Objectives of Education for Accountants: Position Statement Number One.

This article focuses on various skills required to become a true accounting professional. To become successful professionals, accounting graduates must possess communication skills, intellectual skills, and interpersonal skills. Communication skills include both receiving and transmitting information and concepts, including effective reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Intellectual skills include the ability to locate, obtain, and organize information and the ability to identify and solve unstructured problems in unfamiliar settings and to exercise judgment based on comprehension of an unfocused set of facts. Interpersonal skills include the ability to work effectively in groups and to provide leadership when appropriate. Accounting graduates should have general knowledge, organizational and business knowledge, and accounting knowledge. General knowledge will help accounting professionals to understand the complex interdependence between the profession and society and to interact with diverse groups of people.