Values, skills, capabilities and knowledge necessary for the accounting profession. An analysis from the labor field
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29076/issn.2528-7737vol19iss50.2026pp148-161pKeywords:
skills, values, accounting, competencies, laborAbstract
The values, skills, and knowledge that accounting professionals must mobilize in the exercise of their roles are a central concern for industry, academia, and the professionals themselves. This study aims to evaluate the relative importance that accountants assign to these three components of professional competence. The research follows a quantitative, descriptive, correlational, and explanatory design, involving 313 accounting professionals from Zone 3 of Ecuador. A Likert-scale questionnaire was used to assess the relevance of various values, skills, and knowledge areas. The probabilistic sample was selected through cluster sampling, including professionals from industry, manufacturing, services, commerce, and other sectors. The findings indicate that "business ethics" and "honesty" are the most highly valued attributes, while "problem-solving" emerges as the most important skill, and "taxation" as the most critical knowledge area. The study concludes that the professional accountant plays a pivotal role within organizations, with a well-defined academic, ethical, and practical profile.
Downloads
References
Alatrista Gironzini, M. A. (2015). Ética del Contador Público. Revista de Contabilidad y Dirección, 21, 119–130. https://accid.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Etica_del_Contador_Publico.pdf
Ariza Ruiz, E. D., Corredor García, M. del P., & Quintero Rengifo, E. F. (2023). Analysis of the Impact of the Ethical Training of Public Accounting Students at Uniminuto UVD and Their Competence About Ethical Dilemmas in the Professional Field. In M. Botto-Tobar, M. Zambrano Vizuete, S. Montes León, P. Torres-Carrión, & B. Durakovic (Eds.), Applied Technologies (pp. 283–292). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Brands, C., Mayer, C. H., & Oosthuizen, R. M. (2024). Chartered Accountants’ perception of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1419766
Budrienė, L., Kvekšienė, M., & Meškelienė, A. (2014). Challenges and trends of recognition of accountants’ competences. Buhalterinės Apskaitos Teorija Ir Praktika, 16, 149–159. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15388/batp.2014.No16.14
Cameron, R. A., & O’Leary, C. (2015). Improving Ethical Attitudes or Simply Teaching Ethical Codes? The Reality of Accounting Ethics Education. Accounting Education, 24(4), 275–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2015.1036893
Castillo Padrón, Y., Baute Álvarez, L. M., Silva López, C. A., Fernández Rangel, L., & Seaone Rodríguez, L. M. (2020). La formación ética desde la institución universitaria. Una propuesta para el estudiante de la licenciatura en contabilidad y finanzas. Revista Universidad y Sociedad, 12(4), 135–139. http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rus/v12n4/2218-3620-rus-12-04-135.pdf
Catanach, A. H., & Rhoades-Catanach, S. C. (2010). Teaching ethics in the accounting and tax curriculum using Milgram’s agentic shift theory. In Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting (Vol. 14, pp. 189–212). Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1574-0765(2010)0000014012
Chicaiza Herrera, M. A., & Guaigua Vizcaíno, J. M. (2023). La ética en el currículo de formación del contador público ecuatoriano. SATHIRI, 18(2), 49–61. https://doi.org/10.32645/13906925.1212
Cunha, T., Martins, H., Carvalho, A., & Carmo, C. (2022). Not Practicing What You Preach: How Is Accounting Higher Education Preparing the Future of Accounting. Education Sciences, 12(432), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12070432
Elo, T., Pätäri, S., Sjögrén, H., & Mättö, M. (2024). Transformation of skills in the accounting field: the expectation–performance gap perceived by accounting students. Accounting Education, 33(3), 237–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2023.2191289
Firdaus, M. I., & Furqorina, R. (2024). Accountant Skill Gen Z Fresh Graduates in Digital Era: A Systematic Literature Review. Jurnal Akuntansi Aktual, 11(2), 160–177. https://doi.org/10.17977/um004v11i22024p160
Guerra-Báez, S. P. (2019). Una visión panorámica al entrenamiento de las habilidades blandas en estudiantes universitarios. Psicologia Escolar e Educacional, 23, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-35392019016464
Hughes, P. (2010). Decision-making Processes in the Context of Ethical Dilemmas: A Study of Accountants in Training [Northumbria University]. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:154422762
Kwarteng, J. T., & Mensah, E. K. (2022). Employability of accounting graduates: analysis of skills sets. Heliyon, 8(7), e09937. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09937
Leitner-Hanetseder, S., Knoll, C., Eisl, C., & Lehner, O. M. (2022). The Need for an Adapted Skillset for Accountants – What Does Accounting Education Literature Tell Us? In Artificial Intelligence in Accounting. Organisational and Ethical Implications (pp. 76–97). Routlege.
Linares Rodríguez, M. C., & Suárez Rico, Y. M. (2017). Competencias del contador público: una mirada desde la Educación Superior y los requerimientos de las PyMe comerciales en Bogotá. Teuken Bidikay, 8(10), 149–175. https://revistas.elpoli.edu.co/index.php/teu/article/download/1206/993/2716
López Fernández, R., Crespo Borges, T., Franco Fadul, M. C., Fadul Franco, J. S., Capa Benítez, L. B., García Saltos, M. B., Crespo Hurtado, E., & Palmero Urquiza, D. E. (2017). Análisis Exploratorio de Datos con SPSS. Universo Sur.
