Accounting Graduates' Competency in Malaysian Public Universities

The market for university and professional accounting education in Malaysia is huge due to the strong demand for qualified accountants and Malaysia's projection of a shortage in the profession. The situation has invited many education providers from around the world to join the bandwagon in trying to get a slice of the pie. How intense is the competition? How does the public universities measure up and survive against all these competition, market strategies and tactics to capture the lucrative business?

For the last 20 years, accounting graduates of Malaysian public universities (commonly represented by the middle and lower-income groups) have been subjected to a perception of not being good enough and yet are highly sought after upon graduation. The profession subjected public universities to intense scrutiny by saying the graduates do not measure to being accountants and ironically, majority of the graduates enter the workplace with ease. Such is an irony that calls for a true investigation to satisfy among other questions:

• How good the public universities accounting graduates really are?
• Is it true that they are not good enough to be called accountants?
• Which skill sets are they still lacking?
• What can be done to improve the situation?

The book is a good reading for anyone who shares an interest in accounting education including lecturers, policy makers, regulatory bodies, professional bodies, parents and students. The challenges facing public universities and their encounter against the invisible hand are also discussed.