Quality Measurement in Professional Services Firms

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of the association between service quality as perceived by consumers and its determinants. In particular, the SERVQUAL instrument is discussed and then it is demonstrated how it can be adapted 1.0 fit the needs of small professional services firms using a CPA firm as an example. The entire analysis can be performed with a spreadsheet package and the results are easy to interpret. The results are presented and the managerial implications are discussed.     

Creating and marketing Distinctive Competency in Small Public Accounting Firms

ABSTRACT

Small public accounting firms face fierce competition on a crowded and homogeneous playing field. A framework is available to help accounting firms stand out from the crowd and gain a competitive advantage. Distinctive competencies are skills, activities or capacities that a business is uniquely good at in comparison to its competitors. This article discusses the various kinds of distinctive competencies and the primary competencies suitable for small public accounting firms. The discussion includes the requirements for creating a competitive advantage, steps to creating distinctive competencies, and marketing implications. The conclusion includes suggested research needs.     

事务所转制、法律风险与审计质量

文章以我国财政部、工商总局联合推动的会计师事务所向“特殊普通合伙组织形式”转制这一特色事件为契机,基于审计师法律责任的视角,选取2008-2013年我国A股上市公司及其主审会计师事务所为样本,动态实证分析事务所转制对审计质量的影响。研究结果表明：具备证券资格的事务所全部完成特殊普通合伙转制之后,审计质量的整体水平显著提升;而且有限责任制转换为特殊普通合伙制增加了审计师的法律责任,同时也提高了其法律风险意识。具体表现为：转制之后,审计师对高法律风险客户的盈余管理容忍度下降,也更倾向于对高风险客户出具非标审计意见。由此可见,我国会计师事务所特殊普通合伙转制方案取得了显著成效,这将有利于我国注册会计师行业的持续发展和做强做大。     

Examining Public Hospital Service Failure: The Influence of Service Failure Type,Service Expectations,and Attribution on Consumer Response

This study investigates three independent variables; types of service failure, service expectations, and attribution on postfailure responses in healthcare. A between-subjects 3?×?2?×?2 experimental design using written scenarios was used. The findings demonstrate that customer responses to service failures in hospitals are extensively influenced by the type of service failure, the level of service expectation of the provider, and, to a lesser extent, the controllability of the cause of the failure. Core service failures lead to greater increases in negative responses for satisfaction, emotional, and behavioral responses than supplementary service failure with high service expectations protecting the provider against overall dissatisfaction, negative word-of-mouth, and switching behaviors. Interestingly, perceived high controllability leads to greater dissatisfaction but not to increased negative emotional or behavioral responses. The study applies attribution theory to explain the results. The article concludes with managerial implications.     

试论我国会计师事务所执业质量低下的原因与对策

目前我国会计师事务所普遍存在执业质量低下的问题。有限责任的组织形式、签署报告及允许退休注册会计师执业的规定对会计师事务所的执业质量缺乏内在的约束机制,是导致会计师事务所执业质量低下的内在原因;激烈竟争的会计买方市场、缺乏强有力的外部监督和执法力度太轻是会计师事务所执业质量低下的外在原因。要解决会计师事务所执业质量低下的问题,应从改变会计师事务所有限责任的组织形式着手,加强外部监督和执法力度,实行退出机制,并辅之以其他的有效措施。     

Examination of Credence and Noncredence Service Advertisement Strategies in the United States and India

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the differences in advertising strategies of services marketers in two culturally distinct markets by classifying services on the basis of search, experience, and credence attributes. A content analysis of 221 service print ads revealed that the type of service serves an important role for using appeal and service quality cues in service ads. In the case of credence services, ads in India are more likely to contain a reliability dimension of the service quality, and ads in the United States are more likely to utilize responsiveness cues.     

