The Effect of the Introduction of GST on Accountants' Job Satisfaction and Burnout

The introduction of the goods and services tax in Australia saw a fundamental shift in the working conditions and type of work performed by public accounting practitioners. This paper explores the impact of the introduction of GST on working conditions, job satisfaction and burnout, using data from a survey of 71 public accountants. The study finds that the introduction of the GST has caused accountants' burnout levels to increase while job satisfaction remains unchanged. An unexpected finding is that accountants' propensity to leave the profession has dramatically increased as a result of the introduction of the GST     

The impact of the antecedents and consequences of job burnout on junior accountants' turnover intentions: a structural equation modelling approach

This paper examines the impact of the antecedents and consequences of job burnout on junior accountants' turnover intentions. A questionnaire was completed by 368 junior accountants working in public accounting firms. Our results suggest that role ambiguity, role conflict and job‐related tension are important antecedents for job burnout. Role ambiguity and role conflict initially influence employees' perceived levels of job‐related tension, and job‐related tension is associated to job burnout, which, in turn, decreases employees' levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Dissatisfied and uncommitted employees are more likely to seek alternative employment.     

Mentorship separation tension in the accounting profession: the consequences of delayed structural separation

This study inquires whether public accounting mentoring relationships conform to the classical Greco-Roman model (where mentors guide protégés and eventually release them to pursue an autonomous life) or a modern form (where mentoring continues indefinitely and serves as an organizational control mechanism). Data was obtained from 630 professionals in the accounting profession who reported having a mentor. Participants who considered the mentoring relationship to be in the past, yet remained working in close physical proximity of their mentor, reported the highest levels of mentorship tension. For these participants (n=100), mentorship tension was associated with negative job outcomes. These results extend research by [Covaleski, M.A., Dirsmith, M.W., Heian, J.B., & Samuel, S. (1998). Administrative Science Quarterly 43, 293–327] identifying the use of mentoring as an organizational control mechanism in the public accounting profession.     

Accountants' job satisfaction: A path analysis

This study analyzes job satisfaction and some of its correlates among Canadian chartered accounts (CAs). It focuses on the formulation and examination of influence paths between professional commitment, work need deprivation, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and intention to leave the organization (migrate). The empirical model with respect to the total sample mostly replicated the theoretical one. Migration tendencies of partners and sole practitioners in public practice were found unrelated to their job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Such tendencies of CAs in industry and government as well as those of employees in CA firms were related to their organizational commitment only. Professional commitment of CAs in nonprofessional organizations was found unrelated to the study variables.     

Towards an understanding of excel functional skills needed for a career in public accounting: Perceptions from public accountants and accounting students

Public accounting firms (e.g., Grant Thornton, 2012) are stressing an interest in recruiting accounting students with a proficiency in Excel. The purpose of this study is to investigate which Excel functions are perceived to be important and useful for new hires to understand prior to starting a job in public accounting. We collect survey data from four large public accounting firms as well as undergraduate and graduate accounting students (i.e., potential new hires) to gauge perceptions of Excel importance, knowledge, and usage in public accounting. We find that employees at the firms believe the most important Excel functions are: basic formula, filter and sort data, vertical (horizontal) lookup, formatting of documents, and If/Then statements. In a comparison of new hires at public accounting firms with accounting students, results suggest that accounting students underestimate the importance and usage of some of these Excel functions. In addition, results suggest that new hires’ perceived knowledge on how to use specific Excel functions in their accounting job is statistically different than students’ perceived knowledge on how to use some of the same Excel functions. Our research contributes to educational accounting literature by documenting which Excel functions employers in public accounting want new hires to know prior to starting a job in public accounting. Also, this research informs accounting educators that students’ perceptions are not the same as public accounting employers’ expectations with respect to analytical skills using Excel technology.     

