New Leadership Tracks in Accounting Firms: An Alternative to the Partnership

Public accounting careers traditionally have followed an “up or out” progression from staff to senior to manager to senior manager to partner. Recent American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) data suggest that senior managers increasingly are promoted to non-equity “post-senior mana...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Current issues in auditing 2011-06, Vol.5 (1), p.A39-A53
Main Authors:	Almer, Elizabeth Dreike, Lightbody, Margaret, Single, Louise E., Vigilante, Barbara
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Accountants Accounting firms Attorneys Career advancement CPAs Directors Employee promotions Law firms Managers Partners Professionals Roles Statistical analysis Studies
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Public accounting careers traditionally have followed an “up or out” progression from staff to senior to manager to senior manager to partner. Recent American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) data suggest that senior managers increasingly are promoted to non-equity “post-senior manager” positions rather than directly to partner (AICPA 2006). However, the accounting literature provides few insights into the factors underlying the creation of such positions by firms, or of the roles of the people holding these positions. This study provides the first set of detailed descriptive data on the position, based on survey responses from the largest 100 public accounting firm human resource directors and interview data from two partners who have held senior leadership roles in their firms. We also discuss implications for firms and researchers.
ISSN:	1936-1270 1936-1270