www.lsbm.ac.uk

Usha Mistry

London School of Business and Management

Embedding Employability Skills in the BA (Hons) Accounting and Financial Management degree via use of Professional Statutory Regulatory Body student membership

www.lsbm.ac.uk

Embedding Employability Skills in the BA (Hons) Accounting

and Financial Management degree via use of Professional

Statutory Regulatory Body student membership.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Employability skills embedded in Validated Accounting Degree

3. Employability Skills Support model - PACE

4. Literature Review

5. Research Method

6. Research questions, findings and recommendations

7. Conclusion

8. References

1. Introduction

Widening participation of higher education.

Increase in graduate numbers since the early 1990s.

A brilliant first degree may not be enough to secure

employment. Importance of employability skills also

known as (ICAEW, 2013) soft skills, personal skills,

transferrable skills, behaviours and competencies.

Government recognised importance of employability: Embedding employability into the core of higher education will

continue to be a key priority of Government, universities and

colleges, and employers. This will bring significant private and

public benefit, demonstrating higher education’s broader role in

contributing to economic growth as well as its vital role in social

and cultural development. (HEFCE, 2011)

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Students should not wait to consider career

development till they graduate.

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2. Employability skills embedded in the validated accounting degree

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Extramural

Lectures

Internship

Module Sage Excel

Practical

Workshops

Business

game, Career

Free

Membership

CIMA/ACCA

CIMA/ACCA

Accreditation

Reflective

Practice

CASE Volunteering

STARs,

PALs,

Societies,

President

Student &

Personal

Development

Plan

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Lord Bilimoria Cobra Oliver Everett CEO of Commonwealth Enterprise

CIMA Business Game

Orrin Thomas ACCA Larry Shaw CILEx

Jason Nye CIMA Philip Preston CIM

Accounting for Law

Extramural Lectures

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In. Risk Management

RNIB

Institute Of Directors

The Student Lawyer

OXFAM Symposiam Human rights

Paula Lewis CIPD

Carol Husband CMI

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Students can stand out from the crowd in employment

market with continuous development.

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3. Employability Skills Support Model - P.A.C.E.

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Simple model understood by all. Demonstrates how

LSBM supports students in gaining employability skills

to diverse students bodies including mature students

who may be going through career change.

4. Brief literature review • Dearing, (1997) linked employability to the acquisition of

skills for life. Four key skills identified for successful

graduates: communication, numeracy, IT, learning how

to learn.

• A number models and definitions of employability skills

over last 20 years, ranging from Knight and Yorke, (2006)

USEM (Understanding, Skills, Efficacy beliefs,

Metacognition) model of employability to Watts, (2006)

DOTS Employability Model (Decision learning,

Opportunities awareness, Transition learning, Self-

awareness) Pool and Sewell’s, (2007) Career EDGE

model (Career, Experience, Degree, Generic skills,

Emotional Intelligence) to CBI and Universities UK,

(2009) model with focus on enterprise education – skills

for wider economy.

Bennet, (2002): Skill requirements specified in a sample

of 1,000 job advertisements

Source: Bennett, Roger, (2002) Employers' Demands for Personal

Transferable Skills in Graduates.

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AGR Skills and Attributes, (2016)

Source: Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) response to 2015 Higher Education Green Paper consultation

The last four skills are easily developed on the course; others such

as commercial awareness can be gained partly through case studies,

annual reports, PSRB student membership, news as well as

internship. Most skills developed through life and work

experience over time.

CIMA Competency Framework, (2015) CIMA (2015) Mind the skills gap (a Europe-wide survey of 1,700 finance

professionals) revealed that an alarming proportion of graduates that

financial managers hire are inadequately prepared for work. They

possess inadequate technical knowledge, inadequate soft skills, lack

professionalism, and lack basic numeracy and literacy. Source: CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting 2017 Syllabus

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World Economic Forum, (2016) stated one-third of skills (35%) that are

considered important in today’s workforce will have changed by 2020

• Creativity has jumped from bottom ten to top three skills due to new

technologies.

• Listening skills by 2020 are not considered to be in the top ten skills.

• Emotional intelligence will become one of the top skills needed by all.

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Conclusion of Literature Review

• Several definitions of employability.

• Support models - not restricted to one size fits all –

PACE model.

