Accounting firm partners to public corporation employees

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Edward Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Single Case ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Company Performance ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Firm ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Publicly Owned

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications on former accounting firm partners becoming employees of a publicly owned accounting corporation, the responses of the former partners and impacts on the acquiring company. Partners of accounting and other professional service firms selling their firms to publicly owned companies often remain with the acquiring company as employees and receive company shares as consideration for their firms. Agency theory suggests public ownership will result in changes to the roles of senior professionals with potential resistance and motivation consequences. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a case study approach involving the review of publicly available information and interviews with executives and senior professionals of an Australian publicly owned accounting company, Stockford Limited. Findings The Stockford case indicates that selling their firm to a publicly owned company can have significant negative implications for accounting firm partners. The former partners struggled to adapt to their new roles as senior professional employees and shareholders. Their responses had significant impacts on company performance, which ultimately contributed to the collapse of the company, thus reflecting the power senior professionals retain regardless of the change of ownership form. Research limitations/implications Care is required when generalising findings of a single case to other professions and other geographic jurisdictions. Practical implications This paper has significant implications for entrepreneurs and executives consolidating professional service firms, partners considering selling their firms and investors in publicly owned professional service firms. Originality/value Despite the emergence of publicly owned accounting and other professional service companies and the importance and power of senior professionals in professional service firms, this is the first study to explore the implications on senior professionals of selling their firms to public companies.

scholarly journals Segmentation of quantity surveying professional services for focus strategy and diversification

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-308
Author(s):  
Michael Adesi ◽  
De-Graft Owusu-Manu ◽  
Frank Boateng
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quantity Surveying ◽  
Focus Strategy

Purpose Notwithstanding that numerous studies have focused on strategy in quantity surveying (QS) professional service firms, there is a paucity of investigation on the segmentation of QS professional services. The purpose of this study is to investigate the segmentation of QS services for diversification and a focus strategy formation. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts the positivist stance and quantitative approach in which a simple random sampling technique was used to select participants. In total, 110 survey questionnaires were administered to registered professional QS, out of which 79 completed questionnaires were returned for analysis. Findings The paper identifies three main QS service segments characterised by low, moderate and high competition. In addition, this study found that the concentration of traditional QS services in the building construction sector is due to the unwillingness of QS professional service firms to diversify into the non-construction sectors such as oil and gas. The diversification of QS services in the low competitive segment requires the adoption of agile approaches. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to numeric analyses and so would be complemented by qualitative research in the future. Practical implications This paper is useful to QS professional service firms interested in diversifying their services into the non-construction sectors to enhance the pricing of their services. Originality/value Segmentation of QS services is fundamental to the formulation of focus strategy for non-construction sectors such as oil and gas and mining to enhance the pricing of QS professional services.

An Exploratory Study of Organizational Governance in Publicly-Quoted Professional Service Firms

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 779-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Professional Service ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Organizational Governance ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Ultimate Failure ◽  
Publicly Owned ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Interpretive Scheme

There has been a trend of large professional service firms (PSFs) to move from the partnership form of ownership to alternative ownership forms. As part of this trend large, publicly-quoted accounting companies have emerged in Australia, the US and the UK. Research on how publicly-owned PSFs, including accounting companies, are governed, whether aspects of the governance of partnership persist, why particular governance interpretive schemes and associated structures and systems are implemented and implications for performance is sparse. This study explores the interpretive scheme of governance in two Australian publicly-quoted accounting companies and finds one of the companies to have mimicked the major attributes of the partnership interpretive scheme while the other company moved to a corporate form of governance eliminating all vestiges of the partnership interpretive scheme. Governance was found to have significant implications for the performance of the companies with moving from a partnership interpretive scheme contributing to the ultimate failure of one of the companies. The cases suggest that failed experiments in the governance of publicly-owned PSFs, a relatively recently emerged ownership form in some professions, may contribute to conflicting prior findings on the implications of ownership form for the performance of PSFs. Two alternative approaches to the introduction of corporate style governance structures and systems were identified with the findings suggesting potential benefits of evolution rather than revolution. Based on the findings, a theoretical model of the interpretive scheme of governance of publicly-traded PSFs is developed including factors affecting the interpretive scheme implemented and the introduction of more corporate-like governance structures and systems, potential performance implications of PSFs moving away from a partnership interpretive scheme and the conditions and contingencies under which the relationship may hold. The paper also extends the application of agency theory to publicly-owned PSFs.

