The relevant information technology knowledge and skills...
Transcript of The relevant information technology knowledge and skills...
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The relevant information technology knowledge and skills
for accounting graduates in New Zealand
Thomas Tam School of Accounting and Management
Faculty of Business Manukau Institute of Technology
Private Bag 94006 Manukau 2241 New Zealand
Email: [email protected] Tel: +64(9)9688000 extn 7252
Fax: +64(9)9687709
Abstract
This is the first part of a research on the information technology knowledge and skills required by New Zealand accounting graduates. The methodology for this part of the research is based on the Delphi method where participants are asked to answer a questionnaire for multiple rounds until a consensus is reached. The list of information technology knowledge and skills recommended by the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants, the International Federation of Accountants and a number of other studies were used as the basis for the questionnaire. Six expert individuals, including five working in the industry as accounting practitioners and one accounting academic, were asked to rate the importance of information technology knowledge and skills from the questionnaire. The results were collated showing the mean score and standard deviation of each question. The participants were asked to rate each question again taking the first round results into consideration. The scores from the second round resulted in nine topic areas rated as “essential” and another nine rated as “important”. The results from the second round of the Delphi method will be used as the basis for further research. It is the aim of this research to contribute to the body of knowledge in accounting education by providing a model for information technology content in accounting major programmes in New Zealand.
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1 Introduction
Rapid advances in information technology (IT) have produced major changes to the ways in which businesses operate. Almost all businesses today use computers of some form in their day-to-day operations. With the use of computers, business is conducted in a way quite different from that in which it was conducted in the past. It is important for accountants to possess IT knowledge and skills relevant to their roles to provide competent and professional services. However, the field of IT is wide and not all IT knowledge and skills relate to an accountant’s role. For example, accountants need not know how to code computer programs – this is the job of a computer programmer. Accountants also need not know the technical details of data communications as long as they have a general understanding of how data are transmitted between two computers. This raises the questions: what kind of IT knowledge and skills do accountants need? What are the entry-level IT skills and knowledge that educators should provide? Educators grapple with these issues constantly (Cytron & Tie, 2001). This study attempts to determine the relevant IT knowledge and skills required for New Zealand (NZ) accounting graduates and from the findings provide a model for NZ tertiary education institutions (TEIs) to design their accounting curricula. The definition of “relevant” IT knowledge and skills for accounting graduates for the purpose of this study is:
All IT concepts, knowledge, skills, tools, use of standard office software and specialised software applications to allow an accounting graduate to perform competently in his/her first five years of practice after graduation from an accounting major degree programme.
2 Literature review
2.1 The impact of information technology on the role of the accountant
Accounting academics and practitioners have been voicing the concern of the impact of IT on the accounting profession and have written abundantly on this topic (Caglio, 2003; Joplin, 1966; Scapens, 2003; Seethamraju, 2005). Joplin (1966) proposed that in order to maintain a major role in business, accountants must involve themselves in management information systems (MIS) and extend their skills and techniques to embrace the new systems and technologies. Today, ready-made MIS systems are available under the name of enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) and are being adopted by an increasing number of companies, especially large organisations. ERP systems integrate all aspects of a business and are designed to allow data-entry at source by the users of various departments. This results in the reduction of routine data-entry job for accountants and the diffusion of accounting knowledge throughout the organisation (Caglio, 2003; Scapens, 2003; Seethamraju, 2005). Accountants no longer have a monopoly on accounting knowledge and are not the only ones
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performing traditional accounting activities such as data collection and preparation of reports. Companies are increasingly looking for accountants who can use their expertise in more important activities such as strategic planning, business management, and design and management of IT systems (Caglio, 2003). A new breed of managers coined as the “hybrid” finance/IT manager has emerged and are in great demand ("The new breed," 1998). Practising and new accountants will therefore need to acquire new skills and knowledge in order to survive in the information age. To be able to do this, accountants have to understand and stay current with the latest information technology, otherwise their career could be in jeopardy (Anastas, 1997).
2.2 Issues in accounting education
A strong warning that accounting education may be failing came from Albrecht and Sack (2000; 2001). The authors published the landmark report criticising that accounting education did not meet the needs of the future accounting professional. The report attributed one of the changes in the accounting profession to technology. Similar concerns regarding accounting education were voiced in Canada by Lin and Hunter (1992). They warned that accounting education failed to keep up with the changes in accounting practices caused by technology and students were finding that their school training failed to prepare them for the workplace. The results of a study made in the United Kingdom (UK) showed that accounting education did not equip the students with enough IT skills for their role after graduation in their employment and that a gap existed between IT skills learned in TEIs and what accountants practised in the real world (Ahmed, 2003). Another study in the United States (USA) found that many students graduating from IT courses in accounting programmes were not given training in IT control knowledge which is important for specialised roles such as auditors (O'Donnell & Moore, 2005).