• Employability skills are a continuous development

and growth throughout life –lifelong skills.

• Most employers desire graduates who have

developed soft skills namely communication,

interpersonal and teamwork abilities as well as

technical skills.

5. Research Method

• Free CIMA student membership to Level 4 and 5 students.

• Observe and evaluate services used between October to

December 2016 via questionnaire.

• 20 students filled in the questionnaire (14 from Level 4 students

and 6 from Level 5 representing 61% and 75% completion rate).

• Two focus group meetings to make students aware of services.

• The paper addresses the following questions:

1. What services are offered by CIMA student membership?

2. What services did the students access?

3. What did students gain from access to services in terms of

their employment skills development?

4. What recommendations were made by students to

improve CIMA student membership services?

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6. What services offered by CIMA student membership?

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CIMA Services

CIMA in house event. This is where CIMA recruitment managers came to LSBM to

present and discuss about benefits of having a professional qualification

CIMA Student Pack

Usage of CIMA Student status to CV/applications

Ethics tools and content

Student and Member Event Network

CIMA My Jobs

The CIMA Difference

e-Magazines e.g. FM

Thought Leadership

CIMA Graduate Club which entails:

Webinars

Case studies

Career articles and blogs

Student discussion forum

Job postings

General CIMA information

CGMA Resources

CIMA Salary calculator

Studying CIMA alongside your degree

CIMA Connect

Travel and lifestyle benefits

6. What services did students access?

www.lsbm.ac.uk

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Services Interpretation of the results

Blogs Developing future employment plans, time

management, balancing work and social life, stress

management, writing motivational letter, preparing for

effective CV, reading up on background of company for

the job interview, presentation skills.

Discussion

forum

Awareness of areas yet to experience

Feedback and interaction with other members is

important to them.

6. What did students gain from access to services in

terms of employment skills development?

www.lsbm.ac.uk

Services Interpretation of the results

CIMA My

Jobs

• Awareness range of skills - internship to graduate job

postings to fully qualified accountant.

• Skills students identified as important are: ‘Communication,

listening, team work, time management, problem solving,

commercial awareness, planning and organisation, technical

skills, analytical skills, flexibility, all-around IT skills, logical,

ability to work on your own initiative, motivated, lifelong

learning, previous experience, focused and ambition. Realised

importance of upper class honours.

• Proactive actions taken by student – posted CV on CIMA

website, included CIMA student membership details on CV,

volunteering, applying for internships, attended external CIMA

events, started reading about book keeping.

• Planning ahead.

6. What did students gain from access to services in

terms of employment skills development?

www.lsbm.ac.uk

Services Interpretation of the results

Webinar

Excel and Sage useful for their studies

CV and Presentation on social media to be of use for their

future job application.

Student &

Member Event

Network

Awareness of networking opportunities

Attend events to develop themselves personally and

professionally.

Case Studies Reading about peoples experiences in employment gives

students an insight on how they can plan their own career.

Ethics tools

and content

Skills such as honesty, integrity, unbiased application of

knowledge in assignment.

6. What did students gain from access to services in

terms of employment skills development?

6. Student recommendations of CIMA student

membership service

• One student wanted voluntary placement to be posted in

order to gain work experience maybe due to competition of

paid work placement.

• Another student wanted the FM App to be more efficient.

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7. Conclusion

• An increasing number of UK employers are worried that they will not be able

recruit enough highly-skilled employees according (CBI 2016 survey). The

survey of 500 employers found 69% were concerned, compared with 55%

last year.

• PACE model recognises importance of offering a wide range of experience

outside the academic syllabus. Extra-curricular achievements will positively

contribute to graduate employability.

• This research highlights importance of PSRB student membership. All the

students valued the free CIMA student membership and attended the CIMA in

house events, received CIMA student packs and joined the CIMA

graduate club.

• The feedback from CIMA bloggers, discussion forum, job posting has become

LSBM students feedforward i.e. it has aided students to be aware, take

stock, and plan ahead (PACE) in gaining employability skills and not

leave development until graduation.

