Needs and Challenges in Government Accounting Education (Users Perceptions from Local Government Agencies in Padang City)

The reforms that took place in Indonesia in 1998 caused significant changes in various fields, one of which was reform in regional financial management. This was driven by increasing demands for accountability and transparency in regional financial management. Government accounting has the main role to prepare financial statements as a form of implementation of public accountability. Therefore the need for accountants who have government accounting expertise is increasing, both in implementing policies and as policy makers; that's way need change of focus in teaching government accounting to ensure that graduates' knowledge and competencies are produced in accordance with users' needs. However, research on government accounting teaching is often overlooked; therefore this study will investigate needs of accounting graduate with government accounting expertise, check the suitability between users' needs and material taught in government accounting courses at universities and also to identify challenges for future government accounting education. This research found that there is still need of graduate with government accounting expertise by looking at the fact that majority of accounting staff in local government agencies at Padang City still come from non-accounting education background. The current curriculum of government accounting in university already covers users' need even there are still some suggestions for future improvement. It can be challenges for lecturers and academicians at university to explore the current curriculum to be collaborate with suggestions from practitioners.