2.3 The accounting major curriculum in NZ TEIs
The New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) has issued a document entitled “Statements of Learning Outcomes” (SLOs). The purpose of this document is to provide a benchmark for evaluating courses for use in tertiary reviews of approved tertiary education institutions (ATEIs), and to convey the Institute’s expectations of learning outcomes for each of the topic areas at the advanced level (NZICA, 2006a). TEIs seeking accreditation from NZICA have to observe the SLOs in their accounting curriculum. Table 2.1 shows all SLOs and Table 2.2 shows the details of SLO-5 “Accounting Information Systems”.
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Table 2.1 NZICA SLOs
SLO Topic area
SLO-1 Advanced Financial Accounting
SLO-2 Advanced Management Accounting
SLO-3 Auditing
SLO-4 Taxation
SLO-5 Accounting Information Systems
SLO-6 Business Finance/Treasury
SLO-7 Economics
SLO-8 Organisational Management
SLO-9 Statistics
SLO-10 Commercial Law
Source: (NZICA, 2006a) Table 2.2 SLO-5
Learning outcomes Details
Internal control in accounting/business systems
Select factors that must be considered when developing controls for information systems
Describe the control environment and plan to meet control objectives
Identify and compare general controls and application controls for information systems
Assess the effectiveness and efficiency of control compliance monitoring
Evaluate and design internal control systems Demonstrate an understanding of the contribution that
internal controls make to achieving organisational objectives, that is, their value-adding role
Development standards and practices for accounting/business systems
Describe database management systems and identify the advantages of different types of database systems
Define the requirements of a database accounting system
Describe the process and documentation requirements of the systems development life cycle (SDLC)
Describe the system verification and validation process
Explain how emerging technologies influence the design of accounting information systems
Management of IT adoption, implementation, and use
Discuss strategic considerations involved in planning information systems, including an appreciation of the importance of project management
Demonstrate an awareness of security, back-up, and recovery procedures
Evaluate development acquisition alternatives
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Discuss systems maintenance and control policies Discuss the importance of ensuring end user support Explain the principles of managing change
Evaluation of computer-based accounting/business systems
Describe the impact of legal, ethical, and auditing influences on AIS
Describe evaluation objectives, methods, and techniques
Document a system using flow charts and a control matrix
Discuss the effects of rapid change on evaluation of existing systems
The practical use of technology Demonstrate the theoretical application of information systems technology e.g. database design or project management implementation of AIS
Apply information systems/technology to solving business/accounting problems
Source: (NZICA, 2006b) In a typical accounting major programme, IT knowledge and skills are taught or are expected to be learned by students in more than one course. For example, word processing is required in most courses in submitting assignments. The use of spreadsheets is expected in management accounting and finance courses in developing budgets and finance models. An inspection of the NZICA SLOs shows that apart from SLO-5, no mention of IT knowledge and skills are made in any other SLOs. However, NZICA has not specified that an SLO has to be taught in one course and this means that TEIs can teach relevant parts of SLO-5 in different courses. Figure 2.1 shows a possible implementation of SLO-5.
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Figure 2.1 Possible SLO-5 implementation
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Source: Developed for this research
2.4 The International Federation of Accountants
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is a global organisation for the accounting profession. It works with 163 member organisations in 120 countries to encourage high quality practices by the world’s accountants (IFAC, 2006a). The IFAC Education Committee issued International Education Guideline No. 11, Information Technology and the Accounting Curriculum (IEG-11) in December 1995 followed by two revisions, one in June 1998 and one in December 2002 (IFAC, 2003). The purpose of the guideline is to assist member bodies to prepare professional accountants to work in the information technology environment (IFAC, 2003). The guideline details the recommendations for IT education for accounting students and was developed with the aim of aiding and encouraging the implementation of the recommendations in the USA and with the belief that the guideline will be applicable universally (Heales, 2005). In August 2006, IFAC issued an Exposure Draft (IFAC, 2006b) for the proposed International Education Practice Statement 2.1 (IEPS 2.1) with the intention to replace IEG-11. In 2007, IEPS 2.1 officially replaced IEG-11 (IFAC, 2007). An inspection of IEPS 2.1 revealed few differences from IEG-11 except for the addition of one subject area and a clearer definition of the roles of a professional account. Table 2.3 shows the number of main topic coverage recommended by IEPS 2.1.
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Table 2.3 Number of main topic coverage of IEPS 2.1
No. of main
topic coverage
IT strategy 8
IT architecture 46
IT as a business enabler 7
Systems acquisition and development process 26
Management of IT 26
Communication and IT 4
IT control knowledge 24
IT control competencies 12
IT knowledge required as a manager of IT 7
IT knowledge required as an evaluator of IT 3
IT knowledge required as a designer of IT 7
IT knowledge required as an audit professional 4
IT knowledge required as a user of IT 14
Total 188
Source: IFAC (2007) IEPS 2.1, apart from being extensive, includes some topics that are highly technical. Some examples of these technical topics are object-oriented languages, unified modelling language, seven layers of the OSI model, common object request broker architecture, etc. Due to the long list of recommendations and the presence of some highly technical topics, it is difficult for accounting major programmes to follow the guideline.
