ABSTRACT

Using U.S. Department of Labor O*NET occupation data, we test hypotheses, developed primarily from the occupational models upon which the American College Testing’s (ACT) Profile career guidance is based, to examine how accounting compares with three competing professions: engineering, medicine, and law. Awareness of the differences in views about the accounting profession between the Profile system and current workers in the field may be useful in improving efforts to educate, recruit, and retain future accounting professionals. Findings indicate that the Profile system underestimates accountants’ need for communication and interaction and analytical thinking abilities. Further, it overestimates their involvement in information processing and nonpersonal tasks. Additionally, we find that accounting is not an outlier profession; instead, it shares much in common with its competitors. Overall, results suggest that the leading occupational models, and the Profile system upon which they are based, may not provide a comprehensive picture of contemporary accounting work.

摘要

使用劳动力的O美国能源部* NET占用数据，我们测试的假设，主要从职业模特赖以美国大学测验的（ACT）开发档案职业指导为主，以检查与三个竞争行业如何占比较：工学，医学，和法律。了解Profile系统与该领域当前工作人员之间对会计专业的看法差异可能有助于改进教育、招聘和留住未来会计专业人士的工作。调查结果表明档案系统低估了会计师对沟通和互动以及分析思维能力的需求。此外，它高估了他们对信息处理和非个人任务的参与。此外，我们发现会计并不是一个离群的职业。相反，它与竞争对手有很多共同之处。总体而言，结果表明，领先的职业模型及其所基于的Profile系统可能无法提供当代会计工作的全面图景。