López-Roldán, P., & Fachelli, S. (2015). Análisis de clasificación. In P. López-Roldán & S. Fachelli (Eds.), Metodología de la Investigación Social Cuantitativa (1st ed.). Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
Luhova, O. (2023). Soft Skills of a Modern Successful Accountant. Modern Economics, 37, 72–77. https://doi.org/10.31521/modecon.V37(2023)-10
Macias, H. A., Patiño, R. A., & Castaño, C. E. (2023). Investigación contable en Colombia durante la segunda década del siglo XXI: Transición hacia discusiones extrarregionales. Cuadernos de Contabilidad, 24, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.cc24.iccs
Mantilla Falcón, L. M., Galarza Galarza, J. C., & Zamora Sánchez, R. A. (2017). La inserción de la mujer en la educación superior ecuatoriana: caso Universidad Técnica de Ambato. Latinoamericana de Estudios Educativos, 13(2), 12–29. https://doi.org/10.17151/rlee.2017.13.2.2
Mantilla Falcón, L. M., Valencia Núñez, E. R., & Mantilla Falcón, M. S. (2023). Competencia lingüística y habilidades sociales. Una mirada exploratoria en la educación universitaria (1st ed.). Religación Press. https://doi.org/10.46652/ReligacionPress.20
Mantilla Falcón, M., & Urbina Núñez, A. (2023). Investigación y formación contable en Ecuador. Una aproximación a su realidad actual. Cuadernos de Contabilidad, 24, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.cc24.ifce
Mantilla-Falcón, M., Rosales-Martínez, D., & Sánchez-Herrera, B. (2023). Epistemología de la contabilidad y formación académica: dos mundos contrapuestos. Cuadernos de Contabilidad, 23, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.cc23.ecfa
Mantilla-Falcón, M., Tobar-Vaco, G. H., Arias-Pérez, M. G., & Ríos-Urrutia, G. C. (2018). Competencias del contador-auditor en el perfil de egreso. Caso Universidad Técnica de Ambato, Ecuador. Actualidad Contable FACES, 21(37), 90–117. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/257/25755483005/html/
Maradona, A. F., Chand, P., & Lodhia, S. (2024). Professional skills required by accountants for applying international financial reporting standards: implications from Indonesia. Meditari Accountancy Research, 32(2), 269–293. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-02-2022-1591
Martínez Rebollar, A., & Campos, F. W. (2015). Correlación entre Actividades de Interacción Social Registradas con Nuevas Tecnologías y el grado de Aislamiento Social en los Adultos Mayores. Revista Mexicana de Ingeniería Biomédica, 36(3), 181–191. https://www.medigraphic.com/pdfs/inge/ib-2015/ib153d.pdf
Mohammed, K., & Salem, A. A. (2023). The Impact of Modern Technology on The Skills of Accountants: Analytical Study. 2023 3rd International Conference on Emerging Smart Technologies and Applications (ESmarTA), 1–6. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10293378
Mondragón Barrera, M. A. (2014). Uso de la correlación de Spearman en un estudio de intervención en fisioterapia. Movimiento Científico, 8(1), 98–104. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5156978
Palacio-Fierro, A., Valle Álvarez, T., Morales-Urrutia, X., & Mantilla Falcón, M. (2023). An Exploration of the Skills and Knowledge of the Accounting Profession. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, 366, 225–234. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5414-8_22
Poje, T., & Zaman Groff, M. (2022). Mapping Ethics Education in Accounting Research: A Bibliometric Analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 179(2), 451–472. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04846-9
Rufino, H. D., & Payabyab, R. G. (2017). Competency Requirements for Professional Accountants: Basis for Accounting Curriculum Enhancement. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 7(3), 116–128. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3172508
Schutte, D., & Lovecchio, B. (2017). An Evaluation of the Competence Requirements of South African Accountants Practising in the SME Environment. The Journal of Social Sciences, 53(2), 61–72. http://krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JSS/JSS-53-0-000-17-Web/JSS-53-2-000-17-Abst-PDF/JSS-53-02-061-17-2214-Schutte-D/JSS-53-02-061-17-2214-Schutte-D-Tx[1].pmd.pdf
Tufuor Kwarteng, J., & Servoh, M. (2022). Connection between accounting graduates’ competences and job performance: Mediating role of continuing professional development. Cogent Business and Management, 9(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2084976
Uyar, A., & Gungormus, A. H. (2011). Professional Knowledge and Skills Required for Accounting Majors Who Intend to Become Auditors: Perceptions of External Auditors. Business and Economics Research Journal, 2(3), 33–49. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227489048
Valenzuela-Jiménez, L. F., & Suárez-Rico, Y. M. (2023). Una reflexión sobre la necesidad de re-pensar la ética en la educación contable. Apuntes Contables, 32, 147–168. https://doi.org/10.18601/16577175.n32.08
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 CIENCIA UNEMI
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors can keep the copyright, granting the journal right of first publication. Alternatively, authors can transfer copyright to the journal, which allow authors non-commercial use of the work, including the right to place it in a file open access.
