Future accountants should be well-equipped with the professional capabilities to meet the market demands and also for career opportunities. The study aims to assess what is the perceived importance of knowledge, skills and values (professional capabilities) of professional accountants in Malaysia from educators’ and practitioners’ perception in meeting the requirements of the new competitive business environment and to satisfy the market demands for future accountants.

It aims also to find out whether the education equips them adequately for knowledge and skills required for the tasks that they are expected to fulfill in practice. And, if such a gap exists, the study intends to identify, minimize and at best close the gap. Given these reasons, recommendations to improve accounting education will be made accordingly.

This study consists of a literature review and an investigation, by means of a questionnaire based on previous studies by Lin et al. (2005) and Albrecht and Sack (2000) in accounting education. The professional capabilities variables have been defined accordingly to the International Education Guideline and Standard by International Federation Accountant Committee (IFAC).

Our study would benefit the accounting profession as our findings would be added to the current body of knowledge especially for Malaysian scenario. Second, it shows the gap in terms of response variation by practitioners and educators views relating to professional capabilities and pedagogy. This gap reveals possible discrepancies between practitioners and educators that might mislead education and practice in developing professional accountants. It is the gap that this study aims to close or at least narrow it down so that a compromise and balance between two parties are reached and achieved.