Importance of social networking for tomorrow’s accountants

The project aim is to explore the students’ perceptions of what impact identifying with an accounting professional body has had through various activities on their motivation to develop awareness of employability skills through social networking. The topic area was chosen as a result of a number of factors, from widening participation in higher education, government metric measurements, high-profile corporate failures, the pandemic COVID-19, and skill set changes Social networking theory emphasises the importance of social structure in terms of connection and how they influence each other. Modern day social networking includes Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. However, no other researcher has conducted research on how usage of professional statutory regulatory bodies’ student membership social networking has proven to be a great way to educate students about their profession. Students get an opportunity to engage and connect with the audience through the sharing of blogs, discussion forums, news, articles, webinars, videos, podcasts, job postings, CV uploads with their unique student membership number, actual networking opportunities, etc. with other students nationally and globally, as well as with fully qualified professional accountants and employers. It gives students a platform to effectively promote themselves, increasing their personal brand through social media platforms for accountants. The presentation will highlight what students gain from networking with one of the leading professional accountancy bodies, the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA).