The employment landscape for accounting graduates in Bangladesh

Abstract

This report is made to find out the current job market situation for accounting graduates. The report will try to find out the gap between market demands and graduate preparedness. This paper’s main four goal is to find out current job market trends for accounting sector in Bangladesh; to find out what problems students face to land a desirable accounting job, to evaluate recent accounting graduates' employability skills and to come up with ways that industry and academia could work together more effectively. Data has been collected from 40 recent graduates and accounting students by online survey. Other than that, a few BEXIMCO IT account executives were interviewed to get their valuable insight on this topic. According to key findings, there is a growing need for corporate accountants in Bangladesh. But students and graduates are showing more interest in public sectors recently. Some of the major reasons behind this are extra workload, income expectations and a preconceived notion that professional degrees are essential for career advancement Other than that, students have expressed that there is not a lot of practical or real-world knowledge which is being taught in academic institutions. This also has made it harder to land a desired job just after graduating. Graduates indicated that they needed additional practical experience, guidance, and exposure to industry-standard software and changing legal requirements. Also, this paper emphasizes how crucial it is to close this gap through joint efforts between academic institutions and industry to better equip graduates for success in Bangladesh's changing accounting environment.