Journal of Education for Business

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Finance Graduates’ Knowledge and Skills

Development: Graduate and Employer Perceptions
in United Arab Emirates

Abdulrahman Mohamed Al Shayeb

To cite this article: Abdulrahman Mohamed Al Shayeb (2013) Finance Graduates’ Knowledge
and Skills Development: Graduate and Employer Perceptions in United Arab Emirates, Journal of
Education for Business, 88:6, 307-313, DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2012.715096

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JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 88: 307–313, 2013
Copyright 
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2012.715096

Finance Graduates’ Knowledge and Skills

Development: Graduate and Employer Perceptions
in United Arab Emirates
Abdulrahman Mohamed Al Shayeb
UAE University, Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates

There has been considerable debate over the past decades concerning the extent to which finance
education has fulfilled employers’ and graduates’ expectations related to knowledge and skills
needed in a changing and challenging business environment. This study seeks to examine
whether there are significant differences in expectations between finance graduates and their
employers through examining the 3 dimensions of skills and knowledge: routine–technical
skills, interdisciplinary skills, and interpersonal and development skills. The results show
that graduates put more emphasis on routine–technical skills compared to employers, who
emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary knowledge and skills from other areas of business
education. Both graduates and employers, however, shared a belief in the importance of
interpersonal and developmental skills.

