllabus, students would also acquire an understanding of ethical principles (IFAC, 2015).

17

Barac and du Plessis (2014) state that the reason why the IA category is extensively

integrated in the subject of Auditing is that the individual skills in the Competency

Framework have a close relationship with SAICA’s professional code of conduct and its

disciplinary rules. Therefore, the high ranking of Auditing for the IA category is also in line

with the findings of Barac and Du Plessis (2014). Comments made by two respondents in this

section of the questionnaire also emphasised the relevance of auditing to the IA category:

‘Ethical behaviour and professionalism is mostly obtained through Auditing.’ (Respondent 193, small firm) ‘Strong ethical behaviour was stressed under Auditing.’ (Respondent 1387, small firm)

However, according to the IFAC (2015, p. 52), educators “need to distinguish

between teaching students about professional values, ethics and attitudes and developing and

instilling ethical behaviour”. The use of a conventional lectures merely involves introducing

and describing theories and concepts (IFAC, 2015).

Based on the ranking of the other subjects − Accounting, Management Accounting,

Financial Management and Taxation − there is scope for further inclusion. Barac and Du

Plessis (2014) indicate only some integration in the other core subjects, barring Auditing.

However, there is a need to integrate ethical behaviour and professionalism into the other

core subjects by “requiring students to critically consider the ethical implications of actions

required in response to problem-based scenarios and questions” (Barac & Du Plessis, 2014, p.

66). Furthermore, based on the responses from the 13 universities, respondents from 7

indicated that Strategy was most important in addressing the IA category while respondents

from 5 believed that this was best achieved by Auditing. Taxation is the subject that was least

important in addressing the IA category, according to respondents from 12 universities (see

Table 4).

Table 6: Respondent’s views on the importance of core subjects in developing the IB

category

[INSERT TABLE 6 HERE]

The subject of Strategy was ranked the highest, followed closely by the other subjects,

except for Taxation. Barac and Du Plessis (2014) indicate that for the IB category there was

18

some integration for all the subjects, but the least integration for Taxation. Furthermore,

respondents from 8 of the 13 universities indicated that Strategy was most important in

addressing the IB category of pervasive skills. However, respondents from two universities

disagreed, stating that Management Accounting was better, while respondents from another

two thought Accounting was most important for this category. Respondents from 11

universities declared that Taxation was the least important in addressing the IB category (see

Table 4).

Confirming the higher ranking of Management Accounting, a respondent expressed

the following view:

‘I found managerial decision making highly value adding to my person as it sharpens ones’ ability to scan the environment and make decisions while being mindful of how stakeholders like customers, suppliers, employees etc. might react adversely to a business move that on the surface appears so profitable.’ (Respondent 1236, large firm)

Table 7: Respondents’ views on the importance of core subjects in developing the IC

category

[INSERT TABLE 7 HERE]

For the IC category, the subject of Accounting was ranked the highest, followed by

Strategy. The other subject rankings closely followed. Taxation was once again ranked last

according to the mean score. Similarly, Barac and du Plessis (2014) observe that there was

“much integration” of pervasive skills for Accounting, Management Accounting, Financial

Management and Auditing but only “some integration” for Taxation. Respondents from 9 of

the 13 universities indicated that Accounting was most important in addressing the IC

category. Respondents from 11 universities agreed that Taxation was least important in

addressing the IC category (see Table 4).

5. Conclusions, limitations and areas for future research

This paper reports on a study of aspirant CAs’ perceptions on the importance of the core

subjects in accounting academic programmes in transferring SAICA’s pervasive skills. First,

the results demonstrate that Strategy is an important subject for pervasive skills development,

given its practical nature which forces students to remain current. However, it was suggested

that Strategy should involve more real-life scenarios (Dewey, 1997) involving business roles,

contexts and stakeholders (Samkin & Keevy, 2019). Given the high ranking of Strategy, and

19

it being a relatively new subject, there is potential for educators to collaborate on experiential

and practical methods (Dewey, 1997; Kolb & Kolb, 2005) to enhance pervasive skills

development even further.

