Human resource management issues in accounting and audit firms : a research perspective

Focusing on human resource management practices in the multinational multi-service providers, this text presents some complex academic research in an accessible form. This book collates and reviews, in a manner designed to be both accessible and comprehensible to the interested reader, the extensive body of academic literature which has been developed since the 1980s. In addition, it provides a perspective on human resource management issues, practices and problems based in part on interviews with senior personnel. Most suitable for scholars and practitioners of business and management, social policy/sociology and economics.

Acknowledgements	p. viii
Executive Summary	p. ix
1 Introduction	p. 1
2 The Audit Environment	p. 7
Auditing and Accounting and Audit Firms	p. 7
Audit Engagements	p. 13
Audit or Assurance Services?	p. 15
Contingency and Accountability	p. 16
3 The Research Studies: Issues of Methodology and Generalisability	p. 19
The Nature of the Research	p. 19
Issues of Measurement and Methodology	p. 25
The Transferability of the Results of US Studies	p. 29
Accountants or Auditors?	p. 32
4 Research Findings	p. 39
Introduction	p. 39
4.1 Personality and Needs	p. 40
Personality	p. 40
Needs	p. 45
Summary	p. 48
4.2 Stress	p. 48
Environmental and Organizational Factors	p. 49
Individual Factors	p. 52
Job-Related Tension	p. 53
Summary	p. 54
4.3 Socialisation and Feedback	p. 55
Summary	p. 58
4.4 Career Development	p. 59
Summary	p. 63
4.5 Leadership and Mentoring	p. 64
Leadership	p. 64
Mentoring	p. 69
Summary	p. 73
4.6 Job Satisfaction	p. 74
Summary	p. 77
4.7 Professional and Organizational Commitment	p. 77
Professional Commitment	p. 78
Organizational Commitment	p. 79
Compatibility of Professional and Organizational Commitment	p. 82
Summary	p. 84
4.8 Staff Turnover	p. 84
Summary	p. 91
4.9 Performance Appraisal	p. 92
Summary	p. 98
4.10 Determinants of Job Performance	p. 99
Job Performance Models	p. 99
Attribution Theory	p. 105
Summary	p. 108
5 Conclusions	p. 111
Career Development	p. 111
Personal Attitudes and Characteristics	p. 111
Education and Examinations	p. 112
Acculturation and Socialisation	p. 113
Staffing Patterns	p. 114
The Multi-Disciplinary Global Firm	p. 116
Management Structure and Practice	p. 118
The Value of Research	p. 119
Appendix	p. 123
Bibliography	p. 133

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