Employability skills of international accounting graduates: Internship providers’ perspectives

The purpose of this paper is to report on the perceptions of internship providers with respect to the employability skills of international accounting graduates that undertake a Professional Year Program (PYP) incorporating a 12-week (240 hour) internship.

The study involved a survey of internship providers that required open and closed responses addressing perceptions of the skill of interns and rating of satisfaction with the PYP program as an employment preparation program.

The results indicate that from the internship providers’ perspective the most highly developed skill of interns is team skills. However, over 40 percent of respondents indicated that interns had failed to demonstrate the capacity to be “work ready” with respect to business acculturation, capacity to handle unfamiliar problems and communication skills. One-third of respondents had ongoing concerns with the PYP as a means of preparing Australian educated international graduates for work in the accounting profession.

There was evidence of a need for a more cohesive theoretical underpinning of the internship program as a means of enhancing the transition from study to work.

This study was the first independent study to examine perceptions of a PYP incorporating an internship program to enhance the employability of international accounting graduates who seek professional recognition in Australia. The study provides insights of internship providers of the employability skills of international graduates. The results are timely given the emergence of the demand for relevant work experience enabling international students to enhance their employability globally.