Language at work in the Big Four: global aspirations and local segmentation

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 2031-2054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Detzen ◽  
Lukas Loehlein
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Organizational Relationships ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Big Four

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how professional service firms (PSFs) manage the linguistic tensions between global Englishization and local multilingualism. It achieves this by analysing the work of Big Four audit firms in Luxembourg, where three official languages co-exist: Luxembourgish, French, and German. In addition, expatriates bring with them their native languages in a corporate environment that uses English as its lingua franca. Design/methodology/approach The paper combines the institutionalist sociology of the professions with theoretical concepts from sociolinguistics to study the multifaceted role of language in PSFs. Empirically, the paper draws from 25 interviews with current and former audit professionals. Findings The client orientation of the Big Four segments each firm into language teams based on the client’s language. It is thus the client languages, rather than English as the corporate language, that mediate, define, and structure intra- and inter-organizational relationships. While the firms emphasize the benefits of their linguistic adaptability, the paper reveals tensions along language lines, suggesting that language can be a means of creating cohesion and division within the firms. Originality/value This paper connects research on PSFs with that on the role of language in multinational organizations. In light of the Big Four’s increasingly global workforce, it draws attention to the linguistic divisions within the firms that question the existence of a singular corporate culture. While prior literature has centred on firms’ global–local divide, the paper shows that even single branches of such firm networks are not monolithic constructs, as conflicts and clashes unfold amid a series of “local–local” divides.

Team learning capability – an instrument for innovation ambidexterity?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Helen Batt-Rawden ◽  
Gudbrand Lien ◽  
Terje Slåtten
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Team Learning ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Learning Capability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Capabilities

Purpose The aim of this paper is to develop the concept of team learning capability in professional service firms. Thereafter, to examine the effect of team learning capability on innovation ambidexterity. The aspects of exploitive and explorative knowledge creation in teams and its impact on incremental and radical service innovation are in focus. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling was applied to establish reliability and validity and measure the size of relationships. Evidence is drawn upon an empirical sample of 210 consultants in the professional service industry. Findings The findings support the concept of team learning capability and reveal that team learning capability consists of relationship learning in teams, trusting team climate and employee commitment. The results indicate a strong positive relationship between team learning capability and innovation ambidexterity in professional service firms. Originality/value This study is the first to offer an empirical-based and contextualized framework for team learning capabilities and a valid measure.

Clients and cases: ambiguity and the division of labour in professional service firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Alvehus
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Work ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Way

Purpose By drawing on a detailed case study of the work of tax consultants, the purpose of this paper is to develop a more detailed understanding of the role of ambiguity in professional work, and its relationship to the division of labour in professional service firms (PSFs). Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a three-year, longitudinal interpretive case study comprising 42 interviews, supplemented by observations and document data. Findings The research determines that processes of “obfuscation” and “privatisation” separate client work from case work. This maintains a division of labour between junior and senior professionals, which in turn facilitates financial leverage. The findings indicate that a more nuanced view on the role and origins of ambiguity is needed; particularly the role ambiguity plays in the division of labour. While inherent in professional work, ambiguity is also an effect of the way work processes are organised in order to obtain leverage. Research limitations/implications The research is based on a case study. Therefore, the paper explores its topic in empirical detail, but at the same time calls for exploring the topic in different contexts. The paper encourages further research on the role ambiguity plays being constituted by structural arrangements, and on the way the core of professionalism is inverted by the division of labour. The paper highlights the value of detailed empirical approaches for understanding professional work. Practical implications The paper draws attention to the way ambiguity becomes a part in sustaining a division of labour among professional workers, and to the importance of this in maintaining financial leverage as well as in creating a precarious work situation for junior professionals. Social implications The paper raises concerns about the way professional work is legitimated in society as opposed to how it is constructed in PSFs. Originality/value The paper challenges prevalent notions of professional work as ambiguous, offering instead a way of engaging with professional work processes in detail, theoretically and methodologically. Traditional assumptions about the division of labour and the “core” of professional work are problematized, and traditional assumptions about ambiguity as a cause of specific structural arrangements are questioned.

An emerging market perspective of what makes professional service firms successful

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 57-78
Author(s):  
Felix Nana Abaka Sackey ◽  
Livingstone Divine Caesar
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Despite the criticality of strategic partnerships to the survival and success of professional service firms (PSF) in emerging markets, there is a dearth of research on the subject matter. Specifically, not much is known concerning the dynamics of partnerships among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the professional services sector of the economy. This paper aims to explore the dynamics of the impact of constructs such as attributes of partnership, communication behaviour and collaborative conflict resolution on partnership success. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative survey sent to 300 small and medium-sized PSFs achieved a 79% response rate. The data is then analysed using bivariate and multi-variate techniques. Findings The results revealed a positive relationship between two of the three constituents of attributes of the partnership (i.e. commitment and coordination) and the success of partnerships. Commitment and coordination emerged as the significant attributes of partners that affect the success of the partnership. Contrary to previous studies, trust and information sharing did not have a positive impact on partnership success. Practical implications PSFs in emerging markets need concerted efforts to maintain competitive and sustainable partnerships. To make any significant impact, they must develop contemporary skills in collaborative conflict management. Originality/value This paper highlights the need for PSFs and SMEs in other service sectors of emerging markets to harness partnerships as a valuable tool to overcome the policy shortcomings of current regulatory frameworks within their respective markets.

