Ayman Nokhal

Information Technology and Accounting Curriculum in Egypt: Required It Skills, Integrated It Skills, Accounting Education, It Alignment Ayman Nokhal

Professional and academic accountants have debated the issue of integration of information technology (IT) skills in accounting during the past three decades. However, the majority of prior studies are very descriptive in nature and lack a theoretical background. Most of these studies investigated the issue of Required IT skills and Integrated IT skills in different settings. Prior studies also investigated the issue separately, either from the perspective of professional or academic accountants. Based on information processing theory and task-technology fit, this study investigated the alignment (IT Alignment) between Required IT skills and Integrated IT skills in a single setting. It also examined factors that influence IT Alignment. Data were collected from 249 accounting lecturers in public universities in Egypt, who were also practicing accountants. survey was mailed out in March 2011, and response rate was 69.02%. Descriptive statistics indicated that the top 5 Required IT were generalized audit software, embedded audit modules/real-time modules, word-processing, small business accounting software, and electronic spreadsheets.