2.5 The Accounting Information Systems course
A course named Accounting Information Systems (AIS) was specifically developed by TEIs in countries including Australia, NZ, the UK and the USA in response to the inability of many students to grasp the fundamental principles of accounting information systems (Van Meer & Adams, 1996). In many institutions, the AIS course is the main avenue for accounting students to receive IT education and training (Chang & Hwang, 2002). This AIS course is different from SLO-5 or IEPS 2.1 in terms of the scope of coverage of IT topics. As discussed earlier, SLO-5 and IEPS 2.1 are guidelines and recommendations and do not necessarily refer to discrete stand-alone courses. The AIS course discussed in Van Meer and Adams (1996), Chang and Hwang (2002) and prevailing AIS literature refers to a specialised course in the accounting curriculum that teaches IT knowledge and concepts related to accounting systems. Although in some cases two AIS courses are required in the curriculum to cover all important topics (Davis & Leitch, 1988), the AIS course is self-contained
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with a specific syllabus. Bagranoff, Simkin and Norman (2008) suggest that accounting information systems stand at the intersection of two disciplines – accounting and information systems. Figure 2.2 shows the position of the AIS course in relation to the accounting and the information systems domains. Figure 2.2 The AIS course Accounting Information Systems Source: (Bagranoff et al., 2008) Despite efforts by different TEIs in developing this unique course, a generally accepted set of topics to be covered in an AIS course does not exist (Wu 1983, cited in Van Meer & Adams, 1996) and the AIS course remains one of the most diverse and least standardised courses in the accounting curriculum (Davis & Leitch, 1988; Groomer & Murthy, 1996; Heagy & McMickle, 1988). Much research has been made on what IT contents should the AIS course cover in an attempt to provide some guidance in standardising the course (Arnold & Sutton, 2007; Badua, 2008; Borthick, 1996; Chang & Hwang, 2002; Daigle, Hayes, & Hughes II, 2007; Davis & Leitch, 1988). Studies have also been made in comparing academics and practitioners’ views on IT contents to be taught to accounting students (Heagy & McMickle, 1988; Heagy & Rakow, 1991; Van Meer & Adams, 1996). Van Meer and Adams (1996) compared the views of accounting academics and practitioners on the IT topics taught in NZ TEIs in an AIS course. The study concluded that in general, academics and practitioners agreed on the importance of IT categories. Heagy and McMickle (1988) compared what academics covered in accounting systems courses with the needs of accounting practitioners. The study found that of the 59 topics in the questionnaire, there were no significant differences on 20 topics but significant differences were found on 39 topics. Heagy and Rakow (1991) surveyed academics and compared if they agree among themselves on the IT topics that should be taught in accounting systems courses. The study found that there was high degree of agreement on 28 topics (47% of the 59 topics) while only 11 topics (19%) had considerable disagreement.
Accounting
Information
Systems
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A wider perspective of the critical IT skills required by accountants was compiled by Wessels (2005) based on a literature review of major publications and studies which included the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Institute of Management Accountants, International Federation of Accountants, Theuri and Gunn (1998), Hostrom and Hunton (1998), Coenenberg, Haller and Marten (1999), Boyse (2004) and Greenstein and McKee (2004). However, this study focused only on skills and did not take IT knowledge into consideration. The lack of a standardised and generally accepted set of contents for the AIS course makes the AIS course more difficult to teach than other accounting courses (Groomer & Murthy, 1996) and that teaching AIS can be an inefficient and frustrating process (Heagy & Rakow, 1991). This research attempts to discover the IT knowledge and skills required by accounting graduates in NZ from an overarching perspective without limiting the study itself with the AIS course. The results of the research should encompass the AIS course requirements as well as those IT knowledge and skills required outside of the AIS domain. Figure 2.3 shows the conceptual framework of this research. Figure 2.3 Conceptual framework of this research Source: Developed for this research
SLO-5
IEPS 2.1
AIS literature
The relevant IT knowledge and
skills for accounting
graduates in NZ
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3 Methodology
3.1 Questionnaire design
This research addresses a “what” question and could easily lend itself to a quantitative approach using a survey questionnaire (Yin, 1994). However, designing the questionnaire for this research is problematic – how many and which IT knowledge and skills should be included in the questionnaire? From the literature, the most comprehensive and detailed list of IT knowledge and skills recommended for accounting students is IEPS 2.1, and this serves as a good basis for the questionnaire. However, IEPS 2.1 contains 188 main topics. If all 188 topics are included in the questionnaire, the response rate will be very low as respondents will not be motivated or may not have the time to complete such a long questionnaire. If a partial list is selected from IEPS 2.1 to be included in the questionnaire, the basis or criteria for the selection becomes an issue. Given these problems, the research methodology recommended for this research comprises of two parts. The first part is to use a method similar to the Delphi method to establish a workable questionnaire for Part II of the research. Part II of the research will use the results from Part I to interview practising accountants.
