From the accounting graduate’s and the employer’s perspectives: Exploring the key roles in making skill acquisition and transfer happen

Author

Gary PAN, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Poh Sun SEOW, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Clarence GOH, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Duan Ning, Magdeleine LEW, Singapore Management UniversityFollow

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

2-2025

Abstract

While extant research has discussed how a teacher’s role may have to change when facilitating accounting students’ learning in today’s fast-moving accounting landscape, nevertheless, little is known about the roles played by the accounting graduate and the employer in a similar process. To plug this knowledge gap in the accounting education literature, this study aims to address the following research question: What are the key roles played by the accounting graduate and the employer in the process of skill acquisition and transfer from the university to the workplace? By applying Fitts and Posner’s (1967) three stages of learning and adopting a role perspective, we developed a process framework that depicts the roles played by the accounting graduate and the employer during the cognitive, associative and autonomous stages of skill acquisition and transfer. Our results suggest that the accounting graduate plays the roles of a self-directed learner, a resilient learner and an adept learner, whereas, the employer plays the roles of a supporter, a catalyst and a manager during the learning transfer process. Overall, our framework makes a unique contribution to the accounting education literature and offers relevant insights to enhancing graduate skill acquisition and transfer from the university to the workplace.

Keywords

Accounting Graduate, Employer, Key Roles, Skill Acquisition and Transfer, Accounting Education

Discipline

Accounting

Research Areas

Corporate Reporting and Disclosure

Areas of Excellence

Digital transformation

Publication

Journal of Finance and Accounting

Volume

13

Issue

1

First Page

7

Last Page

17

ISSN

2330-7331

Identifier

10.12691/jfa-13-1-2

Publisher

Science and Education Publishing

Citation

PAN, Gary; SEOW, Poh Sun; GOH, Clarence; and LEW, Duan Ning, Magdeleine. From the accounting graduate’s and the employer’s perspectives: Exploring the key roles in making skill acquisition and transfer happen. (2025). Journal of Finance and Accounting. 13, (1), 7-17.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/2060

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.12691/jfa-13-1-2