ACCOUNTANCY STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION SKILLS: A CASE STUDY

Genrhise Jhane M. Go , Kristine Mae S. Palac Joshua E. Ceballos

1 2, 3,

BUSAC-IT Hospitality Management Program

1,2, 3,

Lourdes College, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippine

,Gjhanego@gmail.com , 1

Palackristinemae@yahoo.com Caballzshoturday04@gmail.com3
3

Abstract
Communication plays vital role in the participants’ studies as an accountancy
student. This is because writing and speaking skills are needed in preparation of being
in the business career. This study aims to identify and emphasize on the accountancy
students speaking and writing skills as a whole part of the participants communication
skills. The participant of this study is a 4th year student. The evaluation on the
participants’ communication skills are grounded on the participant’s intonation,
organization, grammar, pronunciation and fluency for the speaking skills. The basis of
assessment of the writing skills includes organization, vocabulary, grammar and
mechanics. Overall, the researchers observe that the participant has a well-established
foundation of the communication skills, both on her speaking and writing skills. Her
verbal communication is good. However, her fluency in speaking needs improvement.
The participants’ writing skills, with regards of her usage of punctuation marks and
choice of words, needs to be develop. The researchers would like to recommend that
participant to further enhance the latter’s communication skills by reading English
books, first of all. Second, the participant must join in any public speaking activities.
Lastly to constantly use the English language and the medium of the of communication,
and practice correct grammar usage.

Keywords: Accountancy students, communication skills, speaking skills , writing skills.

Introduction
Communication is a two-way process of reaching in mutual understanding
exchanging information, ideas, news and feelings to create a share of feelings. It is
considered to be complex as people increase their knowledge, and how it works to help
us become communicatively competent. Communication is just a simple as giving and
receiving something to one another. According to Wood (2004) communication is
systematic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols to create and
interpret meanings. Alongside with this Accountancy communication skills are needed to
negotiate effectively and the ability to communicate effectively one’s point of view both
orally and in writing at all organizational levels. Also communicating verbally and in
writing explain financial, statistical, administrative matters, policies, procedures,
regulatory matters, audit results at a level appropriate to the audience.
According to Shanker (2018) communicating meaningful information is the most
essential use of accounting data. This means that an accountancy student must have
good management skills to make appropriate decisions in terms in business dealing
with employees and outsider, such as sellers and clients.
It is essential to study this subject because developing effective communication
skills allows us to relate information and exercise good management skills. Also, in
improving one’s communication skills, one can become competent in the business and
management world. A certain problem may arise if an accountancy student, or an
information systems student, or a hotel management student is not good in
communicating in English. One must establish good foundation in communication skills
to be able to communicate well to others. It will be difficult for one to compete with
others if an individual’s communication skills are not established well.
In this study, the researchers’ main purpose is to determine the problems of the
accountancy students regarding to their communication skills particularly in writing and
speaking which includes the grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, the intonation and
lastly the fluency in speaking, on the other hand in writing it will also asses the grammar,
organizations and mechanics, hence this study is conceptualized the communication
skills of accountancy student.
Methodology
This study used Qualitative Research Design. Qualitative Research according to
De Franzo (2011) it is the primarily exploratory in nature. It is used to gain and
understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations. It provides insights into
the problem or help to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential. Qualitative Research
is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the
problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi structured
techniques. The methods include individual interview. Specifically, the type of qualitative
that is being used is case study. A case study is written account that gives detailed
information about a person, group, or thing and their development over a given period.
In this study the case study focuses on the accountancy communication skills through
casting an interview to meet the objective which is to conclude the above stated skill.
The chosen participant of this study is an accountancy student because the primary
concern of this study is the relationship between the participant communication skills to
the one particular field.
Results and Discussion
 This study investigates the communication skills of an accountancy student.
Particularly in speaking and writing skills, in terms of the participant intonation,
Organization, grammar, pronunciation and lastly the fluency in speaking. Also, on the
other hand in writing the researchers investigate the participant organization,
vocabulary, grammar and mechanics in terms of writing.
Participants’ Profile
The participant of this study is Ms. Jane, not her real name, female, single and 20
years old, a Roman Catholic and a resident of Parola, Macabalan, Cagayan De Oro
City, finished elementary at Macabalan elementary school, graduated secondary at
Mother Ignacia Espiritu Santo High School and currently a 4 year student taking up
th

