Professional Knowledge and Skills Required for Accounting Majors Who Intend to Become Auditors: Perceptions of External Auditors

This research aims to ascertain the professional knowledge and the skills/attributes that are considered important by external auditors for a graduate who intends to be an auditor. For this purpose, we conducted a survey on external auditors in Turkey. The research has two dimensions: skills dimension (twenty one items) and professional knowledge dimension (twenty four items). The results indicated that all skills except “knowledge of accounting software” are perceived to be important or very important for the auditing profession. Among the most important skills that graduates are expected to possess are ethics, teamwork, and honesty. The results also demonstrated that some courses are perceived to be extremely necessary, e.g. Auditing, Microsoft Office Programs, Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards, Financial Statement Analysis, Financial Accounting, Capital Market Board Regulations, Cost Accounting, and Managerial Accounting. In addition, cross analyses indicated that there are significant differences among subgroups based on gender, education, auditing firm, experience, and job title.