Keywords: curricula, employment, finance education, finance profession

Preparing university students for careers in finance has been
a critical challenge for finance educators as well as for em-
ployers who are seeking well-qualified new finance gradu-
ates. For educators, this challenge requires continuous re-
view and improvement of curricula and internship programs,
in addition to acknowledging employers’ needs for partic-
ular skills for new finance graduates, especially in a small
developing country such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
where national graduates face harsh competition from expa-
triates who represent more than 85% of the total population
of the country. For employers, seeking professional, well-
qualified, and knowledgeable graduates with leadership and
communication skills becomes harder and time consuming.
For new graduates, seeking an introductory, new job and se-
curing it for at least a medium term requires them to acquire
sufficient essential knowledge and skills for enhancing their
employability chances. Therefore, this study seeks to exam-
ine whether there are significant differences in expectations
between finance graduates and their employers related to
three dimensions of knowledge and skills: routine–technical
skills, interdisciplinary skills, and interpersonal and devel-
opment skills. The impetus behind this study are twofold:
Correspondence should be addressed to Abdulrahman Mohamed Al
Shayeb, UAE University, Faculty of Business & Economics, Al Ain City
17555, United Arab Emirates. E-mail: a.alshayeb@uaeu.ac.ae
to enhance awareness of finance educators for finance grad-
uates’ and employers’ expectations related to the previous
dimensions set of skills for successful introductory finance
career as well as lay down the ground for a better communi-
cation between finance educators, graduates, and employers
with regard to the perceived important skills for preparing
new finance graduates for professional life.
In the next section I review the literature on previous re-
search, followed by the employability prospects of finance
graduates in UAE economy. Research questions and method-
ology are addressed subsequently. The discussion of the find-
ings and the concluding remarks are addressed in the latter
sections.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Prior studies in employment and student preparedness issues
were scattered and confined more to graduates from all busi-
ness majors in general (ACNielsen Research Services, 2000;
Bennett, Dunne, & Carre, 2000; Crebret, 2002; Leggett,
Kinnear, Boyce, & Bennett, 2004). Finance graduates, like
other business graduates, sooner or later will figure out that
they are required to not just use their technical expertise
and skills, but also to develop interdisciplinary skills in
the areas of economics, management, accounting, strategy,
308 A. M. AL SHAYEB
organizational behavior, and broader general skills such
communication skills, problem-solving skills, and teamwork
skills (Howiesen, 2003). They are required to amalgamate
them in a meaningful manner to meet employers’ needs in
terms of skills and fulfill their expectations.
Business schools’ curricula, on the other hand, have been
accused of lagging behind business practices, by which their
role become more reactive rather than proactive, which ends
with ill-equipped graduates with mismatched skills with em-
ployers and market needs (Albin & Crokett, 1991; Mathews,
2000). Grablowsky and Rowell (1980), for instance, reported
that almost 40% of the practitioners thought that business
schools were lagging behind business practices, while only
about 25% thought that business schools led business prac-
tices. Therefore, the calls for educators to broaden curric-
ula had been loud during the 1980s and 1990s, as business
schools were being criticized for graduating students defi-
cient in critical skills (e.g., Accounting Education Change
Commission, 1990; Adler and Milne; Collett, 2000; Inter-
national Federation of Accountants, 1996; Nabi, 2003). In a
world of globalization and competition, on the other hand,
different professional and accrediting bodies produce guide-
lines for building coherent business programs with expec-
tations for cognitive and behavioral skills, leading to global
citizens (Barrie, 2004; Bowden & Merton, 1998, Kavanagh
& Drennan, 2008).
Finance graduates have been accused of having weak writ-
ing skills (e.g., Grablowsky, 1998; Tanner & Cudd, 1999),
verbal and communication skills (e.g., ACNeilsen Research
Services, 2000; Albin & Crockett, 1991), interpersonal and
critical evaluation skills (Friedlan, 1995), and math skills
(Tanner & Cudd, 1999). In this respect, Cudd, Tanner, and
Budden (1989), surveyed finance professors at universities
of different sizes throughout the United States and found that
finance professors perceived their students to be deficient in
writing, verbal, and math skills. Another survey conducted
by Tanner and Cudd, replicating the 1989’s survey, found
that most deficiencies remained and some became alarming,
with more effort to be exerted at high school level. More-
over, finance professors, in the same study, criticized high
schools for not preparing finance students in math, English,
economics, and speech subjects.
Other studies examined the desirable qualities of busi-
ness majors’ graduates (e.g., Knoblauch & German, 1989;
Lafrancois, 1992; Raybould & Sheedy, 2005). For example,
Raybould and Sheedy found that graduates should demon-
strate a number of skills such as the ability to cope with
uncertainty, to work under pressure, to demonstrate action-
planning skills, communication skills, information technol-
ogy skills, and teamwork skills, the readiness to explore
and create opportunities, self-confidence, self-management
skills, and a willingness to attract employers. In this respect,
it is not only employers who are insisting on personal and
communication skills, but also students who feel that posing
personal transferable skills will help them not just in employ-
ment but also in their long life career (Haigh & Kilmartin,
1999)
THE EMPLOYABILITY PROSPECTS OF
FINANCE GRADUATES IN THE
UAE ECONOMY
The UAE economy is the second largest Arab world econ-
omy, and is striving to recover from the global financial crisis.
It grew by 3.3% in 2011, relative to 7.4% and 2.1% in 2009
and 2010, respectively. The global financial crisis difficulties
extended to private sector lending, which had been in the red
in 2010 and 2011 as UAE banks grappled with the fallout
from debt troubles in Dubai. The total number of the banking
sector labor force has increased to reach more than 42,000
employees in 2013, leaving the negative impact of the global
financial crisis behind.
It is noteworthy that the UAE population ranked third
among Gulf Council Countries, and the UAE banking system
hosts the highest number of Arab and foreign banks with an
average of banking density of 2.41 per 1,000 people. The
UAE banking system consists of 23 national commercial
banks with 799 branches and 28 foreign commercial banks
with 108 branches, 24 financing companies, and eight Islamic
banks with 219 branches. The total number of the banking
sector labor force reached 36,521 employees in 2010 with a
relative decline of 2,000 employees in 2009 due to the global
financial crisis.
As more nationals graduating with finance degrees from
universities and colleges, the UAE government recognizes
the importance of creating a steering committee to steer na-
tionalization processes and strategies in the banking sector.
Therefore, the Human Resources Development Committee
in the Banking & Financial Sector (HRDCBFS) was enacted
in 1996. The HRDCBFS has exerted significant effort to na-
tionalize the banking sector with a rate of 4% every year.
Latest statistics showed an increase of 1% on nationaliza-
tion in 2010 in an accumulation 35.4% with one third of the
banks reaching 20%. Moreover, the proportion of women
in the work force has increased to reach 70% of the total
national power, accounting for 8,334 employees, which rep-
resents 22% from the banking sector total power in 2010.
Despite the potential employability of more national fi-
nance graduates in the banking sector, general education has
been under attack from higher education institutions. Finance
students, as other business students, face educational chal-
lenges as they graduate from high schools where the learning
language is Arabic, and have to struggle in the first year to
learn more English skills in order to get acquainted with the
language and methods of learning as well as communications
skills used at the university. This deficiency is not restricted
to language skills only, but also extends to other educational
skills that are critical to successful academic study in higher
education institutions as well as professional life such as
 FINANCE GRADUATES’ KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT 309

