This article contributes to the research on preparing new auditors for their work. It
investigates the work and communication needs of newly graduated auditors, their
senior colleagues, and their managers in five MNCs (multinational companies ) in Sin
gapore. Much research indicates that accountancy graduates entering the profession are
perceived to be lacking some important communication abilities. This study investigates
how important auditors perceive interpersonal, oral, and written skills to be to them at
different stages of their professional careers and the degree to which they perceive that
they need to improve in these skills. As expected, the newly graduated audit assistants
perceived the greatest need for improvement in all three skills. However, they also per
ceived that written skills were of lesser importance to them than interpersonal and oral
skills. We suggest that accounting courses could prepare undergraduates more effectively
in the oral/interpersonal skills needed in the initial stages of their auditing careers by
introducing more case studies and by exploring the potential of the hypertext Internet
environment to dovelop realistic simulations. These changes might involve the introduc
tion of cross-disciplinary team teaching.
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