Views were expressed that integration of core subjects with real-life case studies aids

pervasive skills development. This is corroborated by Fortin and Legault (2010), Maughan

(2016) and Samkin & Keevy (2019), who recommended combining subjects in an

intervention to improve skills development. Pervasive skills should thus be integrated into the

core subjects as these are complementary in nature (Arquero et al., 2004; de Villiers, 2010;

Keevy & Maré, 2018), but by integrating core subjects also aids pervasive skills development

(Fortin & Legault, 2010; Maughan, 2016 & Samkin & Keevy, 2019).

Auditing was ranked as the most important subject for developing the IA competencies.

The IFAC (2015) advises against using conventional lectures to merely describe ethical

theories and concepts, recommending instead that alternative experiential methods (Dewey,

1997; Kolb & Kolb, 2005) be used such as case studies, ethical discussions, role-plays, guest

lectures, educational games and cooperative learning environments (Ballantine & McCourt

Larres, 2007; IFAC, 2015; Viviers et al., 2016). Added to this, several researchers (Siegel et

al., 1997; de Villiers, 2016; Burdon & Munro, 2017) contend that video simulations are

particularly effective in showing students the practical issues of an audit environment and

learning through experience (Dewey, 1997; Kolb & Kolb, 2005), which ultimately results in

pervasive skills development.

The core subjects of Strategy and Accounting were ranked the highest in developing the

IB and the IC competencies. For pervasive skills as a whole, and for the three categories of

pervasive skills, Taxation was found to be the least important. In addition, from a university

perspective, the subject of Taxation was ranked lowest in transferring pervasive skills.

Nevertheless, some educators (Viviers et al., 2016; Sawyer et al., 2000) have successfully

used educational games and case studies in this subject to foster pervasive skills. Mabutha

(2017) even went so far as to specify which modules in Taxation would be best suited for

integrating pervasive skills into the subject content. These were Tax Planning, Tax

Avoidance and Tax Evasion. One respondent stated that Taxation was merely about rules.

However, when practical examples are brought in to the Taxation classroom, pervasive skills

can be inculcated more effectively. Furthermore, both Viviers et al. (2016) and Sawyer et al.

(2000), in their Taxation curriculum, combined an educational game and case study with

group work to further aid skills development.

20

SAICA’s Competency Framework was developed as far back as 2009. Therefore, it is

concerning that aspirant CAs view the academic programme as technical with a focus on

simply passing examinations. Like the 2017 Competency Framework, the CA2025

Competency Framework will require educators to equip students with a range of pervasive

skills (SAICA, 2019). Consequently, educators should take note of the results of this study by

introducing more experiential learning into the core subjects and giving students more

opportunities to experience real-life tasks and business contexts (Dewey, 1997; Kolb & Kolb,

2005).

The limitations inherent to this study follows. Firstly, the subject of Strategy was

indicated by respondents as being most important in developing pervasive skills in their

entirety and for the IB category. However, several students would have encountered Strategy

not as a standalone subject but rather as part of Auditing (governance portion) and Financial

Management and/or Management Accounting (strategy and risk management portion).

Secondly, the data was collected in South Africa. Therefore, the generalisability of the results

could be limited given that the questionnaire was specifically associated with the core

subjects at SAICA-accredited higher institutions in South Africa. Using more interpretive

approaches such as interviews or focus groups on particular pedagogies, future studies could

identify which subjects are more important in developing pervasive skills. Regardless of

these limitations, this study provides useful evidence on the importance of core subjects in

developing pervasive skills. These findings could aid educators to refine their academic

programmes in light of forthcoming changes such as the CA2025 Competency Framework in

South Africa.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and

suggestions. Many thanks also go to SAICA for supporting this research and assisting in

distributing the questionnaire to aspirant CAs.

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Memorandum of changes

Core Subjects in Accounting Academic Programmes: Development of Pervasive Skills

I would like to thank the reviewers for the care they have taken in the review of the various iterations of our paper. I believe that all issues they have raised have been addressed and the paper is hopefully ready for acceptance.

In the following table I have detailed the reviewers’ comments and have provided the responses and relevant changes.

