Abstract
Many accounting and business students in the United States are required to complete an internship before graduation yet others are not. Several studies have documented the importance of these internships. There are many advantages to having an internship however, that are often overlooked by some colleges when creating curriculum. Internships not only assist students in applying practice to theory-based instruction, but they also help with career connections, and solidifying the instruction the students have learned in their classes. The link between internships and the skills received from those experiences have received little attention from universities. In addition, employers who are looking to hire recent grads are looking for certain soft skills that are necessary in the workplace and without internships, these soft skills are often undeveloped or undefined. Internships therefore provide a link between what employers are looking for beyond the technical skills graduates learn in the classroom. This study differs from previous research in that the skills included in this survey were based on the needs of employers who were looking to hire full-time accountant graduates and to fill in the gaps that might be present. In addition, this study helps to reinforce the internship model as a viable and necessary component of accounting education
Author Information
Angela Peterson, West Virginia University Institute of Technology, United States
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