Influence of practical work experience on accounting students' professional development: Mediating role of internship and mentorship

Abstract The study examines the influence of practical experience on the development of potential accounting graduates’ competencies, moderating the role of internship and mentorship. The study utilised an explanatory-correlational research design, anchored on positivist philosophy, to include 1551 final-year accounting students in Ghana’s public universities. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data. The study found that practical experience had a positive influence on the development of graduates' technical competence, implying that graduates' technical skills increase as they go through real-work practice. In a similarly vain way, practical experience had a statistically significant positive influence on the development of professional ethics. This means that graduates develop more ethics and values through practical work engagement. Contrarily, practical experience had a negative influence on professional skills development. The result implies that real work experience had no influence on soft skills development. Additionally, the study found that internships significantly moderate the relationship between practical experience and technical competence, with this relationship being stronger when the internship is compulsory. This indicates that graduates who had internships increased their technical competence. Internships also moderate the influence of practical experience on professional skills, with the relationship being weak when internships are made compulsory. Internships, however, did not significantly moderate the relationship between practical experience and professional ethics, demonstrating no impact of internships on ethics development. Finally, the study found that professional mentorship moderated the influence of practical experience on technical competence, professional skills, and professional ethics.. This conclusion implies that for accounting students who received mentorship services, the relationship between practical experience and the three other competencies was stronger. It is, therefore, recommended that universities include practical training programs in the accounting curriculum and introduce internship and mentorship programs to build robust practical knowledge, technical skills, professional skills, and professional ethics among accounting students in Ghana..