Abstract Calls for greater inclusion of both soft and technical skills exist within the field of accounting education. Yet, what skills do students perceive they are gaining? Rebele and St. Pierre (2019), in the lead paper for this special issue, argue that greater soft skills development may be difficult to achieve within accounting classes. We provide a unique contribution for this discussion by examining whether the professionals calling for increased soft skills development actually believe they developed these soft skills along with technical skills during completion of their own accounting education. We analyzed a sample of over 440,000 students from more than 600 American colleges and universities to investigate the skills graduates perceive they acquired during pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in accounting. To determine if those calling for skill development actually achieved this development during their own college careers, we examined data from 1994 to 2006, which corresponds to students who are now mid-career professionals. We found that the majority of accounting majors reported increased skills in 14 of 15 categories analyzed. However, after holding constant relevant student, collegiate experience, and institutional characteristics, accounting majors’ skill gains only outperformed those of other business majors in 2 of 15 categories, mathematics and “knowledge of your field,” and outperformed non-business majors in only 3 of 15 categories, mathematics, “knowledge of your field,” and computer skills. Overall, findings were positive in that accounting students reported significant gains in most skill categories. Conversely, the findings also suggest accounting educators should remain vigilant in developing curriculum content and determine whether they are still being outpaced by other business fields and non-business majors, especially given our efforts in the area of soft skill development.

中文翻译：

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软技能改变对会计专业的看法：当前从业者的观点与他们自己的现实

摘要会计教育领域内呼吁更多地包括软技能和技术技能。但是，学生认为自己会获得什么技能呢？Rebele和St.Pierre（2019）在本期特刊的导论中指出，在会计课程中可能难以实现更大的软技能发展。我们通过检查要求增加软技能发展的专业人员是否真的相信他们在完成自己的会计教育时同时开发了这些软技能和技术技能，为此次讨论做出了独特的贡献。我们分析了来自600多家美国大学和学院的440,000多名学生的样本，以调查毕业生在追求会计学学士学位期间获得的技能。为了确定那些要求技能发展的人在他们自己的大学生涯中是否真正实现了这种发展，我们研究了1994年至2006年的数据，这些数据对应于现在是职业中期的学生。我们发现，大多数会计专业报告称在所分析的15个类别中有14个领域的技能有所提高。但是，在拥有固定的相关学生，大学经验和机构特征后，会计专业的技能增益仅在数学和“您的领域的知识”这15个类别中的2个类别中胜过其他商务专业，并且仅在非商务专业中胜过15个类别中的3个，数学，“您所熟悉的领域”和计算机技能。总体而言，发现是积极的，因为会计专业的学生在大多数技能类别中均取得了显着的进步。反过来，