Artificial Intelligence Skills Required of Accounting Education Students for Job Performance in the Digital Era

Abstract

This study examined the artificial intelligence (AI) skills required of Accounting Education students for effective job performance in the digital era. Guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses, the study adopted a descriptive survey design. The area of the study was Rivers State Ministry of Education. The population comprised 27,964 senior civil servants, from which a sample of 377 respondents was selected using the Krejcie and Morgan formula for determining sample size. Data were collected through a structured 30-item questionnaire titled Questionnaire on AI Skills Requirements in Accounting Practice (QASRAP), validated through content validation by three experts two in Business Education and one in Measurement and Evaluation and yielding a reliability coefficient of 0.78 using Cronbach’s Alpha. Out of the 377 copies distributed, 362 valid responses were retrieved. Data were analysed using Mean and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions and independent samples t-tests to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that AI electronic office skills and AI emerging skills were perceived as very highly required for Accounting Education students’ job performance. No significant gender differences were found in respondents’ ratings It was recommended that accounting education programs integrate AI-focused learning strategies and support continuous professional development