Accounting education and job market during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for governance and regulation

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Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on accounting education and the job market. This paper collects primary data through eight semi-structured interviews. The thematic content analysis is then used to analyze the interviews and to answer the research questions. This paper extends previous literature by highlighting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on accounting education and jobs in an emerging market like the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It provides valuable guidelines to several stakeholders on handling the effects of this pandemic now and in the future. During the pandemic, the interviewees indicated some changes in accounting education practices by shifting to online teaching methods. Modern learning methods are more effective and efficient than traditional methods, and this trend will continue. In addition, they indicated increasing online recruitment interviews, part-time job offers, reduced employee compensations to cut off costs, reduced firms’ profitability, and more investment in business information systems software and hardware. This paper has limitations concerning the small number of interviewees and conducting interviews online due to social distancing restrictions during the pandemic. Furthermore, interviewees recommended ways to support accounting education and the job market, such as state interventions, outsourcing, and increased awareness and training.

Keywords: Accounting Education, Job Market, COVID-19, Emerging Markets

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — G.B., A.H., A.A., and W.W.E.; Methodology — G.B., A.H., A.A., and W.W.E.; Formal Analysis — G.B., A.H., A.A., W.W.E., I.I., and M.A.M.; Investigation — G.B., A.H., and A.A.; Writing — Original Draft — G.B., A.H., A.A., W.W.E., I.I., and M.A.M.; Writing — Review & Editing — W.W.E., I.I., and M.A.M.; Supervision — W.W.E.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: M40, M41, M48

Received: 24.11.2024
Revised: 19.02.2025; 12.07.2025
Accepted: 23.07.2025
Published online: 28.07.2025

How to cite this paper: Bulbul, G., Hassan, A., AlAmeeri, A., ElKelish, W. W., Irsyadillah, I., & Al Mahameed, M. (2025). Accounting education and job market during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for governance and regulation. Journal of Governance & Regulation, 14(3), 74–80. https://doi.org/10.22495/jgrv14i3art7