3.2 The Delphi method
The approach for Part I of this research borrows from the Delphi method. The Delphi method was developed in 1953 by Norman Dalkey of the RAND Corporation and Olaf Helmer of the Institute of the Future (Vázquez-Ramos, Leahy, & Hernández, 2007). It has been used in a number of higher education research studies and is recommended by Boberg and Morris-Khoo (1992) as a preliminary step in the evaluation of higher education programmes. The method seeks to elicit agreement or consensus on perceptions and judgements from experts in a specialised area (Boberg & Morris-Khoo, 1992). It usually consists of a series of mailed questionnaires addressed to individuals who are considered as experts in the field (Vázquez-Ramos et al., 2007). The returned responses, which are usually anonymous, are analysed and summarised by the researcher and then returned to the experts for further consideration and response. The number of rounds varies and is usually between three to five. Some of the advantages of the Delphi method are anonymity of response, multiple iterations and convergence of answers (Judd, 1972).
3.3 Part I of the research
The literature review conducted has identified a number of recommendations that can be used as the basis for the questionnaire. The most comprehensive list is IEPS 2.1 published by IFAC (2007). There are also other important recommendations including SLO-5 published by NZICA (2006b), the list of IT topics identified by Bain, Blankley and Smith (2002) and the list of IT skills by Wessels (2005). Bain, Blankley and Smith (2002) examined 12 current AIS textbooks and summarised the topics covered
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in these 12 textbooks into 30 topics. These 30 topics provide a good source of questions to be included in the questionnaire. Wessels (2005) conducted a literature review on important IT skills required by professional accountants which included recommendations from IFAC and a number of professional bodies, Theuri and Gunn (1998) and Greenstein and McKee (2004). The inclusion of the IT knowledge and skills contained in the above mentioned sources in the Delphi questionnaire is believed to provide a comprehensive set of questions for the survey. Nine questions have also been developed for this research. In total, there are 266 questions for the Delphi questionnaire. There is some duplication of questions because similar questions exist in different sources but this is not regarded as a hindrance but as a means to ascertain the validity of the responses. Table 3.1 shows the breakdown of the topics by source. Table 3.1 Number of questions in Delphi questionnaire
Source Number of questions
IFAC IEPS 2.1 188
NZICA SLO-5 5
Bain, Blankley & Smith (2002) 30
Wessels (2005) 34
Developed for this research 9
Total 266
Source: Developed for this research Six individuals were invited to be the panel for the Delphi phase. They were a partner from a small accounting firm (coded as D01), an accounting information systems academic from a university (D02), an accountant from a government agency (D03), a chief accountant from a small commercial firm (D04), a treasury accountant from a large commercial firm (D05) and a business advisory consultant from a large accounting firm (D06). Each of the participants was asked to rate each of the 266 questions from a scale of 1 to 6 on their opinion on the importance of IT knowledge and skills required by accountants in their first five years of practice. The scales are “1” = not relevant/not required, “2” = awareness only, “3” = minimum understanding, “4” = good understanding, “5” = full understanding and “6” = able to use and apply. The results from the first round were collated and the mean score and standard deviation of each question computed. The participants were asked to rate each question again in a second round taking into consideration the mean score, the standard deviation and the scores of the other five participants. However, they were not obliged to change their ratings if they believed the rating of a particular question given in the first round best
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reflected their opinion. The results from the second round were collated and compared with the scores from the first round. A third round was not carried out as the results from the two rounds were considered to be robust. To facilitate the analysis of the data to be collected, all 266 questions are classified into two dimensions. Using the guidelines from IEPS 2.1, the first dimension classifies a particular question into the different roles of an accountant who is required to possess that knowledge or be able to use that particular skill referred to in the question. The roles are auditor “A”, designer “D”, manager “M”, user “U” and general “G”. Auditors would require knowledge areas such as internal control, security, evaluation of systems, and use of software to help them in these tasks. Designers are those who are involved in the design, development and management of IT projects. Managers are those who are responsible for the overall management of the IT department, systems, assets or infrastructure. A question is classified as “user” role if it relates to the use of computers or computer software by an accountant as a user. Where a particular question relates to general knowledge or skills required by all roles, it is classified as “general”. The second dimension relates to whether the particular question is about knowledge or skill. “K” is used to denote knowledge and “S” is used to denote skill. Questions that have the keywords “apply”, “use” or are referring to a software product will be regarded as a practical skill requirement. Those that refer to concepts, ideas, processes or procedures are regarded as knowledge. The use of these two dimensions in the analysis will allow the distribution of knowledge versus skills and the distribution of different roles to be shown. Table 3.2 shows examples of the classification. Table 3.2 Examples of classification of “role” and “knowledge / skill”