Reviewer 3: In addition to the comments raised by the reviewers, we suggest that the authors consider re-writing the abstract. For e.g. remove the reference to SAICA in the abstract, and replace it with the three categories of pervasive skills. The section that starts with the sentence 'It concerning that aspirant CAs .." does not flow, and does not link with the discussion of the findings. The findings refer to where these pervasive skills are prevalent, and then this sentence refers to the technical focus and passing of exams. Integrating pervasive skills across all subjects seems to be an appropriate conclusion. Further, you may want to consider changing the description of "aspirant CAs" to "accounting trainees" - to make it more accessible for international readers.

Thank you this has been addressed in the abstract. See updates with three categories of pervasive skills in the abstract. Thank you removed. Agreed. I have therefore also included the similar sentence from the conclusion to the abstract, that pervasive skills should be integrated into core subjects, but core subjects should also be integrated. Thank you, this was considered. However, I looked at the paper in its entirety and this may create latter problems in the paper. I have therefore added a footnote in the introduction

27

of what an aspirant CA is as set out below: The term ‘aspirant CA’ used in this study, refers to an individual/accounting trainee that has already completed the academic programme and two years of the required three-year training programme. Furthermore, I have looked at various Accounting Education papers specifically in SAJAR, which mostly refer to aspirant CAs.

Reviewer 2 I want to thank the author(s) for addressing the comments and recommendations made by both reviewers. In my opinion these comments and recommendations have been addressed sufficiently.

Thank you for this positive feedback over the various iterations.

Reviewer 4: Thank you for the opportunity to review the paper. It is an interesting and relevant study. As the other reviewers have provided detailed feedback, I will comment on corrections that I recommend further and above those previously made: Previous reviewer comments have been adequately addressed. Typographical, punctuation and reference errors still evident: Page 1, in the abstract, the sentence should read "It is concerning that aspirant CAs..."

Thank you. However, the previous reviewer suggested that this sentence be removed from the abstract.

Page 2, in the introduction, first para, "However, over the last decades..." Is this the last few decades, or just the last decade?

Thank you. Amended this to “over the last few of decades”, given that this started in the early 1980s.

Page 3, after the references ending "Moilanen, 2017)" there should be a comma and space before "cooperative"

Inserted the comma. Thank you.

Page 6, the page reference on the Barac et al reference is inconsistent.

Thank you. I have amended this as follows: Barac, Kirstein, Kunz and Beukes (2016) assert that audit education is particularly challenging given its practical nature, and that “students are expected to contextualise their learning and apply it to real-world situations” (p. 392).

Page 18, last para there is a double "that that" Removed. Thank you Table 1: I would have preferred the contents of the table to be included in robust discussion in the

Thank you for this comment. Within the sub-sections (2.1, 2.2 etc. I have included the

28

text, but this is not a requirement for publication. discussion of each of these studies). Therefore, the table is merely a summary for the reader to see the methods, core subject area and the skills that can be developed. I felt that the table was needed to draw the reader to these areas (method, subject, skills); otherwise it gets last in the text.

Method: The only extensive development area required is with respect to the response rate. On page 10 there isn't sufficient evidence provided that the response rate was adequate. The Marx (2008) doctoral thesis is not a leading expert in surveys and the accompanying stats. How have the authors addressed non-response bias? While the response rate seems adequate, further validation is required to be documented.

Thank you for this valuable comment. I have removed the reference to Marx, and added Barac’s similar study of accounting graduates. See changes below: Questionnaire response rates can often be disappointing (Lowe & Locke, 2005). For example, recent studies conducted in South Africa reported response rates of 17% (Barac, 2012) and 28.9% (Malan & Stegmann, 2018). Therefore, the sizeable response rate achieved for this paper contributes to the reliability and usefulness of the information. Possible non-response bias was investigated by determining how representative the respondents were of the total population. At the time of sending the questionnaire, 14 universities in South Africa were accredited by SAICA. Respondents from 13 universities were represented in the results, as respondents from one university did not complete the questionnaire. Furthermore, training programmes serve as the practical training ground for aspirant CAs and are classified as large, medium or small firms, commerce and industry or the public sector. Respondents from all training programmes were represented in the results. Therefore, respondents in this study can be seen as being representative of the total population.