Bachelor of Science in Accounting Technology at JGM University In one interview

question the participant of this study rate herself with 10 as the highest number of rating
in communication skills, because based on her experience she can communicate well
with other people and can clearly relay on her thoughts to the person she is talking with.
According to her she have encountered some problems in speaking such as
encountering new words for her vocabulary for the person way of speaking (slang and
etc) those problems would sometimes give her a hard time in understanding what the
person is talking about.
Participants’ Speaking Skills
Verbal communication is essential to students. An accountancy student must
have good speaking skills to be competitive once he/she steps out to the business
world.
Intonation
According to Jones (1990) it is the variations which take place in the pitch of the
voice in connected speech. During the interview, the researchers noticed that the
participant has the capability to communicate with the use of intonation and
paralanguage. The participant is aware of how to pronounce the word properly. One of
the example of the word that is being used by the participant is Actually, and by that it
makes her as a effective and convincing person to listen. The result asserted Grice &
Baumann a narrow definition equates intonation with “speech melody”, restricting it to
the ensemble of pitch variations in the course of an utterance” (‘t Hart et al 1990: 10)
Organization
Is effectively taking the information one wishes to present and arranging it in a
logical order. It comes down to two things: credibility and audience understanding
according to (Kat Kadian-Baumeyer). During the interview the participant was able to
organized her ideas well in using transitional devices such as first is experiencing
depression, since most of the accountancy student are grade conscious and the thing
we fear the most is obtaining low grades and second is having a teachers that are not
competent enough to teach us. The researchers was able to understand about what are
the main struggles of being an accountancy students. Also the participant construct
grammarly correct arrangement of words. This study asserts to Dlugan (2014) good
speech is essential if the audience follow and understand what the speaker have said.
Moreover, according to Gwynne (1999), well organized speeches are more pleasing,
understandable, and easier to be remembered by the audience. Also, one of the most
important things in speaking is to be able to make the audience understand the
message (Bedrick, 2014).
Grammar
Grammar is the way in which words are put together to form proper sentences.
Do you want a quick answer to a specific point, such as whether it’s wrong to split an
infinitive or to end a sentence with a preposition (Oxford 2018). During the observation
the researchers noticed that the participant is good in set of structural rules and
governing the composition clauses phrase and words. For the example of “First is
experiencing depression, since most of the accountancy student are grade conscious
and the thing we fear the most is obtaining low grades”. This result assert Hartwell
(1985) has five definitions of grammar that elucidate the many ways the term gets used:
from an internalized set of linguistic rules to a meta-awareness and stylistic choice. His
varied definitions suggest the co-existence of multiple literacies that undermine an
approach to teaching grammar focused exclusively on correctness.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is the act or manner of speaking a word. For a variety of reasons,
many words in English are not pronounced the way they are spelled, and some sounds
can be represented by more than one combination of letters. Consider, for instance, that
the words do, was and fuzz all rhyme with one another. According to Nordquist (2018)
Definition and Examples of English Pronunciation. During the interview, the researchers
noticed that participant is good in speaking and also the participant pronounces the
words correctly, the participant pronounced the word the way they are spelled like I got
a scholarship from Xavier University but not in the course of Accountancy rather in
Education. The result assert Akyol (2013) Pronunciation is an integral part of foreign
language learning since it directly affects learners’ communicative competence as well
as performance.
Fluency
Fluency refers to how well a learner communicates meaning rather than how
many mistakes they make in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. also, fluency in a
language means speaking easily reasonably quickly and with or without having to stop
and pause a lot according to according to British councils’ article on teaching English.
during the interview, the researchers notice that the participant felt awkward while
answering the researchers’ questions, because the participant was conscious and
uncomfortable with the researchers. The Participant was able to use the word fillers like
ahm, First why did I choose to be in Accounting Career actually I got a scholarship from
Xavier University while answering the researchers questions. The results assert
Richards (2006) points out that fluency is the use of naturally occurring language when
a speaker engages and maintain in meaningful communication. This communication
would be comprehensible and on going in spite of limitations in one’s communicative
competence. To Fillmore (1979, as cited in Nation, 1989, p. 377), Harmer (2015)
mentions that fluency refers to focusing on the content of speech to communicate as
effectively as possible. Furthermore, Bailey (2003) defines fluency as using language
quickly and confidently, with limited hesitation, unnatural pauses.
Participants’ Writing Skills
Communication through writing is an important part of being an accountancy
student. Effective writing skills must be displayed in preparation of engaging in the
accounting career.
Organization
Nordquist (2018) stated that organization in composition and speech refers to the
arrangement of ideas, evidence or details in a perceptible order in a paragraph, essay
or speech. As the researchers observed the participant writing skills particularly
on organization, the participant was able to be the chronological type of organization her
context. The participant was able to use also the transitional devices such as, first is
time management, unlike in high school, college courses require much more effort and
commitment, imagine studying for that long quiz in your major and finishing a lot of PT’S
for your minors, not to mention the responsibilities you have as a student leader and a
family member , second is having a competent teachers, since we are still in our
learning phase on becoming professionals, we should not to be ashamed in seeking
help from teachers and Last but definitely not the least is depression. Every
aforementioned problem can raise a students stressed level which contributes to
emotional lows. With the use of the transitional devices the researchers was able to
understand and follow her story. The results asserted, Kiefer (2018) that organization
typically refers to the large elements of text structure. It shows how the ideas are
presented, to how paragraphs sentences are written.

