The impact of the changing practitioner requirements on management accounting education at South African universities

Abstract

One of the most important change drivers to influence the working environment of management accountants during recent years has been the phenomenal development of information technology. This and other change drivers have influenced the workplace to such an extent that questions have arisen as to whether there is a gap between management accounting education and expectations in practice. Various research articles on this topic, as well as the problem of how such a gap, if there is one, should be addressed, prompted this specific research problem. The core of the study comprised a literature study and an investigation by means of a questionnaire to ascertain whether the education of management accountants equipped them adequately for the tasks they are expected to fulfill in practice and, if a gap between education and practice should be identified, what the reasons for this gap could be. Given the reasons, recommendations were made relating to various stakeholders. The most important recommendations are that professional bodies, educators and practitioners should form a closer alliance so that education and practice can be kept in line with each other; that case studies should be incorporated into the syllabi in order to help bridge the gap between theory and practice, and that certain skills and techniques should get either more or less exposure in the syllabi.