Question Brief description Role Knowledge /
skill
1.6 Align future IT strategy with business strategy M K
2.5 Nature and types of information G K
4.7 System analysis / design tools and techniques D K
5.16 IT cost controls A K
5.21 Office software (spreadsheet) U S
9.10 Demonstrate understanding of business and accounting systems
U K
10.1 Managing an entity’s IT strategy M S
12.2 Applying project management methods D S
13.3 Evaluating financial accounting and reporting systems
A S
Source: Developed for this research
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Table 3.3 shows the 266 questions classified into the “role” and “knowledge / skill” in a two-dimension table. The number of questions relating to roles is spread quite evenly among the five classifications, around 20% each. The percentage of the number of questions relating to “knowledge” is 71% and to “skills” 29%. Table 3.3 Number of questions classified into “role” and “knowledge / skill”
Roles Knowledge Skills Total % of total
General 61 0 61 23%
Manager 46 7 53 20%
Designer 37 16 53 20%
Auditor 36 15 51 19%
User 10 38 48 18%
Total 190 76 266 100%
% of total 71% 29% 100%
Source: Developed for this research Data collected will be classified into five score categories – “essential”, “important”, “understanding”, “awareness” and “not relevant” based on their mean scores. Table 3.4 shows the proposed categories. Table 3.4 Proposed categories for IT topic ratings
Mean score Category
5 or above Essential
4 to 4.9 Important
3 to 3.9 Understanding
2 to 2.9 Awareness
Below 2 Not relevant
Source: Developed for this research
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4 Analysis of data collected from the Delphi phase
Table 4.1 shows the mean scores from the first and second round of the Delphi phase. In the first round, 16 questions out of 266 (6%) were rated as “essential”, 46 questions (17%) were rated as “important”. In the second round, the number of questions rated as “essential” and “important” was 22 (8%) and 42 (16%) respectively. The number of questions in the “essential” category increased by six while the number of questions in the “important” category decreased by four. In total, 64 questions out of 266 were rated as “essential” and “important” in the second round. Table 4.1 Mean scores from the first and second round Mean score
Score category No. of questions
in first round No. of questions in second round
Change
5 or above Essential 16(6%) 22(8%) +6
4 to 4.9 Important 46(17%) 42(16%) -4
3 to 3.9 Understanding 90(34%) 91(34%) +1
2 to 2.9 Awareness 100(38%) 94(35%) -6
Below 2 Not relevant 14(5%) 17(7%) +3
Total 266(100%) 266(100%)
Source: Developed for this research Table 4.2 shows the changes made by individual participants. The participant who made the most number of changes (78) was D03 (accountant from a government agency). Of these 78 changes, 69 were increases from the first round. It could be due to the low ratings given in the first round by D03 resulting in an urge to increase the ratings to try to conform to what the others have rated. D02 (accounting lecturer) made 40 changes and most of these changes were decreases (31). This may mean that D02 rated more questions higher than practitioners in the first round. D04 (accountant from a small commercial firm) and D05 (accountant from a large commercial firm) made the least number of changes. D04 and D05 were both accountants of a commercial firm. They may have made the most appropriate ratings in the first round and therefore requiring the least number of changes in the second round. However, it is difficult to draw conclusions because different individuals have different acceptance levels on conformity and that has an effect on how willing was the individual in changing the first round ratings.
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Table 4.2 Changes made by Delphi panellists
D01 D02 D03 D04 D05 D06 Total
Number of changes with increased rating
12 9 69 16 6 36
Number of changes with decreased rating
9 31 9 1 10 12
Total number of changes 21 40 78 17 16 48 220
Percentage of questions 8% 15% 29% 6% 6% 18%
Aggregate
total*
Number of changes with increased mean rating
101
Number of changes with decreased mean rating
43
144
* Aggregate total does not equal the sum of number of changes made by the panellists due to some overlaps and some changes balancing each other out.
Source: Developed for this research An analysis of the changes made by the panellists based on the mean score from the first round is shown in Table 4.3. The number of changes made in the “essential” category relative to the number of questions is low (4/16=25%) showing a high degree of agreement among the panellists in this score category. The “not relevant” category also showed good agreement (5/14=36%) followed by the “important” category (29/46=63%). The number of changes made in the “awareness” category was 88 (88%) and for the “understanding” category 94 (104%). This shows that the panellists were indecisive in these two categories. Table 4.3 Changes made to first round score categories First round mean score
