Students graduate college with accounting degrees, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to be accountants. I spoke with Ben Mulling, CMA, CPA, CITP, who became CFO of TENTE Casters Inc. at the age of 28, about the gap between what students learn and employers require, and how educators should begin accounting for the real world in their curricula.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Jeff Thomson: Does a skills gap exist between what accounting educators teach and what CFOs need from their staff?
Ben Mulling: Yes, I think schools need to build in more management accounting principles, as opposed to just focusing on public accounting. They aren’t teaching enough basic management accounting terminology, strategy, decision support, and organizational management from an accounting point of view. Too often, the curriculum isn’t connecting how accounting and finance actually work within an organization. It’s rules-based, which is important for public accounting, rather than principles-based, which is needed in management accounting.Jeff Thomson: Does a skills gap exist between what accounting educators teach and what CFOs need from their staff?
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Source: Jeff Thomson (www.forbes.com)
