How soon do accountancy graduates get a job after

graduation? A tracer study of April 2018 graduates.

A research presented to

The Faculty Members of College of Management and Accountancy

In Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirements for the Subject

ACC 116 Accounting Research Methods

Bachelor of Science in Management Accounting

Presented By:

Alambra, Ivy Corine P.

Balictar Jr., Danilo A.

batisan, Beverly G.

Cervantes, Anna Mariel A.

Dela Paz, Ricky Mae I.

Duran, Geraldine C.

Lozano, Rose Lynne Joy I.

 Ordonia, Freah Mae T.

Sardillo, Nicole S.

Sawit, Madelyn S.

Sison Jr, Sonny Boy S.

Tuapen, Micca Ersa P.

Turcido, Anallet N.

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND RELATED LITERATURE

I. Introduction

Bachelor of Science in accountancy and bachelor of

science in accounting technology are two (2) different

courses with the same work environment. The scope of an

accountant's responsibility is greater than those of an

accounting technician. However, BSA graduates differ because

they meet the minimum requirements under CHED Memorandum

Order (CMO) Number 27, Series of 2017, entitled “Revised

Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the Bachelor of

Science in Accountancy,” and complies with the most recent

competency framework of the International Education

Standards (IES) issued by the International Federation of

Accountants (IFAC). They are qualified to take the Certified

Public Accountant Licensure Examination. But some of those

graduates, unfortunately, can't reach the standards that are

needed to pass the examination. Some of them qualify but

some of them are not able to find a job. BSA graduates that

will be able to qualify in CPA licensure examination can be

placed in a wide variety of jobs including auditing,

auditing, tax, forensic accounting, budget analysis,

financial analysis, management, and consulting. BSAcT

graduates also have an opportunity in public practice,

commerce and industry, government and education.

This research aimed to determine different factors that

affect the duration of job search of 2018 Accountancy

Graduates of Phinma Araullo Univiersity.

II. Review of related literature

Foreign Literature
 Chris Ekimoff, CPA, a graduate of AICPA’s Leadership

Academy, stressed how obtaining a CPA license is a smart

career move. “The main focus after graduating from college

is getting your Certified Public Accountant license. Those

three letters [CPA] really make your career,” Ekimoff says.

“They will identify you in the marketplace, in the business

world and in your career path as a professional willing to

hold yourself to a higher standard and operate under a set

of guidelines and principles that really set you apart.” On

the contrary of being CPA title holder, Study.com states

“Accounting technicians, also referred to as bookkeepers,

work in a range of industries, recording financial

transactions like expenditures, receipts and invoices. They

also update ledgers, create financial statements and ensure

financial records are accurate. Longer hours might be

required around tax time or at busier times of the year for

those who work in the hospitality industry”. They also

emphasize that “No degree is required to become an

accounting technician, though postsecondary education may be

desirable. An aptitude for math and accounting is required.

It is also important for accounting technicians to have an

attention to detail for noticing errors and confidentiality

for handling sensitive financial data. Other requirements

include knowledge of spreadsheets, databases, accounting and

financial analysis software (like Intuit Quicken and Audit

Ware), and project and document management software. They

should also have the ability to use ledger and receipt

books, image scanners and accounting calculators”.

In addition, the State Accounting Guide states that

“Professional accountants of today have careers that use a

wide variety of skills applicable to highly specialized. It

is often said that one of the biggest career decisions

accountants make takes place very early on when deciding

which general area of accounting to specialize in. This is

because the entire career path with regard to the types of

clients an accountant works with, the type of education and

professional certification they’ll need, the level of

education they’ll complete, and the very nature of the work

they perform will be dictated by this decision.”

Furthermore, it also discussed that “New accountants who go

to work for a public accounting firm may serve as staff

auditors who analyze and verify activities in specific

assigned client accounts. This is sometimes considered the

“grunt work” of auditing, and it doesn’t usually involve any

interaction with clients.

Similarly, tax staff accountants with accounting firms do

most of the tax return preparation and research without

interacting with clients.”

Moreover, according to the National Centre for Education

Statistics in 2019, the employment rate was higher for those

with higher levels of educational attainment. For example,

the employment rate was highest for 25- to 34-year-olds with

a bachelor’s or higher degree (87 percent). The employment

rate for those with some college 2 (80 percent) was higher

than the rate for those who had completed high school3 (74

percent), which was higher than the employment rate for

those who had not completed high school (57 percent). The

same pattern was observed among both sexes. For example, the

employment rate for females was highest for those with a

bachelor’s or higher degree (83 percent) and lowest for

those who had not completed high school (39 percent). You

need to enter college with a plan. That’s the best way to

ensure that you get the most from your degree later on.
 Research of John K Courtis and Omar Abdullah Zaid

entitled Early employment problems of Australian accounting

graduates: An exploratory study, state that Six major

problem areas were identified with surprising general

agreement between the respondent groups with regard to the

basis of these problems and recommended solutions. Problems

arise as a consequence of an expectations gap between

employer and employee, a gap that is mostly consequent on

deficiencies in the educational package and from a lack of

practical ability. Problems also occur contemporaneously

from non–employer sources.