Job perceptions and turnover behavior of tenure-track accounting educators

This paper compares the job-related need fulfillment of academic accountants in 1994 with that reported nearly a quarter of a century earlier by Carpenter and Strawser (1971. A study of the job satisfaction of academic accountants. The Accounting Review (July), 46, 509-518). We also investigate whether job dissonance (dissatisfaction resulting from unmet needs) foreshadowed turnover of faculty respondents during the 2-year period following our survey. Results suggest that fulfillment for most job-related needs was lower for 1994 accounting educators than for their 1970 counterparts. Within the 1994 sample, certain perceptual differences were attributed to both race (black versus non-black) and gender. Regardless of demographics, however, reported job dissonance in 1994 was strongly associated with subsequent job turnover, particularly among assistant professors. Taking steps to reduce or eliminate job dissonance is arguably more important in today's environment than in 1994. Accounting faculty members today enjoy a greater number of opportunities and thus can more readily remove themselves from situations that create perceived job dissonance.     

Job perceptions and turnover behavior of tenure-track accounting educators

This paper compares the job-related need fulfillment of academic accountants in 1994 with that reported nearly a quarter of a century earlier by Carpenter and Strawser (1971. A study of the job satisfaction of academic accountants. The Accounting Review (July), 46, 509-518). We also investigate whether job dissonance (dissatisfaction resulting from unmet needs) foreshadowed turnover of faculty respondents during the 2-year period following our survey. Results suggest that fulfillment for most job-related needs was lower for 1994 accounting educators than for their 1970 counterparts. Within the 1994 sample, certain perceptual differences were attributed to both race (black versus non-black) and gender. Regardless of demographics, however, reported job dissonance in 1994 was strongly associated with subsequent job turnover, particularly among assistant professors. Taking steps to reduce or eliminate job dissonance is arguably more important in today's environment than in 1994. Accounting faculty members today enjoy a greater number of opportunities and thus can more readily remove themselves from situations that create perceived job dissonance.     

The association between performance appraisal systems,work‐related attitudes and academic performance

This study examines the association between Brown et al.’s (2010) four dimensions of the quality of the performance appraisal system (the clarity, communication, fairness and trust) with the work‐related attitudes [job‐related stress, employee organisational commitment (EOC) and propensity to remain] of Australian accounting academics. Furthermore, the study examines the influence of such work‐related attitudes on academic performance in respect to research, teaching and community service. Data were collected from a mail survey distributed to accounting academics within Australian universities. The results indicate that all four dimensions of the quality of the performance appraisal system were associated with work‐related attitudes. Specifically, communication, fairness and clarity were positively associated with the level of EOC, trust was negatively associated with job‐related stress and fairness was positively associated with the propensity to remain. With respect to the effect on academic performance, job‐related stress was found to be negatively associated with research performance, while the level of EOC was positively associated with both teaching and community service. The findings highlight the importance of improving the quality of performance appraisal systems within the Australian higher education sector.     

Does the Holland model of occupational choice (HMOC) perpetuate the Beancounter-Bookkeeper (BB) stereotype of accountants?

This article investigates the Holland model of occupational choice's (HMOC) development, influence, and validity in relation to its classification of bookkeepers, accountants, and business professionals. Study 1 reanalyzes published data and provides evidence that the Beancounter-Bookkeeper (BB) stereotype, which is promoted in the HMOC, is partially predictive of the personality characteristics of individuals who choose to enter professional accountancy. Study 2 investigates the influence of HMOC training, and exposure to accounting education, on perceptions of the personality type needed for accounting work; results indicate that: (1) HMOC training is associated with perceptions that accounting work requires a BB personality, and (2) the importance of investigative skills to accounting work increase with accounting education. Following this, we review evidence that suggests low validity in the HMOC's claims of greater job success and satisfaction among BB accountants. Finally, we consider three possible processes that may explain Holland and colleagues’ conjoining of accountants with bookkeepers. Together, the analysis promotes skepticism regarding whether the HMOC's claim that professional accounting success demands a passive, compliant, subservient, i.e., BB, personality supports the public interest obligations of professional accountants.     

