| The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are significant differences among the perceptions of business faculty from central Ohio’s two-year and four-year colleges and universities and business managers from Fortune 500 and non-Fortune 500 businesses in central Ohio regarding the accounting skills and competencies needed by business administration graduates (non-accounting majors).; Twenty-three research questions grouped into seven different skill areas were analyzed using the results from mailed likert-scaled questionnaires from both educators and managers. The responses gathered were analyzed using analysis of variance and t-tests and were separated into groups by two-year educators, four-year educators, Fortune 500 managers, and non-Fortune 500 managers. The responses were furthered separated into the seven different areas: technical, financial, managerial, financial reporting and analysis, computer, international, and communication skills.; Major findings included: (1) According to business managers, two-year college introductory accounting courses need to place less emphasis on technical accounting skills, which did not match the perceptions of business managers and were significantly different; (2) According to business managers, four-year college introductory accounting courses need to place less emphasis on managerial accounting skills, which did not match the perceptions of business managers and were significantly different; (3) Communication skills were ranked as the most important skill for the non-accounting business student. In addition, Fortune 500 managers perceived the ability of working in teams to be more important than did non-Fortune 500 managers; (4) Managerial accounting skills were perceived to be more important by non-Fortune 500 managers than by Fortune 500 managers; (5) Non-Fortune 500 managers also perceived certain financial reporting and financial accounting skills to be more important than did Fortune 500 managers; (6) Besides communication skills, the specific accounting skills/competencies for the non-accounting business student were budgets, financial statement analysis, annual report analysis, and spreadsheets. |