Score category
No. of questions
D01 D02 D03 D04 D05 D06 Total
5 or above Essential 16 0 0 0 0 4 0 4
4 to 4.9 Important 46 2 8 4 1 2 12 29
3 to 3.9 Understanding 90 14 15 32 5 1 27 94
2 to 2.9 Awareness 100 5 17 42 11 4 9 88
Below 2 Not relevant 14 0 0 0 0 5 0 5
Total 266 21 40 78 17 16 48 220
Source: Developed for this research
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The mean scores of each question from the second round are analysed and tabulated in the “role” and “knowledge / skill” classifications. The distribution of the questions by mean score based on the “role” classification is shown in Table 4.4 and Figures 4.1 to 4.5. The “user” role has the highest number of questions rated as “essential” (31%) and “important” (44%). The “manager” role has the lowest number of questions rated as “essential” (0%) and “important” (2%). Table 4.4 Distribution of “role” classification
Mean score General Manager Designer Auditor User Total
5 or above Essential
4(7%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 3(6%) 15(31%) 22
4 to 4.9 Important
9(15%) 1(2%) 4(8%) 7(14%) 21(44%) 42
3 to 3.9 Understanding
23(37%) 18(34%) 12(23%) 27(53%) 11(23%) 91
2 to 2.9 Awareness
18(30%) 32(60%) 30(56%) 13(25%) 1(2%) 94
Below 2 Not relevant
7(11%) 2(4%) 7(13%) 1(2%) 0(0%) 17
Total 61(100%) 53(100%) 53(100%) 51(100%) 48(100%) 266
Source: Developed for this research
Figure 4.1 Distribution of “General” role
General
Awareness
30%
Essential
7%Not relevant
11%
Important
15%
Understanding
37%
Source: Developed for this research
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Figure 4.2 Distribution of “Manager” role
Manager
Awareness
60%
Essential
0%Not relevant
4%
Important
2%
Understanding
34%
Source: Developed for this research Figure 4.3 Distribution of “Designer” role
Designer Essential
0%
Awareness
56%
Not relevant
13%
Important
8%
Understanding
23%
Source: Developed for this research Figure 4.4 Distribution of “Auditor” role
Auditor
Awareness
25%
Essential
6%
Not relevant
2%
Important
14%
Understanding
53%
Source: Developed for this research
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Figure 4.5 Distribution of “User” role
User
Essential
31%
Awareness
2%Not relevant
0%
Important
44%
Understanding
23%
Source: Developed for this research The distribution of the questions by mean score based on the “knowledge / skill” classification is shown in Table 4.5 and Figures 4.6 and 4.7. Seventeen percent of the questions in the “skill” classification were rated as “essential” and 30% were rated as “important”. In the “knowledge” classification, only 5% of the questions were rated as “essential” and 10% as “important”. Table 4.5 Distribution of “knowledge / skill” classification
Mean score Knowledge Skill Total
5 or above Essential 9(5%) 13(17%) 22
4 to 4.9 Important 19(10%) 23(30%) 42
3 to 3.9 Understanding 74(39%) 17(22%) 91
2 to 2.9 Awareness 71(37%) 23(31%) 94
Below 2 Not relevant 17(9%) 0(0%) 17
Total 190(100%) 76(100%) 266
Source: Developed for this research
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Figure 4.6 Distribution of “Knowledge”
Knowledge Essential
5%
Awareness
37%
Not relevant
9%Important
10%
Understanding
39%
Source: Developed for this research Figure 4.7 Distribution of “Skills”
SkillsEssential
17%
Understanding
22%
Important
30%
Not relevant
0%
Awareness
31%
Source: Developed for this research Tables 4.6 and 4.7 show further breakdowns of the questions with mean scores of more than 5 (essential) and mean scores between 4.0 and 4.9 (important) into two dimension classifications based on “role” and “knowledge / skill”. Twelve questions out of 22 (54%) that were regarded as “essential” by the Delphi panellists fall under the “user-skill” classification. This is followed by “general-knowledge” (18%), “user-knowledge” (14%), “auditor-knowledge” (9%) and “auditor-skill” (5%).
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Table 4.6 Number of questions with mean score ≥ 5.0
Knowledge Skills Total
General 4(18%) 0 4
Manager 0 0 0
Designer 0 0 0
Auditor 2(9%) 1(5%) 3
User 3(14%) 12(54%) 15
Total 9 13 22(100%)
Source: Developed for this research Of the 42 questions that scored between 4.0 and 4.9, 18 (43%) belong to the “user-skill” classification, followed by “general-knowledge” (22%), “auditor-knowledge” (14%), “designer-skill” (10%), “user-knowledge” (7%), “auditor-skill” (2%) and “manager-knowledge” (2%). From this analysis, it shows that the panellists placed high emphasis on practical user IT skills for accounting graduates. Table 4.7 Number of questions with mean score of 4.0 to 4.9
Knowledge Skills Total
General 9(22%) 0 9
Manager 1(2%) 0 1
Designer 0 4(10%) 4
Auditor 6(14%) 1(2%) 7
User 3(7%) 18(43%) 21
Total 19 23 42(100%)
Source: Developed for this research The descriptions of the top 22 questions that scored 5.0 or above are categorised into topic areas and are listed in Table 4.8. The top 22 questions fall under nine topics – spreadsheet, word processor, accounting software, accounting systems, Internet tools, data security, database software, IT controls and values.
