Main article An empirical test of Birkett’s competency model for management accountants: Survey evidence from Dutch practitioners Jan M. Bots a, * , Edward Groenland a , Dirk M. Swagerman b a Nyenrode School of Accountancy and Controlling, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, P.O. Box 130, 3620 AC Breukelen, The Netherla b Faculty of Economic Sciences/Faculty of Management and Organisation, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Landleven 5, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Management accountants Competencies Continuing professional education (CPE) a b s t r a c t In 2002, the Accountants-in-Business section of the International Federation ofAccountants (IFAC)issued the Competency Profiles for Management Accounting Practice and Practitioners report. This ‘‘Birkett Report” presents a framework for competency develop- ment during the careers ofmanagement accountants (MAs). On the basis of this theoretical report, a hypothesis has been formu- lated about the sequence in which each of 38 competencies is expected to become important to the MA during his/her career. Results presented here show thatpracticing MAs see the same sequence of competencies during their careers as is presented in the theoretical framework, supporting Birkett’s competency model. The results indicate that there may be three groups of competen- cies: basic,advanced,and highly advanced.It may be said that the basic competencies need to be presentat graduation.The advanced competencies may need to be present some years after the start of the MAs career. The highly advanced skills may be needed for Chief Financial Officer (CFO) candidates. These results suggest that advanced and highly advanced competenciesare those that could be taught in continuing professional education (CPE) programs, while university education programs should focus on developing basic competencies. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 0748-5751/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jaccedu.2009.06.001 * Corresponding author.Tel.: +31 346 295 808; fax: +31 346 295 850. E-mail addresses: j.bots@nyenrode.nl (J.M. Bots), e.groenland@nyenrode.nl (E. Groenland),d.swagerman@worldonline.nl (D.M. Swagerman). J. of Acc.Ed. 27 (2009) 1–13 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect J. of Acc.Ed. j o u r n a l homepage: w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / j a c c e d u