International management challenges of professional service firms: a synthesis of the literature

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciara O’Higgins ◽  
Tatiana Andreeva ◽  
Nekane Aramburu Goya
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
International Management ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to identify what international management challenges professional service firms (PSFs) face and why they face them. Design/methodology/approach This study carries a focussed thematic literature review of 102 empirical articles. This paper uses content analysis to extract and aggregate challenges identified by researchers in their fieldwork and then analysed this data using qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings This study identifies 10 international management challenges that PSFs face and a number of causes for these challenges. The analysis also suggests that the distinctive characteristics of PSFs generate some of the international management challenges for PSFs. Practical implications This study helps PSF managers understand the international management challenges they may face depending on the specifics of their company, thus helping them better prepare their internationalisation. Originality/value This study contributes to providing a greater understanding of what is holding PSFs back in their internationalisation and why. It demonstrates that distinctive characteristics of PSFs may predict the challenges that PSFs will face, thus paving the way for further research on international management in PSFs and for the development of the diagnostic tool for practitioners that could help them to identify which challenges they should prepare for most.

scholarly journals Intellectual capital and organizational ambidexterity in Chinese and Irish professional service firms

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Fu ◽  
Qinhai Ma ◽  
Janine Bosak ◽  
Patrick Flood
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Organizational Ambidexterity ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internal Management ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – Organizational ambidexterity enables firm to simultaneously exploit existing resources and explore new resources. It is associated with high levels of organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify key internal management resources which contribute to building organizational ambidexterity. In particular, this study examines the impact of intellectual capital, i.e. human, social, and organizational capital, on organizational ambidexterity which in turn influences firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted within the context of professional service firms due to the importance of intellectual capital and organizational ambidexterity. Data were collected from 112 Chinese (cross-sectional design) and 93 Irish accounting firms (time-lagged design). Findings – Results provide support for the linkage of intellectual capital to organizational ambidexterity and firm performance. Interestingly, findings are mixed regarding the impact of the three types of capital resources on organizational ambidexterity across both countries. Practical implications – This study finds that various components of intellectual capital facilitate organizational ambidexterity which in turn improves firm performance. Therefore the authors provide managers with evidential support for the salience of intellectual capital in enabling organizations to simultaneously engage in exploiting existing resources while also exploring new ideas and opportunities. Originality/value – This study is unique in that it highlights the importance of internal management resources in building up organization’s ambidexterity capability. The link between intellectual capital and organizational ambidexterity was established using a rigorous research design which has not been done before. It also emphasizes the role of people in leading to organizational effectiveness via developing organizational ambidexterity. Furthermore the evidence is gathered in two countries.

Quality management for high-contact professional service firms: a multiple-case evidence from Indian law firms

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupama Prashar
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Service Operations ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Indian Law

PurposeThis paper presents an exploratory study to understand the distinctive quality dimensions of high-contact Professional Service Firms (PSFs) and develop a conceptual model for Quality Management (QM). The paper is based on empirical evidences from multiple cases in leading Indian law firms.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopted an exploratory, multiple, embedded and comparative case study design. The empirical evidence from multiple case studies in 10 law firms (data includes 42 individual interviews, archival records, field notes) was used to explore the QM dimensions for PSFs.FindingsThe results showed that QM in PSFs is a multifaceted and continuous process rather than a straightforward and episodic one. The findings reveal three distinctive dimensions of QM for PSFs: managing the firm's image; managing the client-firm interaction and support processes and; managing the perceived value of service outcome. Further, the results showed a significant variation in the design of QM practices in a relatively homogenous group of PSFs (law firms). This reflected the influence of personnel and organizational characteristics on the QM.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is based on evidences collected from 10 Indian law firms and the research design is exploratory in nature. The future research is suggested in terms of extending the scope and research design.Practical implicationsThe insights obtained from the paper have implications for managers working on the design of service operations and particularly service quality in high-contact PSFs similar to law firms. While the study does not prescribe a standard design of QM systems for PSFs, it seeks to foster the thinking of managers by helping them conceptualize the broad quality-control checkpoints and quality attributes specific to PSF settingsOriginality/valueThe academic research in the management of professional service quality is dominated by conceptual/theoretical models for customer evaluation of service provider's performance and the issue of operationalization of QM in PSFs is still needs further investigation. This paper contributes to the theory of service operations management (SOM) by focusing on the structure of QM systems in PSFs.

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