Local Literature

In the study of Jose B. Mendoza, CPA, MBA and Ruvy M.

Tuble, MLIS they assess the employability of the 88

graduates of academic year 2008 to 2012 of CHMSC - FT

Campus. Almost Ninety-Six (95.52) percent of those eighty-

eight (88) graduates are employed while the four (4.48)

percent were unemployed but that is because they quit their

jobs for some personal reason prior to the survey. None of

them were ever employed. Most of the graduates (89.86) are

employed in less than a year despite the fact that they are

attending review centers for them to prepare for the CPA

licensure examination. However, the research showed that

most of the graduates found their job with their own effort.

28 are walk-in applicants, 16 get information from friends,

11 got a job from responding to media and newspaper

advertisements. Only 9 is recommended by someone in the

company that they currently belong to and only 5 percent get

a job from vacancy notice and job fairs. They believe that

the college has a big role in helping their graduates locate

new and better jobs aligned to their competency skills.

Sixty-three (63) percent of them have a permanent job. That

means the knowledge and skills that they acquired in college

like Basic Accounting Skills, Financial Reporting Skills and

Human Relations Skills will help them not only to get a job

but also to sustain their present job.

Citation: Jose B. Mendoza, CPA, Ruvy M. Tuble, MLIS. "A

Tracer Study on BS Accountancy Graduates of CHMSC FT''

(https://www.academia.edu/7613004/A_Tracer_Study_on_BS_Accou

ntancy_Graduates_of_CHMSC_FT_1_)
 A Tracer Study on the Employability Status of the

University of the Immaculate Conception Accountancy

Graduates: Implication of their Academic Training This

research was created to gather information about the

employability of the University of the Immaculate

Conception's Accountancy Graduates. Results show that 75% of

the respondents took the board exam and passed; 6% did not

pass the exam and 19% did not take the board exams. This

supported the fact that their employability rate is high

because 79% were employed, 13% are not employed because they

are still studying for the board when the research was

conducted,2% have a business, and 6% are not employed

because of personal reasons. 26% are employed less than a

month, 26% are employed in 1 to 6 months, 37% are employed

not more than a year, and 11 percent are employed after 1 to

3 years after graduating. This data projects that there are

no employment problems on accountancy graduates because they

immediately got a job after graduation and after passing the

CPA Licensure Examination not included the students who are

still studying law, reviewing for the board exam and those

who did not take the exam for personal reasons. They also

strengthen the evidence that the employability rate of an

accountancy graduate is high because 45% are walk-in

applicants, 32% are recommended by someone, 12% are

recommended by friends, 2% are because of school job

placement, 2% get a job through advertisement and 7% from

other means.

Citation: Caminade, L. Flores, L. Sagarino, E. (2016, April

4), "A Tracer Study on the Employability Status of the

University of the Immaculate Conception Accountancy

Graduates: Implication of their Academic Training", Vol. 22

No. 1, pp. 65-82 (2016): International Journal of Education

Research for Higher Learning.

The study of Melba V. Tutor, Aniceto C. Orbeta Jr. and

James Matthew B. Miraflor shows the data on the graduate’s

college experience – skills learned, quality of instruction,

and how it relates to employability. It takes 5 months for

graduates from courses that do not have any professional

license to land on a job while it takes 11 months for a

licensed course graduate to get into their first job. Half

of the graduates took courses that require a professional

license exam and 82% of them took professional or licensure

exams at the time of the survey. It concludes that you may

find a job faster after college because the majority (75%)

of the first jobs acquired by the graduates required a

minimum of a college degree for acceptance but it is easier

to land on a job if a graduate has other credentials that

are related to the nature of his desired work. Around 10%

landed on jobs that only required some college level

education, 6% took jobs that required only a high school

diploma, and another 3% said their job has minimal

educational requirements.

https://pidswebs.pids.gov.ph/CDN/PUBLICATIONS/pidsdps1926.pd

III. Conceptual Framework

A conceptual framework represents the researcher’s

synthesis of the literature on how to explain a phenomenon.

It maps out the actions required in the course of the study

given his previous knowledge of other researchers’ points of

view and his observations on the subject of research

(Regoniel, 2015).

I.P.O model as a functional graph that identifies the

inputs, outputs, and required processing tasks required to

transform inputs into outputs. In other words, the I.P.O.

model will be used by the researchers to understand how the

particular variables in the study connect with each other.

Figure 1. Paradigm of the study shows the information of the

respondents and how the research will be conducted.

IV. Statement of the Problem

In general, this research study entitled “How Soon Do

Accountancy Graduates Get A Job After Graduation: A Tracer

Study of April 2018 Graduates” aimed to determine different

factors that affect the duration of job search of 2018

Accountancy Graduates of Phinma Araullo Univiersity.