会计师事务所规模与审计质量——基于审计意见视角的经验研究

文章利用沪深两市上市公司2007-2008年数据,以审计意见类型作为审计质量的替代变量,并分别以业务收入、CPA人数和从业人员人数来衡量事务所规模,检验事务所规模与审计质量之间的关系。结果发现,无论采用何种方法度量事务所规模,其与审计质量之间均未表现出显著的正向关系。进一步的研究发现,事务所规模与审计质量之间大体上呈倒U相似文献   

Public Relations Autonomy, Legal Dominance, and Strategic Orientation as Predictors of Crisis Communicative Strategies

This article investigates the factors affecting how public relations autonomy, legal dominance, and strategic orientation affect crisis communicative response in corporate contexts. Communication managers, crisis managers, public affairs managers, and/or public relations managers were solicited from Taiwan’s top 500 companies to participate in a survey. The results revealed that, in contrast to public relations autonomy being the strongest and sole predictor of concession strategy, legal dominance could predict defensive and diversionary responses in crisis events. The article concludes with a discussion of practical applications and theoretical implications.     

推广应用XBRL——我国企业与会计教育的应对

XBRL的推广和应用是我国会计信息化建设的重要里程碑。遵循XBRL系列国家标准,将企业财务报告各要素内容映射为企业会计准则通用分类标准或扩展分类标准的各元素,创建XBRL文档,可以真正实现数出一门、资源共享。鉴于XBRL的特定要求,实施单位应深入研究XBRL的特征与技术要求,为充分发挥XBRL的优越性创造必要的条件。各会计教育机构应顺应会计改革的需要,培养出适应XBRL发展的复合型会计信息化专业人才,加快对硬件资源进行升级改造步伐,确保XBRL的安全运行。     

A Public Sector Marketing Model to Measure the Social and Environmental Values of Public Strategies: An Empirical Study on a Green Public Service

This article develops a public sector marketing model to measure the social and environmental values of public strategies. Applying partial least squares path modeling, the authors empirically test the model by conducting a quantitative survey (N = 603) among users of a green public service in the form of a public bike-sharing system. The findings reveal that users simultaneously perceive public outcomes on the social value and environmental value dimensions. The effect estimated on the perceived social value dimension of the green public service was slightly stronger than the effect on the environmental value dimension. Thus, users primarily perceive self-centered values, before considering values generated for the environment. The findings also show that engaging citizens now in the actual usage of green public services can foster green consumption intentions in the future.     

Empowerment and Customer Satisfaction Strategies in Multi-Cultural Hotel Restaurant Environments

ABSTRACT

The paper addresses empowerment issues for hotel restaurant managers, as they affect: (a) quality service, (b) customer satisfaction, and (c) financial implications. It investigates empowerment in restaurant management in Dubai five star hotels, how managers operating in Dubai's multi-cultural environment perceive empowerment in their operations, and how this perception relates to their organization's quest for service quality, customer satisfaction, and financial return. Primary data was collected in focus group interviews with (n = 24) managers. Findings suggest managers are well informed, see empowerment as beneficial, support its application, but harbour some concerns, and as literature suggests, there are ambiguities and disagreements over its application.     

Public service quality and customer satisfaction: exploring the attributes of service quality in the public sector

Beyond the existing SERVQUAL-based research, the authors develop an alternative model of public service quality. The various sources of public service quality are explored and a new classification scheme formulated by using critical incidents technique. Four main qualities of public service are identified: process quality, outcome quality, design quality, and relationship quality. The findings suggest that the critical attributes of public service quality for customer satisfaction differ according to the types of customers in the public sector. Final customers (beneficiaries) give priority to the process and outcome qualities, whereas intermediary customers (social workers) have high regard for the design and relationship qualities.     

河南省物业管理现状分析及发展对策

河南省物业管理经过十几年的发展,取得了一定的成绩,但仍然存在着许多问题：物业管理水平普遍不高,从业人员文化水平低,市场竞争机制不完善,前期介入不被重视,房改房普遍没有物业管理,居住环境、生活秩序差。对此,加强立法、规范市场竞争机制;正确引导物业管理企业走整合之路;培育一批有实力、服务质量高的物业管理企业;打造和谐社区．奉行以人为本的服务理念等是河南物业管理今后的发展方向。