21
Table 4.8 Questions with mean score ≥ 5.0 Question number
IT knowledge / skills Mean score
Classification Topic
5.21 Office software (spreadsheet) 6.0 U S Spreadsheet
9.3 Apply appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems (spreadsheet)
6.0 U S Spreadsheet
16.3 Spreadsheets 5.8 U S Spreadsheet
5.20 Office software (word processor) 5.7 U S Word processor
16.10 Accounting software 5.7 U K Accounting
software
9.2 Apply appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems (word processor)
5.5 U S Word processor
9.10 Demonstrate understanding of business and accounting systems
5.5 U K Accounting
systems
17.1 Accounting software (MYOB, Great Plains)
5.5 U S Accounting
software
8.10 Appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems
5.3 A S
Subsumed into spreadsheet,
word processor, and presentation
topics
9.11 Demonstrate understanding of business and accounting systems (ERP, CRM)
5.3 U K Accounting
systems
15.6 GL reporting cycle 5.3 G K Accounting
systems
16.2 Word processing 5.3 U S Word processor
5.19 Office software (Internet tools: email, web browsing)
5.2 U S Internet tools
6.1 General means of communication supported by IT
5.2 G K Internet tools
6.2 Risks in communication supported by IT
5.2 A K Data security
9.5 Apply appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems (Internet tools)
5.2 U S Internet tools
5.22 Office software (Database management system)
5.0 U S Database software
15.3 Revenue cycle 5.0 G K Accounting
systems
15.20 Internal control 5.0 A K IT controls
15.29 Ethics 5.0 G K Values
16.5 Internet tools 5.0 U S Internet tools
16.9 Database search and retrieval 5.0 U S Database software
Source: Developed for this research
22
The descriptions of the 42 questions that scored between 4.0 and 4.9 are categorised into topic areas and are listed in Table 4.9. These 42 questions fall under 14 topics – accounting systems, operating systems, general systems knowledge, Internet knowledge, presentation software, accounting software, database software, database concepts, IT controls, IT audit software, research tools, e-commerce, data security and documentation tools. Table 4.9 Questions with mean scores between 4 and 4.9 Question number
IT knowledge / skills Mean score
Classification Topic
2.11 Business documents, accounting records, control / management reports
4.8 G K Accounting systems
9.1 Apply appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems (Operating systems)
4.8 U S Operating systems
9.8 Apply appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems (Anti-virus software)
4.8 U S Operating systems
15.1 Introduction to systems 4.8 G K General systems
knowledge
15.22 Communication systems and technology
4.8 G K Internet knowledge
16.4 Presentation software 4.8 U S Presentation software
16.11 Tax return preparation software 4.8 U S Accounting software
17.2 ERP systems (SAP, Oracle) 4.8 U S Accounting software
3.3 Effectiveness of the entity’s business processes
4.7 M K Accounting systems
5.18 Office software (Presentation software)
4.7 U S Presentation software
9.4 Apply appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems (Database software)
4.7 U S Database software
15.4 Purchasing cycle 4.7 G K Accounting systems
15.7 HR / Payroll cycle 4.7 G K Accounting systems
16.12 Time management and billing systems
4.7 U S Accounting software
16.14 Electronic working papers 4.7 U S Accounting software
17.6 Database concepts 4.7 D S Database concepts
6.3 Benefits of IT to communication 4.5 G K Internet knowledge
8.11 Understanding of business and accounting systems
4.5 A K Accounting systems
23
9.7 Apply appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems (Presentation software)
4.5 U S Presentation software
15.2 Introduction to transaction processing systems
4.5 G K General systems
knowledge
15.16 End user computing 4.5 G K General systems
knowledge
15.21 Computer fraud 4.5 A K IT controls
15.28 IT audit 4.5 A K IT controls
9.14 Apply controls to personal system
4.3 U S IT controls
16.15 Audit software 4.3 A S IT audit software
16.27 Anti-virus software 4.3 U K Operating systems
2.6 Attributes of information 4.2 G K General systems
knowledge
5.25 Computer-assisted audit techniques (CAAT) (Analytical tools)
4.2 U S IT audit software
7.19 Controls over information systems
4.2 A K IT controls
8.12 The application of controls to personal systems
4.2 A K IT controls
16.1 Operating systems 4.2 U S Operating systems
16.6 Research tools 4.2 U S Research tools
16.8 Database software 4.2 U S Database software
16.22 Electronic data interchange 4.2 U S e-commerce
5.23 Computer-assisted audit techniques (CAAT) (Accounting packages and CAAT)
4.0 U S IT audit software
9.9 Apply appropriate IT systems / tools to business / accounting problems (Utility software)
4.0 U S Operating systems
9.13 Demonstrate understanding of business and accounting systems (e-commerce)
4.0 U K e-commerce
16.29 Firewall software / hardware 4.0 A K Internet knowledge
16.32 Back-up and recovery 4.0 U K Data security
17.3 Documentation tools (System flowcharts)
4.0 D S Documentation tools
17.4 Documentation tools (Document flowcharts)
4.0 D S Documentation tools
17.5 Documentation tools (Data flow diagrams)
4.0 D S Documentation tools
Source: Developed for this research
24
The 64 questions that scored 4.0 and above representing IT knowledge and skills that are regarded as “essential” and “important” for accounting graduates are combined into the respective topic areas to arrive at a list that will be used as the basis for Part II of the research. The highest mean score within a topic area will be used to determine whether that topic belongs to the “essential” or “important” score category. Using this method, there are nine topics that fall under the “essential” score category and another nine that fall under the “important” score category. Table 4.10 shows the topics and the number of questions that make up the topics with the highest and lowest mean scores of the questions. Table 4.10 Essential and Important topics
Topic
Number of
questions Contents
Highest mean score
Lowest mean score
ES
SE
NT
IAL