math skills and writing and communication skills. The de- TABLE 1
ficiency reported in previous studies, for instance, Hunjra, Demographic Characteristics of Respondents
Ahmed, Ur-Rehman, and Safwan (2010) argued that better Item %
quantitative skills become prerequisite for those students who
would like to major in finance and accounting as these skills Finance graduates 74.8
will impact their future studies and performance, confirm- Employers 58.0
ing Worthington and Higgs’s (2003) study. Such deficiencies Average response rates 66.4
Employer sectors
force most higher education institutions to develop reme-
Banks 38.6
dial bridging year in order to prepare students for academic Investment companies 13.4
study. Recently, general education has started to introduce Insurance companies 16.3
the general requirement exam, such English and math profi- Manufacturing companies 16.1
ciency exams, as part of the Ministry of Education’s effort to Service 8.3
Other 7.2
bridge the gap between higher education institution’s needs.
Graduating universities
However, the method of learning must be improved upon, UAE University 33.2
departing away from traditional learning techniques. Sharjah University 25.1
Higher CT 29.4
Ajman University 12.3

METHOD
Research Questions
This study solicited the view of finance graduates and their
employers concerning the knowledge and skills that must be
possessed by finance graduates in the UAE. This study seeks
to answers to the following questions:
Research Question 1(RQ1): Is there a significant difference
between finance graduates and employers with regard
to the perceived importance of finance-routine-technical
skills?
RQ2: Is there a significant difference between finance grad-
uates and employers with regard to the perceived impor-
tance of other business-interdisciplinary skills?
RQ3: Is there a significant difference between finance gradu-
ates and employers with regard to the perceived personal
characteristics of new graduates?
RQ4: Examine the significant impact of the factors in ex-
plaining the dimensions.
RQ5: Is there a significant difference among employers and
graduate groups?
Sample and Instrument
The findings of this study are the results of two different
questionnaires. The construct of the two questionnaires is a
result of an extensive review of published literature related
to the subject under the study. The initial draft, then, was
mailed to a number of finance professors in the Faculty of
Business and Economics at the UAE University, an Associ-
ation to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited
businesses school, for review and modifications. Some sug-
gestions were taken into consideration while constructing
the final draft. All tested knowledge and skills grouped into
three dimensions: routine–technical finance skills which are
finance related skills, interdisciplinary academic skills that
are interdisciplinary related skills, and personal and commu-
nication skills that are nonacademic and other related skills.
Each dimension consists of a group of subdimensions (the
items of each dimensions and sub-dimensions are listed in
the Appendix). A confirmatory factor analysis was done to
check distribution of these items across dimensions. Except
for a small number of items, there was a high agreement
between the original classifications and the results from the
factor analysis. The classification was amended according to
the factor analysis when it is adequate.
A 5-point Likert-type scale was used with responses rang-
ing from 1 (not required) to 5 (extremely essential). To ensure
the applicability of the selected items, it was pilot-tested and
some changes were introduced to reflect users’ comments.
The mail questionnaire was mailed to 500 subjects, 250 ques-
tionnaires for each survey groups. Both questionnaires ad-
ministered in 2011. The average response rate was 66%.
Sample Demography
The first part of the employers’ survey sought demographic
information related to the nature of their employers’ business
and the size, while graduates’ survey sought information re-
lated to the nature of program they were enrolled in and their
current employers. The graduates’ survey was distributed
to finance graduates from universities and academic insti-
tutions offering degrees in finance. Other than the first part,
both subjects share the same parts of the questionnaire, which
solicited subject perceptions with regard to technical, inter-
disciplinary, and interpersonal and development skills. The
demographic profiles of both the employers and graduates
surveys are summarized in Table 1.
Reliability of Instrument
The reliability of both questionnaires was ascertained
through the calculation of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. A
Cronbach’s alpha score of more than .70 is acceptable (Hair,
310 A. M. AL SHAYEB

Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). The Cronbach’s alpha
for items in the employers’ survey was .816 while for the
items included in the finance graduates’ survey was .731. A
total score of each dimensions and the subdimension is gen-
erated by the average the items included. The independent
samples ttest was used to examine whether there are signifi-
cant differences existing between graduates and employers’
perception to the total score of three dimensions of skills and
their subdimensions.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 2 reports a significant difference (p = .002) between
finance graduates and employers’ perceptions related to
routine–technical finance skills dimension. Graduates per-
ceived routine–technical skills as extremely important to en-
ter job market relative to employers. Although knowledge
and skills such as financial analysis, knowledge of markets
and financial institutions, and knowledge of investment and
financial instruments are pillars for finance graduates and ed-
ucators; employers did not recognize knowledge and skills
as extremely important relative to other skills. However, fi-
nancial analytical skills, related to knowledge of finance ap-
plications, financial analysis, and evaluation, are the only
skills with mean values for employers to outweigh gradu-
ates. In this respect, employers rated this factor extremely
important suggesting that such knowledge and skills would
be acceptable requirements to enter job market and career
advancement.
The first finance career lesson, therefore, is that routine–
technical knowledge and skills are not enough to win a job.
Finance graduates must possess more of other skills. This
lesson is consistent with previous research studies related
to business majors, which suggest that the need for students
is to develop more skills than just technical skill to enter
business career (Aikin, Martin, & Paolillo, 1994; Deppe,
Sonderegger, Stice, Clark, & Streuling, 1991; Kavangh &
Drennan, 2008; Watty, Cahill, & Cooper, 1998).
The interdisciplinary academic skills dimension reveals
another significant difference (p = .000) between graduates
and employers’ perceptions. Employers perceived interdis-
ciplinary academic skills as extremely important relative to
graduates. This suggests that employers prefer graduates with
broad knowledge from other areas of business such as ac-
counting, business ethics, business law, statistics, and infor-
mation technology. This breadth may enhance the employ-
ability and career development for finance graduates. The
second job market lesson, therefore, is that interdisciplinary
knowledge and skills are what will enhance the employability
and career development for finance graduates. This result is
consistent with previous studies that suggest the importance
of other business subjects to develop business students’ skills
(e.g., Elliot & Jacobson, 2002; Mathews, 2004).
Graduates and employers, on the other hand, share the
same view with regard to the importance of interpersonal
and development skills dimension (nonacademic and other
skills). The results report no significant difference (p = .767)
between the perceptions of both graduates and employers.
Skills such as personal (workplace environment discipline),
professional development and creativity, customer-oriented
interpersonal communication, and problem solving oriented
are equally extremely important for both graduates and
employers. This result is consistent with a number of
previous studies’ conclusions in finance and other business
fields (e.g., ACNeilsen Research Services, 2000; Lee &
Blaszczynski, 1999). For instance, Raybould and Sheedy
(2005) suggested that in order for students to be attractive

