Accounting Graduate Career: Enterprise Skills Analysis of Job Listings

This report analyzes three job advertisements for accounting graduate positions to identify the enterprise skills required for success in the field. The analysis focuses on advertisements for an Accounting & Finance Graduate position and two Assistant Accountant roles, chosen for their emphasis on ente...Read More

Author’s Name
Human resources management
Date:

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Introduction
There are many different employment opportunities that are available for graduate
accountant student and this is evidenced by various advertisements available in Australia. To
show various opportunities available for accountant graduate students, there are three
advertisements chosen from the job advertisement website called SEEK Limited (AU)
(www.seek.com). These three advertisements for the position of two Assistant Accountant from
different companies and different advertainments and Accounting & Finance Graduate. There
are a number of reasons why I have chosen the three advertisements. Firstly, the first
advertisement is about Accounting & and Finance Graduate position where the only qualification
required for the position is the enterprise skills as opposed to experience. Secondly, the second
advertisement about Account Assistant is also important for graduate students since though
technical skills are required but not as important as enterprise skills. Thirdly, the last position is
also an Assistant Accountant and I chose these advertisements due to the minimum requirement
based on enterprise skills as opposed to academic qualifications.
Analysis of the three advertisements
First advertisement seeking accounting to fill the position of Accounting and Finance
Graduate and require a degree in commerce with accounting or finance qualifications. The
advertisement seeks graduate that will be working on Finance Business improvement,
performance reporting, financial analysis and compliance, technical & management accounting.
Some of the enterprise skills include innovation skills, resilient, learning agile, ability to tackle

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problems, result driven, is confident and optimistic, motivate or influential and value diversity.
The selection criteria are based on enterprise skill that the graduate poses in addition to being
graduate with a degree in accounting or finance major. The advertisement shows some
similarities to the enterprise skills listed in the Young Australians (FYA) in their report The New
Basics (2017). Some of the identical skills include problem-solving, innovative, and financial
literacy. These enterprise skills are important as they form the basis or the selection criteria for
the position being advertised. According to the advertisement, those candidates for the position
will be selected based on the enterprise skill that they show. The enterprise skills have been
applied to design the selection criteria for graduates that fill the position being advertised1.
The second advertisement is looking for degree graduate with accounting or business to
fill the position of Assistant Accountant at Achitectus company. Some of the enterprise skills
required include self-motivated, ability to work autonomously in a team environment, effective
communication skills, ability to work in an environment with competing priorities. In addition,
the company is also looking for those graduates that are experienced in digital financial systems
such as ERP and accounting software. The advertisement posted a newly created position for
those candidates that have the listed skills2. There are many similarities between the enterprise
skills that are required for the position and those provided in the Young Australians (FYA).
These enterprise skills include digital literacy especially financial systems, communication skills,
and creativity are similar to those listed in FYA. In this advertisement, enterprise skills are
important as they form part of qualification for the position advertised. Enterprise skill has been
applied to design some requirement for the position, for instance, teamwork form part of the
company description so as to show the company value teamwork. Moreover, creativity has also
been used as part of the designing technique of the company3.

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The third advertisement is about accounting opportunity at Hays Accountancy & Finance
to fill the position of Assistant Accountant. The advertainment brings simplicity in the
qualification that is required for the position and most of the emphasis is based on the enterprise
skills. Some of the enterprise skill that is required for the position include intermediate Excel
knowledge, communication, and interpersonal skills, ability to work autonomously and time
management, accuracy and organizational skills. Some of the similar enterprise skills to those
part of the FYA include communication skills and presentation skills4. In the advertisement,
enterprise skills are important since these skills form part of the requirement for the job
opportunity. The enterprise skills have been applied to describe the professional qualification
that matches the position that is being advertised. There are minimal academic qualifications that
are required for the graduate student to get the opportunity except for CPA study completion or
continues studying CPA. Moreover, enterprise skills that are listed within the FYA such as
communication skills and personal presentation skills are the main point of qualification. Though
prior experience in accounting is also required, there is minimal evidence that this important for
the position as no period of experience is specified5.
Commonalities across all three advertisements
There are some commonalities that can be identified in the three advertisements and these
are based on the similarities in enterprise skill requirement. In the three advertisements,
enterprise skills form part of the professional qualifications for the position. Secondly, all the
three advertisements similarities in terms of the requirement for the position and these include
enterprise skills and educational background. Thirdly, in all the three advertainments personal

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skills form the central part of qualification more than social skills. This implies that personal
career development is important for future employability of graduate student6.
There is some enterprise skill that is valuable in three advertisements and these include
communication skills, literacy skills, teamwork and can work autonomously. The three
advertisements present communication skill as enterprise skills required in different ways.
Learning and literacy skill is also an important requirement for all the three advertisements
though used differently. For instance, in the second advertisement literacy in digital and
educational skills are important 7.
There is some evidence that is required to demonstrate these enterprise skills in practice
and these include the ability to communicate and work with others, personal organization,
creativity, and innovation. Firstly, the ability to communicate with others in terms of written,
spoken or interpersonal communications skills are important to show these enterprise skills.
Secondly, a personal organization in terms of time management, presentation, and personal
initiatives will show that I can work autonomously with other people8.
The three-learning experience that is important for the development of enterprise skills
are digital literacy, communication skills, and financial literacy. Firstly, digital literacy is
currently one of the most commonly required enterprise skills since there are many companies
that are using the digital system for managing financial systems. Secondly, communication
forms the most common enterprise skill that is used to select graduates for an employment
opportunity. Thirdly, financial literacy is the basic educational qualification for accountant
graduate student to fit the employment9.

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Reference

1 Tyler, C., “The role of non-cognitive and cognitive skills in accounting for the
intergenerational transmission of ‘top job’ status: Working paper number 16-03”, London:
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2 FYA, “Report card 2015: How young people are faring in the transition from school to work”.
FYA. Melbourne, (2015b). Available at: www.fya.org.au/howyoungpeoplearefaring
3Athayde, R., “Impact: 50 Years of Young Enterprise”. Young Enterprise: Oxford (2012).
Available at: http://www.youngenterprise.org.uk/resources/50th/50thBook.pdf
4 Kahn L, McNeil B, Patrick R, Sellick V, Thompson K & Walsh L., “Developing Skills for
Life and Work: Accelerating Social and Emotional Learning Across South Australia”. Young
Foundation report with The Australian Centre for Social Innovation and the Foundation for Young
Australians, (2012). Available at: http://youngfoundation.org/publications/developing-skills-for-
life-and-workaccelerating-social-and-emotional-learning-across-south-australia/
5 Development Economics, “The Value of Soft Skills to the UK economy”, (2015). Available
at http://backingsoftskills.co.uk/The%20Value%20of%20Soft%20Skills%20to%20the%20UK
%20Economy.pdf
6 FYA, “New Work Order: Ensuring young Australians have skills and experience for jobs
of the future, not the past”. FYA: Melbourne, (2015a).
7 FYA, “Renewing Australia’s Promise: Will young Australian’s be better off than their
parents?” FYA Melbourne (2014).
8-YE (Foundation for Enterprise – Young Enterprise), “Impact of Entrepreneurship
Education in Denmark – 2011”. FFE-YE: Denmark (2012).

9 Long, R., and Foster, D., “Financial and enterprise education in schools – Briefing Paper
06156”, London: House of Commons Library (2016).