Vocabulary
Vocabulary is the basic language aspect that must be mastered before mastering
English skills. According Hornby (2006: 1645) vocabulary is all the words that a person
knows or uses and it is all the words in a particular language. As observed on the
participant vocabulary in writing was broad, Also the participant make use of deep
English words such as every aforementioned problem can raise a student’s level which
contribute to emotional lows and the good times, outcomes and success will eventually
overweigh the bad. However, the use of the participants deep words can lead to the
readers misinterpretation to the what the participant wants to convey. The study
asserted Young (2009) Vocabulary as how the words were used.
Grammar
According to Richards grammar used to create sentences refers to the
knowledge of parts of speech, tenses, phrases, clauses and syntactic structures used to
create grammatically well-formed sentences in English. The rules for constructing
grammatically correct The goal of language teaching was to understand how sentences
are used to create different kinds of meaning, to master the underlying rules for forming
sentences from lower-level grammatical units such as phrases and clauses, and to
practice using them as the basis for written and spoken communication. The participant
in terms of writing skills, was able to make used the part of speech which are the Noun
“Having a competent teachers” Adjective such as “Accountancy is quickly growing field
not only in the Philippines” The study asserts that the use of both is and are should be
consistent not only within a sentence but throughout the whole paragraph, stemming
initially from the first sentence and relating to the noun with which the verb is connected,
according to Improving your grammar.
Mechanics
Mechanics in writing refers to established conventions for words. When one
writes, he or she must be cognizant of various technique features of his her writing
including spelling, punctuation, use of numbers and observations, and capitalization.
According to English language arts, based on the observations of the participant was
able to use the correct punctuation which is “Here are some expectations on what
challenges you might likely face as an accounting student” the participant didn’t used
such period or comma. The results assert grammarly blog article in rules for comma
usage, that a period ends a sentence, a comma indicates a smaller break. Some writers
think of a comma as a soft pause punctuation mark that separates words, clauses, or
ideas within a sentence.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Communication skills are essential for the successful future career of a student.
Overall the observation of the researchers the participants still need to enhance her
communication skills in speaking, especially her fluency in speaking. The participant
must practice the speak in straight English to have more effective communication with
others. Also at the same time the participant needs to enhance her writing skills
particularly in mechanics. The participant must be aware of punctuation marks. Based
on the findings of the study, the researchers would like to recommend that participant,
First that the latter must enhance the skills in communicating, through reading books.
Second, the participant must join in any public speaking activities , Lastly to always
used the English language and the medium of communication and practice on using
correct grammar.

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