Spreadsheet 3 Use of spreadsheet software 6 5.8
Word processor 3 Use of word processing
software 5.7 5.3
Accounting software
6
Use of MYOB, Great Plains, SAP, Oracle, Tax return
software, Electronic working papers, Time management and
billing systems
5.7 4.7
Accounting systems
9
Understanding business systems, ERP, CRM, GL
reporting cycle, Revenue cycle, Purchasing cycle, HR/payroll
cycle
5.5 4.5
Internet tools 4 Use of Email, web browsing,
SMS 5.2 5
Data security 2 Able to perform backup and
recovery 5.2 4
Values 1 Ethical standards 5 5
Database software 4 Use of database software,
database search and retrieval 5 4.2
IT controls 6 Internal control, computer fraud, IT audit, controls to
personal computers 5 4.2
IMP
OR
TA
NT
Presentation software
3 Use of presentation software 4.8 4.5
General systems knowledge
4 Understanding transaction
processing system, end-user computing
4.8 4.2
Internet knowledge
3 Understanding
communications technologies, firewall software/hardware
4.8 4
Operating systems 5 Use of utility software, anti-
virus software 4.8 4
Database concepts 1 Understanding database
concepts 4.7 4.7
25
IT audit software 3 Use of IT audit software,
CAAT 4.3 4
Research tools 1 Able to use research tools 4.2 4.2
e-commerce 2 Understanding electronic data
interchange, B2B, B2C e-commerce
4.2 4
Documentation tools
3 Understanding System flowcharts, Document
flowcharts, Data flow diagrams 4 4
Source: Developed for this research
26
5 Conclusion and further research
The first part of this research has sought the opinions from six individuals regarded as experts in the accounting field in NZ using the Delphi method. They have provided their opinion by rating 266 IT knowledge and skills in a questionnaire in two rounds. Nine essential and nine important IT knowledge and skills topics have been identified. The results will be used in Part II of the research which will be conducted using case studies and semi-structured interviews with accounting practitioners. Part of the semi-structured questions will be based on the results from the Delphi phase. The target number of cases is 10 to 15 and purposeful sampling will be used to recruit the participants. The primary objective of Part II of the research is to understand the IT needs of NZ accountants from an analysis of their day-to-day duties and their involvement and experience in dealing with IT matters. The secondary objective is to establish whether there are gaps and/or agreements between the results from the case studies with the results from Part I of the research.
27
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List of abbreviations
AIS Accounting Information Systems
ATEIs Approved tertiary education institutions
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
IEG-11 International Education Guideline No. 11, Information Technology and the Accounting Curriculum
IEPS 2.1 International Education Practice Statement 2.1
IFAC International Federation of Accountants
IT Information Technology
MIS Management Information Systems
NZ New Zealand
NZICA New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants
SLOs Statement of learning outcomes
TEIs Tertiary education institutions
UK United Kingdom
USA United States of America
31
List of tables
Table 2.1 NZICA SLOs ............................................................................................... 4
Table 2.2 SLO-5 ........................................................................................................... 4
Table 2.3 Number of main topic coverage of IEPS 2.1 ............................................... 7
Table 3.1 Number of questions in Delphi questionnaire ........................................... 11
Table 3.2 Examples of classification of “role” and “knowledge / skill” ................... 12
Table 3.3 Number of questions classified into “role” and “knowledge / skill” ......... 13
Table 3.4 Proposed categories for IT topic ratings .................................................... 13
Table 4.1 Mean scores from the first and second round ............................................ 14
Table 4.2 Changes made by Delphi panellists ........................................................... 15
Table 4.3 Changes made to first round score categories ........................................... 15
Table 4.4 Distribution of “role” classification ........................................................... 16
Table 4.5 Distribution of “knowledge / skill” classification ...................................... 18
Table 4.6 Number of questions with mean score ≥ 5.0 ............................................. 20
Table 4.7 Number of questions with mean score of 4.0 to 4.9 .................................. 20
Table 4.8 Questions with mean score ≥ 5.0 ............................................................... 21
Table 4.9 Questions with mean scores between 4 and 4.9 ......................................... 22
Table 4.10 Essential and Important topics ................................................................. 24
32
List of figures
Figure 2.1 Possible SLO-5 implementation ................................................................. 6
Figure 2.2 The AIS course ........................................................................................... 8
Figure 2.3 Conceptual framework of this research ...................................................... 9
Figure 4.1 Distribution of “General” role .................................................................. 16
Figure 4.2 Distribution of “Manager” role ................................................................ 17
Figure 4.3 Distribution of “Designer” role ................................................................ 17
Figure 4.4 Distribution of “Auditor” role .................................................................. 17
Figure 4.5 Distribution of “User” role ....................................................................... 18
Figure 4.6 Distribution of “Knowledge” ................................................................... 19
Figure 4.7 Distribution of “Skills” ............................................................................. 19
33