ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the topics such as: accounting student's perceptions of oral communication skills; competence-based writing skills; and the development of listening skills. As Siriwardane and Durden have identified in their survey study, tantalising gaps in the literature still exist. It highlights that the communication skills are special in the sense of being significant, rather than in the sense of being odd or supernumerary. The International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) has summed up the need for strong written and oral communication skills in accounting, stating in International Education Standard 3 that accounting professionals should be able to 'present, discuss, report, and defend views effectively through formal, informal, written and spoken communication'. The literature consistently shows that core professional competencies are important for success in accounting. Research must shift away from documenting the importance, towards identifying the best ways to teach or learn the competencies, or the appropriate place in an individual's career where these competencies should be learned.
