The importance of computer competency in public accounting : an honors thesis [(HONRS 499)]

The purpose of the study was to find out how important computer competency was in the field of public accounting. The surveys included a list of 8 packages of microcomputer based software available on the market today. The software listed was chosen to represent a wide range of operating systems and types (word processing, spreadsheet, etc.), and based on availability and popularity. Blanks were included and broken down into other accounting software and other software. The reason for the blanks being listed was so the responses would not be restricted to listed software. All of the software was to be ranked based on level of experience using a scale of 0 to 5, with 5 being proficient for both the students and recent graduates while the firms used the same 0 to 5 scale only based on experience looked for in hiring.The next two questions dealt with the importance of computer knowledge. All surveyed were asked the perceived importance of computer experience in college and importance in career. After ranking the questions from very unimportant to important, there was room to make additional comments and to explain the reasoning behind the ranking. On both, the recent graduate and firm surveys a question was asked concerning the amount of time staff in that office spent using a computer. The surveys are included as exhibits 0-accounting firm survey, 1-recent graduate survey, and 2-student survey.In all, the surveys were given to three different groups, students, recent graduates, and public accounting firms. Students, the first group, consisted of undergraduate accounting majors at Ball State University. The recent graduates made up the second group and to qualify, must have graduated from college within the past 4 years and currently be employeed by a public accounting firm. The final group, public accounting firms or firms, consisted of local, regional, national, and Big 8 accounting firms with offices located in Indiana. Management was to fill out the surveys sent to the firms.