TABLE 2
Summary of Dimensions and Factors Results

Students Employers

Dimension Factor M SD M SD t df p

Routine–technical finance skills Financial analytical skills 3.86 0.83 4.08 0.73 –2.60 330 .010
Financial markets and institutions 3.97 0.68 3.72 0.82 2.91 276 .004
Investment and financial instruments 3.79 0.68 3.41 0.84 4.53 272 .000
Overall 3.86 0.61 3.64 0.69 3.074 291 .002
Interdisciplinary academic skills Financial statement analysis 4.13 0.80 4.47 0.60 –4.32 329 .000
Business ethics and legal environment 3.99 0.83 4.38 0.70 –4.57 328 .000
Foreign language(s) 4.38 0.90 4.46 0.77 –0.82 326 .412
Overall 4.13 0.60 4.43 0.46 –5.20 330 .000
Interpersonal and development skills Personal skills (workplace environment discipline) 3.94 0.74 4.08 0.58 –1.98 330 .049
Professional development and creativity skills 3.78 0.77 3.78 0.73 –0.06 330 .955
Customer oriented skills 3.77 0.66 3.64 0.58 1.81 328 .071
Interpersonal skills 3.82 0.81 3.95 0.68 –1.59 329 .112
Communication skills 3.71 0.90 3.70 0.73 0.06 330 .955
Problem-solving-oriented skills 3.93 0.93 3.90 0.74 0.36 330 .717
Overall 3.83 0.59 3.85 0.45 –0.29 297 .773
 FINANCE GRADUATES’ KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT 311

TABLE 3
Summary of Spearman’s Correlations

Routine–technical finance skills’ dimension

Factors f11 f12 f13

Financial analytical skills (f11) —

Financial markets and institutions (f12) .391∗∗ —
Investment and financial instruments (f13) .451∗∗ .633∗∗ —
Overall .641∗∗ .814∗∗ .929∗∗ —

Interdisciplinary academic skills’ dimension

Factors f21 f22 f23

Financial statement analysis (f21) —

Business ethics and legal environment (f22) .216∗∗ —
Foreign language(s) (f23) .053 .285∗∗ —
Overall .621∗∗ .813∗∗ .496∗∗ —

Interpersonal and development skills’ dimension

Factors f31 f32 f33 f34 f35 f36

Personal skills (workplace environment discipline) (f31) —

Professional development and creativity skills (f32) .425∗∗ —
Customer-oriented skills (f33) .498∗∗ .445∗∗ —
Interpersonal skills (f34) .426∗∗ .370∗∗ .387∗∗ —
Communication skills (f35) .383∗∗ .490∗∗ .411∗∗ .561∗∗ —
Problem-solving–oriented skills (36) .473∗∗ .312∗∗ .419∗∗ .370∗∗ .476∗∗ —
Overall .778∗∗ .643∗∗ .758∗∗ .672∗∗ .714∗∗ .683∗∗ —

∗∗ p = .01 level (two-tailed).

to potential employers they must be capable of demon-
strating the ability to work under pressure, demonstrate
action-planning skills, communication skills, information
technology skills, teamwork skills, a readiness to explore
and create opportunities, self-confidence, self-management
skills, and a willingness to learn. Therefore, the third job
market lesson is that interpersonal and development skills
are crucial for employability and career development.
To examine the significant impact of the factors in explain-
ing the dimensions a Spearman two-tailed test correlation has
been conducted based on the total score of each dimension.
The results shown in Table 3 reveal that the knowledge of
investment and financial instruments factor, r = 0.929, fol-
lowed by the knowledge of markets and financial institutions
factor, r = 0.814, contributed significantly to explaining the
dimension related to the other factor. Knowledge of business

