Pervasive Accounting Skills Needed For The World Of Work In The 4th Industrial Revolution Era

Abstract

With the World Economic Forum’s benchmarking framework, South Africa’s readiness and adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has been found wanting as it is still in the nascent quadrant and has not gone beyond the rudimentary stage yet. The aim of this study is to ascertain the effects of the 4IR in teaching and learning of accounting pervasive skills that are needed to prepare the graduate for the world of work. The study was conducted using a qualitative research method since it is mostly applicable for a small sample size. Taking into consideration the purpose and nature of the research, purposive sampling was employed to identify lecturers in the field of Accounting Education at a university in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The findings from the study indicate accounting academics should possess various skills such as technical skills, ethical skills, soft skills and digital skills to teach under the 4IR era because the students are tech savvy. Again, there is need for a well- developed, structured work integrated learning programmes to bridge the 4IR knowledge gap in the accounting field in order to prepare the graduates for the world of work. Therefore, the study recommends that universities should develop a plan that will ensure that student graduates are ready for the advancing working world as propelled by the Fourth Industrial Revolution by introducing formal and harmonised accounting curriculum based on 4IR.