Validation of factors relevant to the exemption of accounting courses in MBA programs

Most MBA programs allow students to exempt required core courses like accounting. The exemption decision usually depends on prior accounting course work taken. This study analyzes the performance of students with prior accounting backgrounds in a MBA core course in accounting in order to identify and validate factors that could be used in an exemption policy. Fourteen factors related to aptitude, prior academic performance, prior accounting experience, and work experience were correlated with academic performance. A reduced set of five variables was then included in a step-wise regression. Prior accounting course work, quantitative GMAT score, and grade point average in undergraduate accounting courses emerged as factors that significantly impact grade performance. A set of logit models containing these three factors classified each student by course grade. The three-factor model significantly improved the classification accuracy of students when compared to simplistic models using solely undergraduate accounting course work.     

Sources of professional staff turnover in public accounting firms: Some further evidence

A recent article by Rhode et al. (1977) identified 39 variables associated with professional staff turnover in public accounting firms. The present study attempted to extend this prior work by examining the antecedents of the turnover act, namely those variables associated with the turnover decision. Using a valence-instrumentality-expectancy framework, measures of task outcome valence and instrumentality were evaluated with turnover expectations for a sample of 306 staff-level accountants. The findings indicated that the turnover decision was largely a function of negatively-valued task outcomes and the likelihood of obtaining these outcomes in one's current position, and the higher likelihood of obtaining certain positive outcomes in alternative positions.     

Custom fabric ventures: An instructional resource in job costing for the introductory managerial accounting course

Job costing is a core foundational concept in the introductory managerial accounting course. The purpose of this instructional resource (IR) is to provide a thorough hands-on, active learning resource that will allow introductory students to experience a full set of accounting and management activities necessary to produce a job and assign production costs to it. For example, the IR requires students to analyze overhead costs, determine the optimal job size, schedule production, calculate the amount of materials to purchase, complete material requisitions, update raw materials records, analyze labor time records, complete a job cost record and address critical thinking questions. The IR was developed for use in a “flipped classroom” in which students work under the guidance of the instructor, but could alternatively be assigned as an unsupervised out-of-class assignment or on-line project. Since the IR was specifically developed as a learning tool for novice introductory managerial accounting students, adequate guidance is provided throughout the activity. However, to add realism and challenge students to think beyond the confines of simple mechanics, management and accounting issues are seeded throughout. Student feedback indicates that the IR not only helps students learn how a job costing system operates, but also helps students become aware of management decisions and accounting issues that impact the costs assigned to a job.     

Moral will,accounting and the phronemos

This commentary examines the work of Everett and Tremblay (2014) and their contribution to critical accounting. They examine three key ethical dilemmas that confront modern accounting practice. They examine a set of in-depth interviews, the autobiography of the former Vice President of Internal Audit of WorldCom, Cynthia Cooper, and the documents of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) to shed light on accounting and audit ethics. The dilemmas confronting the accounting profession are complex and multi-faceted, which they place in their socio-economic context using ideas from Pierre Bourdieu. I add ideas from Lovibond (2004),MacIntyre (1984) and McDowell (1993) as well as audit work by Jere Francis. My solution involves accountants acting like the phronemos. The phronemos is Aristotle's term for a wise and ethical person who has the capacity to judge and act appropriately. This ideal of the phronemos is used to examine the ethical ambiguities in accounting that involve analyzing the critical role that accounting curricula, education and pedagogy play in making better judgments. This critical accounting focus was also a focus in Chabrak and Craig's work on accounting education. They examined professional credentialing and professional education. Like Everett and Tremblay, they also point us toward the public interest role of accounting and our societal need for better and informed judgments. The comment concludes with the observation that Aristotle's notion of the phronemos is an ideal type that promotes virtue ethics to address the drift in accounting away from ethics and its public interest role.     

Understanding cost differences in the public sector—a cost drivers approach

Estimation of cost causality has always been an important part of the accountant’s work. This includes the identification, classification and estimation of factors causing a change in the total cost of a related cost object. In the recent literature these factors are called cost drivers. Different approaches and conceptual frameworks for understanding cost causality are found in the economics, strategy and accounting literature. This paper examines different cost driver approaches in a public sector setting. The study is based on data from primary and secondary schools in the four largest cities in Norway. The findings show that a strategic management accounting approach provides a framework for selecting a broader set of explanatory variables than the traditional cost estimation literature. This set includes product attributes, institutional factors and government policy as cost drivers in the public sector.     

