Desired profile of graduates of undergraduate accounting programs of the universities of Santa Catarina

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the profile of the undergraduate courses in Accounting from Santa Catarina universities. We sought to study the abilities, skills and required profile of graduates by Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in accordance with the Educational Course Programme (ECP), its relationship with the National Education Guidelines and orientations of the Federal Council of Accounting (FCA). The investigated sample consists of ten higher education institutions that offer graduation courses in Accounting and have a status of "university". The methodological procedures used characterize this research as exploratory and qualitative. The analysis results show that HEIs include in their ECPs desired skills and competencies, in line with national and CFC guidelines. The findings indicate that the HEIs investigated wish an accounting professional that has communicational and interaction skills with organizations and society, that is capable of dealing with information systems and that has interdisciplinary knowledge, who is able to present solutions to the challenges encountered when performing the profession and has a critical view. In addition, they expect this professional be a creative individual, updated, ethical and able to make the difference in context of integration.