Professional Accounting Education and Meta-Competency Development

This book examines the role of a Canadian professional accounting education program in the development of eight key generic skills or meta-competencies (MCs): influencing and persuading teamwork and relationship building critical and analytical thinking self and time management leadership ability to see the bigger picture presentation and communication. Four key findings emerged from the study. First by building on prior research related to the identification and measurement of a university MC expectations gap the study shows that the professional education program does appear to bridge the university graduate MC expectations gap for some MCs; however professionals may overestimate their ability to see the bigger picture. Second it was found that the most significant influences on the development of various MCs were demographic factors and learning environments. Third the study showed that meta-level quality indicators linking education and employment may not be robust enough to establish the same linkage to professional education and employment. Fourth the study raises questions regarding the role and efficacy of professional education in MC development.