Specifically, this research sought to answer the following

questions:

1. How may the profile of the respondents be described based

on:

1.1 age

1.2 sex

1.3 Civil status

2. How these following factors affect the job search of 2018

Accountancy Graduates of Phinma Araullo University:

2.1 Board Exam Passer

2.2 Firms to Work For

 2.3 Nature of Work

2.4 National Certificate from TESDA

2.5 Other Academic Awards

3. How long does it take for them to be hired?

3.1 Less than a month after   graduation:

3.2 1 month to 6 months after graduation:

3.3 6 to 11 months after graduation:

3.4 1 to 3 years after graduation:

3.5 More than 3 years

4. How do they apply for a certain job?

4.1Walk-in applicants:

4.2 Recommended by someone:

4.3 Recommended by friends:

4.4 Because of school job placement:

4.5 Other means:

5 How does Phinma Araullo University help them to find a

job?

6. Is there a significant relationship between the

demographic profiles of the 2018 Accountancy graduates at

Phinma Araullo University and how soon for them to get a

job?

V. Hypothesis of the Study

1. There is no significant relationship between the

demographic profiles of the 2018 Accountancy graduates at

Phinma Araullo University and how soon they get a job.

2. There is no significant relationship between the

Respondents' Credentials and the length of they took before

getting a job.

IV. Significance of the Study

This study is undertaken to establish the timeline of how

soon Accountancy Graduates of April 2018 will get a job

after graduation. The study could be more important to the

following:

Araullo University- As a whole, the university will benefit

from the findings of the study because it may help them to

assess the performance of their graduates. This can be a

basis on what they will need to improve for their program.

future researchers- this study will be useful to future

researchers because this study can be their basis and guide

in their future researches.

Accountancy Students- this is helpful for the present

accountancy students in a way that this research can be

their basis on what might happen to them after graduation.

This can also serve as a guide in deciding what will they do

after graduation.

Aspiring Accountancy students- this research can be helpful

for students who are thinking on being an accountancy

student. This can be their guide on making a decision about

their future.

The Researchers- through this study the researchers will be

able to identify the factors that affect the length of job

search of 2018 accountancy graduates in Phinma Araullo

university.

VII. Scope and Limitation

The tracer study focused on determining the employment

profile of Accountancy and Accounting Technology graduates

at PHINMA- Araullo University College of Management and

Accountancy. This study deals with the present job of the

respondents, if they are still in line with the course they

took up and how competitive they are in their chosen fields.

The target respondents of this study are the Accountancy and

Accounting Technology graduates of PHINMA- Araullo

University in April 2018 only. However, we are able to have

at least 186 respondents to trace their present careers

because most of them did not have their updated contact

numbers and facebook accounts. And because on how this

pandemic works the study would be done through the online

utilization questionnaire as a survey for references. This

tracer study was conducted during the second semester of the

academic year 2020-2021.

Chapter 2
 I. RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY

The respondents of the study will be 144 students out of

186 population of BSA and BSAT graduates in Phinma

Araullo University (April 2018)

II. Slovin’s Formula

population (N) = 186

Margin of error (e) = 5%

sample size (n) =?

N
Formula=
1+ N e2

186 186
n= = =126.9=127
1+186 ( 0.05 ) 1.465
2

SUBGROUPS POPULATION DISTRIBUTION PERSENTAGE

OF SAMPLE SIZE PER COURSE

SUBGROUP

BSA 36 25 19.69%

BSAT 150 102 80.31%

TOTAL 186 127 100%

III. Questionnaire

This research aims to determine different factors that

affect the duration of job search of 2018 Accountancy

Graduates of Phinma Araullo University.

Disclaimer. The data that will be gathered from the

respondents will be only used solely in this research

INSTRUCTION: State or pick the most appropriate response.

Name: ________________(optional)

Age: ______

gender:

 Male

 Female

Civil Status:

 Single 

 Married
  Widowed

2 Credentials:

2.1 BOARD EXAM TAKERS:

 Passed

 Failed

 Did not take the board exam

2.2 Do you have National Certificate III Bookkeeping from

TESDA?

 Yes

 No

2.3 Other academic awards (please specify):

______________

• Employability:

   Employed Less than a month after graduation

   Employed 1 month to 6 months after graduation

   Employed 6 to 11 months after graduation

   Employed 1 to 3 years after graduation

    Employed More than 3 Years

Unemployed:

 Preparing for board exam

 Started a business

 Other reasons: ____________________ (please specify)

*Skip part 4 and 5 if you answer the unemployed part.

4 First job after College Graduation.

Nature of work

 Accounting

 Marketing and Sales

 Administrative

 Others: __________________ (Please specify)

Nature of firm:

 Service Business

 Merchandising Business

 Manufacturing Business

 Others: _________________ (Please specify)

5 How do you apply for a job?

    As a Walk-in applicant

    Recommended by someone

    Recommended by friends

    Because of school job placement

    Other means: ________________ (please specify)