Written by Mekong Institute

The  member  countries  of  the  Association  of  Southeast  Asian  Nations  (ASEAN)  signed  a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Accountancy Services in 2009 for the region to enjoy the labor mobility of the accounting professions. Thailand, as one of the members, has been tremendously affected, especially in the education sector, which is responsible for labor preparation.  Yet,  most  studies  conducted  to  date  have  put  little  emphasis  on  the  status  and challenges  of  the  sector  in  preparing  the  future  ASEAN  workforce, so  as  to  respond  to  the available opportunities.  Specifically,  vocational  education,  with its  claimed  advantage  to connect labor to the labor market, has been altogether neglected.

The  study  was  conducted  using  multiple  in-depth  interviews  with  the  main  stakeholders  in the  vocational  education  stream.  There  were  three  layers  of  interviews,  so  as  to  triangulate and  attain  comprehensive  information:  (i)  the  Office  of  Vocational  Education  Commission (OVEC)  at  the national  level;  (ii)  Best  Practice vocational  colleges  in  Bangkok  and  the Northeast  at the institutional  level; and  (iii)  Market  perception  at  the industrial  sector level. The  data  were  collected  by a  documentary  study,  in-depth  interviews  and  focus  group discussions with 24 respondents in total. 

The  results revealed  that  (i)  at  the  national  level,  preparation  in  the  vocational  education stream  does not  adequately  prepare  vocational  accounting  students  to  enter  ASEAN confidently. Even though English language training and employment security were OVECs strategic  preparations,  OVEC has  taken for  granted  the  benefits of  MRA;  (ii) at  the institutional  level,  the  challenges  were  not  location-based, but  system-made;  and  (iii)  at  the market level, despite the existence of occupational positions that did not require the skills and knowledge  of  BA  graduates,  the  market  preferred  vocational  graduates  from  secondary education to those from general education.

Based  on  the  study,  OVEC  is  recommended to  improve  the following five areas  of implementation: (i) Policy should focus on building incentives to attract younger generations of  instructors  to  the  stream  and  closely interact  with  the  industrial  sector,  especially  at  the ASEAN  level;  (ii)  Curriculums should  be  reviewed  and  updated  on  a  regular  basis, and should  be  ASEAN-centric  rather  than  Thai-centric;  (iii)  Instructor  development  should  be both  short  and  long-term  on  a  regular  basis;  (iv)  Student  development  should  be  career- specific  in  order  to  make  the  MRA  in  Accountancy  Services  more  meaningful  in the  Thai context; and  (v) Vocational  Qualification  Framework of  accounting  services should  be developed  by  close  collaboration  with  the  Federation  of  Accounting  Professions  (FAP)  and the Thailand Professional Qualification Institute (TPQI).

Keywords:  ASEAN  Preparation,  Vocational  Education,  MRA  in  Accountancy  Services, Challenges.