I. Background of the Study

Accounting is a service activity but more than that it is a language. Its function is to provide quantitative

information, primarily financial in nature, about economic activities, that is intended to be useful in making

economic decisions as defined by the Accounting Standards Council (ASC). Philippine Accounting dates back to the

colonization period as many traders from neighboring countries have influenced business and commerce to the

natives. Accordingly, many foreign cultures and influences have been in and out of the Philippines. The most

significant development in Philippine accounting from colonizers came from the American’s formalizing the

accounting profession and education system. Through the years, different industries have flourished and so does the

role of an accountant in society. Nevertheless, the government encouraged the formation of many accounting

institutions like the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountant (PICPA), Board of Accountancy and more to

monitor the accountant’s performance as people rely on their skills and capabilities.

With the advent of globalization, businesses are experiencing numerous complex transactions and finally

there is a need for standard guidelines in order to have a uniform basis of identifying, measuring and recording

different transactions in all parts of the world and be comparable to other companies. Hence, generally accepted

accounting principles (GAAP) were formed for the preparation and presentation of financial statements by the

International Accounting Standards Council (IASC) . For this reason, accountants can now follow a single set of

rules that could be applied throughout the accounting profession. Due to rapid factors, the complexity of accounting

industry requires accountants be adaptable in different situations. Also, the profession requires acquired knowledge

and skills to meet the various needs of users. Reliance on education is a critical factor considered in performing

accounting services. Thus, education plays an important role to prepare the students in meeting the demands of the

workforce and expectations of companies.

Education is a form of learning in which different kinds of knowledge and skills are acquired and applied in

certain aspects of life. Nevertheless, the courses taken by students have an incremental contribution on performance.

As learning has evolved, the curriculum also changed and soon there could be subjects unrelated and related to the

profession that are not recognized. On the side of the companies, they tend to see some accountants as incompetent

and unprepared to really face the business world since they have been confined to the school knowledge alone.

Accounting education has experienced different modifications due to technological improvement and

globalization. Accordingly, the role of accountants has shifted from being an information generator to a financial

interpreter to varied users (Albrecht and Sack, 2000). Such drastic development would need to expand knowledge

and skills of accounting professionals to meet the demands of the changing business environment.

The accounting profession is truly a demanding job and accountants need to constantly be updated with the

current standards set forth by the International Accounting Standards Board and the respective boards of each

country. In order to meet the expectations of the job, it is important that accountancy students must first have a

strong foundation of the necessary knowledge and skills. However, there may be times when particular sets of skills

are not taught in the university curriculum or the things that are being taught are not essential in the profession.

The existence of this particular gap between accounting education and the demands of accounting practice

is evidenced by previous studies made. They suggest that the accounting programs of universities emphasize more

on developing students for the preparation of the board exams which results in teaching less on other professional

and practical skills needed in the profession. According to them, graduates produced by universities are not

sufficiently prepared to carry out accounting tasks in the workplace (Albrecht and Sack, 2000; and Cheng, 2002).

Thus, this research attempts to determine if a gap exists between accounting profession and accounting

education in Metro Manila.

Theoretical Framework

Under the constructivism theory of Jerome Bruner, learning is based from a process of constructing new

ideas based upon knowledge acquired. The cognitive features of the brain allow the person to think beyond what is

acquired. The instructor should encourage students to learn the principles themselves (Bruner, 1996).

Correspondingly, the Social Learning Theory discusses that learning can be achieved even through observation,

reinforcement of ideas and consequences of behavior to which a person forms his decisions (Bandura, 2001). Each

person has his own mental models in deciphering problems. Accordingly, it is connected with the research, as

accounting education forms the foundation on how they will perform professionally at some extent. Pedagogy plays

a key factor on the development of the student and how a person will be able to deduce proper decisions in facing

the challenges of work. Furthermore, it calls for education to have a personalized curriculum, independent growth

and elimination of grading system. Accounting education could be further improved as it inculcates skill and mind

development of the students. The subjective curriculum could help enhance the potential of students as strengths and

weaknesses differ from each other. Correspondingly, a standardized curriculum would only lead to educational

massification or producing students that think only in a similar way without enhancing individuality and

competency. Moreover, the elimination of grading systems would delve on how learning should come with

initiative rather than a reward and punishment system.

The behavior of people will be attributed to what they expect to happen. For instance, students will study

for long hours in anticipation that in the near future they can achieve a successful career (Shaffer, 2009). Thus, it can

be assumed that data transmitted to the mind will create expectations about the surroundings of a person.

The expectation theory of motivation discusses how people will be doing actions based from their desired

outcome (Redmond, 2009). As an accounting curriculum is implemented, students will form different perceptions on

their future career. The different experiences, they will have would form ideas on what they will be doing during the

actual profession. Hence their ideas would translate into actions on how they will perform their jobs in the future.

Operational Framework

Figure 2: Operational Framework

The independent variables discussed in the study are the perceptions of students, educators and

practitioners with respect to the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace together with the accountant’s actual

experience with the auditing firm. Accordingly, the dependent variable will be the existence of a gap between

accounting education and the profession.

The students, educators from the top three universities and practitioners from the top four auditing firms

will be surveyed to determine the dependent variable. Furthermore, the independent variable which is divided into

two parts can be further grouped out. Perceptions between the students, educators and practitioners can be due to the

(a) accounting curriculum, (b) professional qualifications and (c) demands of the workplace. First, the accounting

curriculum can affect the perception of students and academicians. As the students are taught, they will form

expectations that the lessons learned in school will be applied at work. In the perspective of academicians, they will

pattern the accounting curriculum based on the requirements of the professional board and other institutions. The

differences in pedagogy can also influence how to students will perform as accountants in the near future. Second,

the professional requirements imposed by the company would make an impression on the graduates. Students will

prepare to match with the job description and could be able to influence perception. Third, the demand of the

workplace can be attributed to the different needs of the client and management. Accountants should be able to

handle the different requirements coming from each. In addition, the other independent variable would measure how

the perceptions are different with the actual experience in the profession.

Due to the interaction between the independent variables, a gap could develop. The variables are the factors

that could be greatly considered in understanding the mismatch between accounting education and the accounting

profession.