In a strategic move to address industry demands, Ghana Communication Technology University’s (GCTU) Business School, Department of Accounting, Banking and Finance is training final-year students in advanced accounting software.
The intensive 4-day program, organised by the Department of Accounting, Banking and Finance in collaboration with Prymage Consultancy Ltd, targets BSc Business Administration (Accounting with Computing), BSc Banking and Finance, and Level 200 Diploma students.
Dr. Emmanuel Attah Kumah Amponsah, Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, emphasised the critical need for this hands-on training during an exclusive interview. “Industry consistently highlights a skills gap between academia and practice. We’re moving beyond traditional bookkeeping – today’s world demands paperless, software-driven accounting,” he stated.
Key Training Highlights:
1. Software Focus: Students master Tally Prime 5.0 (Version 3), the latest industry-standard software, enabling efficient invoicing, financial reporting, expense tracking, and auditing.
2. Industry Alignment: Dr. Amponsah stressed that graduates without these skills risk unemployment: “Companies use accounting software universally. If our students lack this proficiency, they cannot perform effectively.”
3. Beyond Accounting: The software’s modules – including payroll, production, sales, and distribution – benefit HR, marketing, and operations roles, making it essential for all business disciplines.
4. Built-In Auditing: A major advantage highlighted is the software’s automated auditing function. *”It minimises human error and audits every transaction in real-time, reducing the need for extensive
internal audit teams,” Dr. Amponsah explained.
Call to Action for Universities:
Dr. Amponsah urged all universities offering business programs to integrate similar soft-skills training: “GCTU recommends this model nationally. Adding practical software skills ensures graduates are job-ready and can immediately add value in the workplace.”
Accessibility for All:
Pyramid Consult, the facilitating partner, also offers public access to this training. “Anyone can enrol online via Pyramid Consult’s platform,” Dr. Amponsah noted. “This certification enhances your employability. GCTU is committed to holistic, quality education – we equip students to excel.”
GCTU Business School Dean Urges Final Year Accounting Students: “Practice Makes Skills Permanent”
Professor George Oppong Appiagyei Ampong, Dean of the Business School at Ghana Communication Technology University (GCTU), delivered a compelling call to action for final year Accounting students during a specialized training session on accounting software this week. Emphasizing the critical gap between theoretical knowledge and practical skill, Prof. Ampong stressed that consistent practice is non-negotiable for career readiness.
Addressing the students, the Dean drew from personal experience: “I record that I have had advanced Excel before, but as I’m speaking to you, I don’t remember any… if you learn and don’t practice, that is lost.” He underscored the fundamental distinction crucial for their IT-based Accounting program: “The difference between knowledge and skill is the fact that knowledge is kept and with skills, You have to do it. You have to practice it.”
Prof. Ampong framed the intensive training – whether one, two, or three days – as an essential “ritual” designed to bridge this gap. He warned against complacency, urging students: **”Don’t learn it and leave it on your own. Be practicing it every day until you get the things free.”To ensure mastery, he announced GCTU’s commitment to ongoing support: “We will do refreshers until you leave school in order to reinforce whatever you are learning within your program so that everything will become hardwired before you.”
Beyond proficiency, the Dean focused sharply on employability. He instructed students to prominently feature the specific software training on their CVs, revealing an employer’s perspective: “Some of us are employers, and we know what we look for. It’s not your first class certificate that we look for. It is about these [practical] things that we look for.”
However, merely listing the skill wasn’t enough. Prof. Ampong challenged the students to proactively apply their learning in a real-world context: “After all the exercises that you did, you should look around the campus and you yourself come and say that you want to create a system for the Abeka campus of GCTU. By the time you finish that trial, you might have gotten it.”He highlighted the dual benefit – gaining practical experience while contributing value to the university.
Concluding his remarks, Prof. Ampong expressed his satisfaction with the initiative: “I’m glad that you have had this training,” and reminded students their learning journey continues, stating firmly, “it doesn’t end here”. His message resonated as a clear directive: transform classroom knowledge into demonstrable, practiced skills to thrive in the competitive accounting and technology landscape.
Also speaking at the specialised training session, Prince Papa Quartey, Lead Facilitator for the Accounting Software Training programme, emphasised the critical need for accounting professionals to master modern digital tools. The programme, targeting graduate accountants, is equipping participants with skills in software like Teleprime to bridge the gap between traditional methods and
contemporary practice.
Mr Quartey outlined the core objective: “We are introducing them to accounting software… We want them to have the skill to compare manual accounting to computerised accounting,” he stated. “This allows them to apply their foundational knowledge within modern systems, achieving greater convenience and effectiveness at work.”
Highlighting the advantages of the specific software used in the session, Mr Quartey noted, “Tally prime is an open-source solution which allows for customisation.” This flexibility is a key benefit for businesses adapting the software to their specific needs.
Addressing the learning process, the lead facilitator acknowledged a common hurdle: “One challenge we face is the readiness of the student to pick up the knowledge you are imparting.” To counter this, the programme employs targeted strategies: “One measure we’ve put in place is to have a quiz which serves a dual purpose: to evaluate them, and to also keep them on track, encouraging them to learn the system and take it seriously.”
Mr Quartey strongly countered fears that automation threatens accounting jobs, clarifying its role as an enhancer: “No, the software has not taken anyone’s work. Rather, it’s improving the efficiency and effectiveness of accountants and auditors. Even the business owner benefits from having crucial business information readily available with convenience and ease, enabling better advice.”
His concluding advice to participants focused on commitment and practice: “I advise them to take the training seriously, and also practice more, because practice makes perfect.” Quartey positioned the training as a vital career investment, stating, “This is a means to add value to their first degree or certificate, significantly enhancing their employability in the competitive job market.”
Accounting Software Training Opens Doors for Ghana Immigration Staff Member
Enthusiasm is high among participants in the ongoing national accounting software training program, with one trainee highlighting its potential for career advancement and departmental improvement within the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
Jamilatu Abdul Bashiru, an employee of the GIS currently studying accounting, shared her motivations and hopes during a break in the intensive training session. While not currently assigned to the Service’s accounting department, Ms. Abdul Bashiru sees the training as a critical step forward.
“This software will enable me to get further, maybe to go to my department,” Abdul Bashiru stated, referring to the GIS accounting unit. “This certificate I’ll be acquiring will help me… let my department, maybe the accounting department, know how the software works and how it’s going to help us develop our transactions.”
She emphasized the practical skills being gained, crucial for core financial functions: “It will help us with having to know for example, how to get the income, how we are going to balance our balance sheet. All those tasks are going to be very helpful to us with this software.”
Abdul Bashiru didn’t hesitate to recommend the training to others, especially her fellow accounting students. “Oh, I think they (Accounting students) should take this course very seriously, because it’s going to be very helpful,”she urged, adding, “I’m very happy that we are having this kind of training it’s going to help us a lot.”
Her comments underscore a dual benefit of the national training initiative: equipping individuals with valuable, in-demand skills for career progression, while simultaneously building internal capacity within government agencies like the Ghana Immigration Service to modernize financial operations and reporting. Abdul Bashiru represents a cohort of public servants leveraging this training to bridge academic knowledge with practical, job-ready expertise.
The Accounting Software Training programme represents a significant push to modernise accounting skills within Ghana, ensuring graduates possess the digital proficiency demanded by employers and can contribute effectively to business efficiency and growth.
The training also underscores GCTU’s proactive approach to closing the academia-industry divide, ensuring graduates enter the workforce equipped with the digital tools driving modern finance and business operations.
By Kingsley Asiedu
