Skillset to Assimilate Information Technologies in Accounting SMEs

Competence in operating IT on one hand aids the routine business activities related to an accountants’ work and on the other helps them create an environment where these technologies operate at their optimum level for the strategic internal and external advantage of the business. Recent studies indicate that accounting businesses are now customer-oriented, information-driven, project-based, flatter in structure, and consist of a number of functional and cross-functional teams. An all-encompassing skill set for accountants is therefore required, which not only caters for IT skills but also accounts for organisational, human, and interpersonal skills. This chapter presents an empirically tested integrated framework for competency development consisting of technical, organisational, people, and conceptual skill dimensions. This framework focuses on technical skills and calls for skills in areas that complement technical knowledge, so as to institutionalise competency development as an ongoing activity of an accountant’s professional lifecycle.