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8. References Association of Graduate Recruiters Response to 2015 Higher Education Green Paper,

https://www.agr.org.uk/write/Documents/HE_Green_Paper_AGR_Submission_-_Jan_2016.pdf

[Accessed 17th December 2016]

Bennett, Roger (2002) Employers' Demands for Personal Transferable Skills in Graduates: a content analysis of

1000 job advertisements and an associated empirical study, Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 54:4, 457-

476, DOI: 10.1080/13636820200200209

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13636820200200209?needAccess=true

[Accessed 17th January 2017]

Business Dictionary, http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/employability-skills.html [Accessed 17th December

2016].

CBI/NUS Working towards your future report (CBI 2011)

http://www.nus.org.uk/Global/CBI_NUS_Employability%20report_May%202011.pdf [Accessed 27th September 2016]

CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey 2016, The Right Combination

http://www.cbi.org.uk/cbi-prod/assets/File/pdf/cbi-education-and-skills-survey2016.pdf

[Accessed 28th December 2016]

Chartered Global Management Accountants (CGMA) (2014) report, Addressing the Employability Crisis,

Reconnecting Education, Skills and Jobs http://www.cgma.org/resources/reports/downloadabledocuments/cgma-

employability-report.pdf [Accessed 27th September 2016].

CIMA Mind the Skills Gap (2015) http://myjobs.cimaglobal.com/article/mind-the-skills-gap/ [Accessed 20th September

2016].

CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting 2017 Syllabus

http://www.cimaglobal.com/Global/2017%20Cert%20BA/Syllabus%20doc/Cert%20BA%20Syllabus%202017.pdf

(Accessed 22nd December 2016)

www.lsbm.ac.uk

8. References Creswell, J.W., (2013), Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. Choosing among five approaches. 3rd Ed. London: Sage

Publications.

Dearing, R., (1997), Higher education in the learning society: Main Report, The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher

Education http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/dearing1997/dearing1997.html#01 [Accessed 27th September 2016].

Department for Business and Innovation and Skills, Graduate Labour market Statistics 2015, published 2016

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/518654/bis-16-232-graduate-labour-market-

statistics-2015.pdf

[Accessed 17th December 2017]

Global risk Forum 2014, 9th Edition, World Economic Forum

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalRisks_Report_2014.pdf [Accessed 27th September 2016].

Harvey, L. & Knight, P., (2005), Briefings on Employability 5: Helping Departments to Develop Employability. London. ESECT.

http://www.employability.ed.ac.uk/documents/Staff/HEABriefings/HEA-Briefing5-Helping_depts_develop_employability.pdf

[Accessed 28th September 2016]. HEFCE (2011) Opportunity, choice and excellence in Higher education: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2011/strategy.html http://www.hestem.ac.uk/sites/default/files/hefce_opportunity_choice_and_excellence_in_higher_education.pdf Accessed 28th

September 2016

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, (2013), A world leader of the accountancy and finance profession file:///D:/My%20Documents/Downloads/employability%20skills%20general%20presentation%20(2).pdf [Accessed 28th January 2017].

Poole, L. D. & Sewell, P., (2007), The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.18900!/file/UCLAN-model-of-graduate-employability.pdf [Accessed 28th September

2016].

Oxford Dictionary, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/feedforward

[Accessed 30th December 2016].

www.lsbm.ac.uk

8. References QAA Quality Code Part B (2013). Chapter B1: Programme design, development and approval. QAA [online].

Available at: http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/AboutUs/Documents/quality-code-B1-Programme-Design-Development-And-

Approval-17-February-2015.pdf [Accessed 20th September 2016].

QAA Subject Benchmark Statement 2016, http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/SBS-Accounting-16.pdf,

[Accessed 27th September 2016].

Robles M M, (2012) Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business

Communication Quarterly

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258126575_Executive_Perceptions_of_the_Top_10_Soft_Skills_Needed_in

_Today's_Workplace

(Accessed 24th December 2016)

UKCES, www.ukces.org.uk [Accessed 27th September 2016].

Watts, A G Career, (2006), Development Learning and employability, The Higher Education Academy

https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/id592_career_development_learning_and_employability.pdf (Accessed

30th December 2016)

World Economic Forum, 2016, The 10 skills you need to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-10-skills-you-need-to-thrive-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/

[Accessed 17th December 2017]

Yorke, M and Knight, P (2006), Embedding Employability into the Curriculum. Learning and Employability Series

One. York: Higher Education Academy.

https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/id460_embedding_employability_into_the_curriculum_338.pdf

[Accessed 28th September 2016].

Thank You!

Any Questions?