Advertised skills and characteristics of management accountants

In New Zealand there have been a number of articles about the changing profile of accountants in today’s environment. Recent debate is focusing on the goal congruence of educators and practitioners. Professional accounting bodies are also identifying the changing needs of the accounting professionals’ skill sets as a key area of future focus irrespective of what job title the accounting professionals operates under. This paper seeks to identify the key skills and characteristics of management accountants which are being looked for by employers in today’s market. Situations vacant for management accountants were surveyed. The results indicated that communication skills were advertised the most frequently, marginally ahead of technical skills. Of the Characteristics leadership was most frequently advertised. The survey in this paper confirmed the practitioners actions in situations vacant advertising are congruent with their requirements profiled as essential skills in potential employees, today’s students