Academic education for undergraduate and postgraduate students in commerce stream is about teaching the basics, ensuring a strong foundation for the students in various core and related subjects. This helps the students to be thorough in their subjects theoretically. These students are expected to gain practical knowledge outside of their colleges, institutions and universities.

This was working fine until the late 90s when computer accounting was limited to only larger organizations. The others were using manual recording processes for their record maintenance and bookkeeping needs. In the last two decades, both the central and state governments of India began adopting electronic filing of various returns and statements. This has forced many companies to adopt the usage of computerized accounting to be able to meet internal demands like growth and development and external demands such as statutory and banking requirements.

The evolution of computerized accounting from small accounting packages and tax applications to very formidable ERPs has changed the face of the working environment. Demand for working force with knowledge of ERPs and computerized accounting packages has grown multifold. This has created a huge gap in the market expectation versus available skillset for the commerce and accounting graduates. Only those students who came out of colleges and started taking additional training in these courses by paying hefty sums are able to get decent jobs.

It should also be the responsibility of the academic institutions to impart the right skillset to students to excel in their working life. Internship programs and project submissions are a common thread for science students. For non-science students, this has become an option and hence rarely adopted. It is time for academic institutions to go that extra mile and get the industry onboard for trainings and internships.

Currently, commerce course curriculums are decoupled with commercial world. Being in the accounting department, an employee is required to have an understanding of various processes that takes place in his or her organization, such as marketing, sales, procurement, manufacturing, banking, human resource and administration. Many companies are facing the huge adoption issue with freshers who are expected to get trained for longer periods of time before they become productive. This is putting huge pressure on pay scales for these freshers. They are getting very lowly paid because of their value proposition.

Some bright students are adopting the professional courses route to enhance their skillset and marketability. But these courses are not everyone’s cup of tea. Many students start to learn few related courses to get into jobs. Only few of those with good guidance and mentorship are becoming successful. Hence there is a higher percentage of failure. Those students who are dynamic and with good communication skills are able take up alternative employment opportunities like BPO executives.

We also have to understand that changing course curriculum for any stream involves lot of time and huge process because of involvement of many government and non-government authorities. Hence the onus of imparting this practical knowledge rests with the individual colleges and institutions. Following are some of the ways in which we can implement this:

1. Inviting industry experts, taxation and audit experts in their geographic locality to come and give a series of lectures on various processes and procedures followed in their organizations. This helps the students to get familiar with those procedures and nomenclature.
2. Collaborate with various business software application service providers like accounting applications, tax applications, ERPs, CRMs etc., to provide the students with sandbox access to their applications to explore it and complete some projects during their vacation periods.
3. Encourage students with certificates of completion. It will get them lots of visibility in front of industry experts.
4. Encourage students to write articles on various topics on their subject matter. Following proper screening from the teaching faculty the students can publish them in online blog sites. This will boost their confidence to express their point of view on their subjects of interest.
5. Allow them to present their projects done on accounting software in front of industry experts to eliminate the fear of presentation. This process improves their presentation skills as well.

Companies are desperately looking for students with some practical knowledge to help their organizations grow and reach their set goals. It is also the responsibility of the academia to prepare the students for today’s market requirements.

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