Purpose: The purpose of this paper examines the development of entrepreneurial skills amongst accounting students in public and private universities and its impact on career pathways, including self-employment. Also, the paper explores what skills have an effect on self-employment intentions. Design/Methodology/approach: This study uses a quantitative approach to measure the entrepreneurial skills developed by accounting students in business schools and whether these skills direct them to choose to start their own business. A questionnaire was developed and a sample of 583 Egyptian and Bahraini accounting students was used. Findings: The study concludes that in private universities, there is no difference in the development of entrepreneurial skills and subsequent self-employment practices between students in Egypt and Bahrain. When it comes to public universities, students in Bahrain develop better entrepreneurial skills and subsequent self-employment practices than students in Egypt. In addition, private universities are better than public universities in representing the relationship between entrepreneurial skills and self-employment practices. Originality/value: This study and its conclusions fill a gap in the literature in comparing public and private universities to highlight the relationship between developing accounting students’ entrepreneurial skills and their self-employment practices. This study is the first to compare universities in Egypt and the Kingdom of Bahrain. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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