TABLE 4
Kruskal-Wallis Test Results for Graduates’ Groups

Graduates’ mean rank Kruskal-Wallis test

Factor UAE University Sharjah University Higher CT Ajman University χ2 p

Financial analytical skills 94.61 98.38 91.27 89.91 0.609 .894

Financial markets and institutions 98.63 82.23 102.52 85.20 4.803 .187
Investment and finance instruments 100.94 80.82 100.92 85.70 5.288 .152
Financial statement analysis 81.23 78.32 115.21 109.74 18.794 .000
Ethics and legal environment 89.98 90.73 93.85 111.87 3.129 .372
Foreign language(s) 99.09 105.29 78.01 95.46 9.793 .020
Personal skills 98.83 71.07 110.85 87.54 14.762 .002
Professional development 107.57 72.99 97.95 90.91 11.811 .008
Customer-oriented skills 99.90 89.84 90.10 95.91 1.347 .718
Interpersonal skills 94.51 86.36 98.93 96.46 1.501 .682
Communication skills 93.23 86.55 101.72 92.83 2.109 .550
Problem-solving-oriented skills 92.73 90.40 94.15 104.41 1.141 .767

Note: df = 3 and N = 332 for all tests.

312 A. M. AL SHAYEB
ethics and legal environment, r = 0.813, on the other hand,
mostly explained the interdisciplinary academic skills dimen-
sion, relative to other factors followed by knowledge of ac-
counting analytical skills, r = 0.621, while all factors related
to interpersonal and development skills contributed equally
to explaining the dimension, ranging from 0.643 to 0.778.
A Kruskal-Wallis test was used to examine whether there
was a significant difference between employers and gradu-
ates groups. Concerning employer groups, the results showed
no significant difference in mean among the surveyed groups,
which suggest that employers groups share the same level of
expectations and importance of the underlying skills (the re-
sults not reported but available on requested). On the other
hand, Table 4 shows that there is a significant difference
among graduate groups related to the financial statement
analysis skills, foreign language(s) skills and personal skills,
which suggests a variation in graduates’ expectations with re-
gard to the three examined dimensions. For instance, related
to financial statement analysis skill, the results showed that
the means of both UAE and Sharjah Universities’ graduates
were significantly lower than other graduates groups, sug-
gesting that the graduates of these two universities pay little
attention to this skill compared to the other graduate groups.
CONCLUSION
In searching for filling the gap between employers and fi-
nance graduates’ expectations, in a developing country such
as the UAE, the results show that employers are more con-
cerned with graduate readiness to meet finance real life and
day-to-day challenges while they are well equipped with
more of interdisciplinary academic skills and interpersonal
and development skills relative to routine–technical skills. A
voice should be heard when employers express a desire for
graduates with such knowledge and skills. More efforts must
be exerted, therefore, while constructing–updating finance
curricula, to make sure that both expectations of graduates
and employers are met in one way or another. Moreover,
efforts to enhance finance curricula are undeniable in the
UAE, where most of the surveyed graduates graduated from
an accredited professional body, the Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of Business, by which financial programs
are in line with an international set of knowledge and skills.
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APPENDIX

Dimension Factor Sub-factors

Routine–technical skills Financial analytical skills Knowledge of finance applications

Interdisciplinary academic skills
Personal and communication skills
Knowledge of financial evaluation
Financial markets and institutions Knowledge of banking management
Knowledge of Islamic banking and financial institutions
Knowledge of corporate finance
Investment and financial instruments Knowledge of portfolio management
Knowledge of financial instruments
(options/futures/derivatives)
Knowledge of risk management
Knowledge of financial markets
Financial statement analysis Knowledge of basic accounting tools
Financial analysis and reporting
Business ethics and legal environment Business ethics
Business law
Foreign language(s) English language proficiency
Personal skills (workplace environment discipline) Ability to work under pressure
Accept organizational objectives
Time management
Ability to work independently
Professional development and creativity skills Undergo ongoing professional development
Ability to think creatively
Customer oriented skills Information seeking skills
Client focused
Business analysis skills
General work experience
Interpersonal skills Ability to work as part of a team
Leadership potential
Communication skills Oral presentation skills
Written communication skills
Problem-solving oriented skills Problem definition skills
Problem solving skills