Australian Accounting Practitioners' Perceptions of Undergraduate Curricula and Academics

The purpose of this study was to compare the actual level of content of 125 topics taught in the Australian accounting curricuIa with the level expected or desired by practitioners. In addition, this study also evaluated practitioners' perceptions of accounting academics. Results showed that there was little divergence between practitioner expectations of the content levels of the topics and the actual content levels taught. The results also showed that, in general, practitioners have a favourable view of academics in that they were viewed as honest, competent, up-to-date and their research as being useful. On the other hand, practitioners felt that academics should be members of a professional accounting body and should read both academic and professional journals. Practitioners also indicated that they wanted a bigger role in training accountants.