The Employment Landscape for Accounting Graduates and Work Experience Relevance

This study outlines the results of a survey undertaken at an Australian university in 2007 and examines the factors that are associated with an undergraduate accounting student obtaining a job offer. Undertaking relevant part‐time work, academic performance and social (extra‐curricular) activities are significant factors leading to job offers prior to graduation. Our study also identifies a high level of part‐time work currently undertaken by full‐time students, confirming the trend identified in other studies. Interestingly, this high level of part‐time work was not found to negatively affect students’ academic performance.     

The IPO Derby: Are There Consistent Losers and Winners on This Track?

We examine the individual and joint relation of discretionary accounting accruals, underwriter reputation, and venture capital backing with the long-run performance of initial public offerings (IPOs). We find that although correlated to some extent, these variables do not manifest the same underlying phenomena in their relation to IPOs' performance. The confluence of the variables is more important than using any one of them individually to identify IPOs that exhibit abnormal long-run stock returns. The combination of their negative aspects helps identify extreme underperformers. We also identify a set of winner IPOs by combining the positive aspects of the three variables.     

An examination of African Americans' access to public accounting mentors: perceived barriers and intentions to leave

This paper reviews prior research on diversified mentoring relationships and formulates predictions regarding African Americans' access to public accounting mentors. Empirical analysis is based on responses from 116 African-American public accounting employees, compared to 756 Caucasian responses from a prior study. Statistical results indicate that African-American public accounting employees are less likely to obtain an informal mentor and perceive greater barriers to obtaining mentors. For two mentoring functions (protection and assistance, and social support), African-American respondents reported lower levels of support, compared to Caucasian respondents. Also, African-American respondents indicated stronger intentions to leave public accounting.     

Supervisory Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction in Public Accounting Firms

This paper reports the results of a survey of 350 junior-level accountants working at public accounting firms in Australia. The survey obtained information on their perceptions of the extent to which the supervisory actions recommended in the Accounting Education Change Commission's (AECC)Issues Statement No. 4 were applied in their organisations. We test whether these supervisory actions have an effect on their job satisfaction. The results indicate that each of the three major elements of supervisory actions recommended by the AECC - leadership and mentoring, working conditions and assignments -are significantly associated with overall job satisfaction.     

Job offers of multi-national accounting firms: the effects of emotional intelligence,extra-curricular activities,and academic performance

This study investigates the effects of academic performance, extracurricular activities (ECA) and emotional intelligence (EI) of potential accounting-major graduates on the outcomes of their respective interviewing activities and the number of final job offers given by the multinational Big 5 public accounting firms. The following outcomes are identified: (a) the number of initial job interviews is affected by both a graduate's academic performance and level of participation in ECA; (b) the number of subsequent job interviews is affected by both the number of initial job interviews as well as the level of a graduate's EI; (c) the number of final job offers is affected by the graduate's level of EI and both the number of initial and subsequent job interviews. The results indicate the relevance of EI in the job search process and will also be useful for accounting educators to plan their curricula more effectively to enhance the job placement of their graduates with the Big 5 firms.     

The role of inclusive work environment practices in promoting LGBT employee job satisfaction and commitment

ABSTRACT

One of the most enduring issues facing public administration and public policy is discrimination against and exclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees in the public workplace. Research on how inclusion management influences LGBT public servants’ work outcomes is limited. The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) synthesized a construct of integrated inclusive work environment consisting of five practices thought to be important for public employee work outcomes. Social exchange theory is used in this paper to theorize about the effects of these different inclusive work environment practices on LGBT employee job satisfaction and organizational (affective) commitment. An inclusive work environment approach was found to have a positive effect on LGBT employee job satisfaction and affective commitment in federal government staff in the USA. However, individual inclusive work environment practices varied in their effects on LGBT employee job satisfaction and affective commitment.