The interplay between global accounting firms and national institutional contexts: The establishment of the Big Four in China from 1978 to 2007

2021 ◽  
pp. 103237322110581
Author(s):  
Wenjun Wen ◽  
Amanda Sonnerfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Economic Transition ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Audit Market ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Reform And Opening Up ◽  
Big Four ◽  
Opening Up

This paper provides an analysis of the establishment of global accounting firms (the ‘Big Four’) in China between 1978 and 2007. Drawing on the extant literature on professional service firms, and the work of Faulconbridge and Muzio (2015) , this paper examines how the Big Four entered China following the country's ‘Reform and Opening-up’ and evolved from tentative representative offices to established accounting firms in the Chinese audit market. Based on an extensive analysis of archival materials and interviews, the findings of this paper show that the Big Four's establishment in China has been deeply intertwined with the country's socio-political and economic transition. It reveals important conjunctural moments in history that have provided the Big Four with important windows of opportunity to actively shape local institutional change to their own interests. This paper contributes to the extant accounting literature on the expansion of the Big Four in China by highlighting the interplay between their surrounding institutional context and their capacity for agency.

scholarly journals The Wealth Defence Industry: A large-scale study on accountancy firms as profit shifting facilitators

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Ajdacic ◽  
Eelke Heemskerk ◽  
Javier Garcia-Bernardo
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Defence Industry ◽  
Planning Strategies ◽  
Big Four

Corporations increasingly engage in innovative ‘tax planning strategies’ by shifting profits between jurisdictions. In response, states try to curtail such profit shifting activities while at the same time attempting to retain and attract multinational corporations. We aim to open up this dichotomy between states and corporations and argue that a wealth defence industry of professional service firms plays a crucial role as facilitators. We investigate the subsidiary structure of 27,000 MNCs and show that clients of the Big Four accountancy firms show systematically higher levels of aggressive tax planning strategies than clients of smaller accountancy firms. We specify this effect for three distinct strategies and also uncover marked differences across countries. As such we provide empirical evidence for the systematic involvement of auditors as facilitators in corporate wealth defence.

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.

scholarly journals Between contestation and collaboration: The internal dynamics of multidisciplinary accounting firm responses to institutional pressures

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvette Taminiau ◽  
Stefan Heusinkveld
Keyword(s):  
Professional Service ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Internal Dynamics ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Professional Fields ◽  
Firm Responses

Abstract The colonization of adjacent professional fields has been considered as crucial to understand the success and influence of large accounting firms, such as the Big 4. Yet, given the complexities of managing different professional groups, remarkably little is known about the internal dynamics behind large multidisciplinary accounting firms’ external responses to institutional pressures. In this article, we show how exogenous coercive pressure, such as regulation (in this case Dutch accountancy regulations), not only affect the day-to-day work of accountants, but also that of non-accountants such as tax advisors. From the perception of the tax advisors who confront regulations which are not ‘theirs’, we show how their internal responses evolve and tread a fine line between contestation and collaboration with their colleague accountants/auditors. Using a boundary work perspective, we examine this shift in responses and explain how tensions between professional groups may be reduced. Overall, our study not only furthers our insights into the internal dynamics behind professional service firms’ external responses, but also sheds light on why professional groups stay on board despite unfavorable internal conditions.

Making up ideal recruits

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Gebreiter
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Recruitment Practices ◽  
Ultimate Objective ◽  
Big Four

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of graduate recruitment in the professional socialisation and subjectification of Big Four professionals. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on documentary data and interviews conducted at one British university. It adopts an interpretive perspective and is informed by Foucault’s work on technologies of power and technologies of the self. Findings The paper argues that the graduate recruitment practices of Big Four firms represent a series of examinations which produce the category of ideal recruits. It moreover suggests that this category serves as the ultimate objective of an ethical process whereby aspiring accountants consciously and deliberately seek to transform themselves into the type of subjects they aspire to be – ideal recruits. Research limitations/implications The findings of the paper are primarily based on interviews conducted at one university. Future research could explore if students at other universities experience graduate recruitment in similar or different ways. Originality/value The paper highlights the constitutive role of graduate recruitment practices and shows that they can construct ideal recruits as much as they select them. It also shows that graduate recruitment is an important anticipatory socialisation mechanism that can compel aspiring accountants to learn how to look, sound and behave like Big Four professionals long before they join such organisations. Finally, the paper discusses its implications for the future of the profession, social mobility and the use of Foucault’s work on technologies of power and the self in studying subjectivity at elite professional service firms.

A Study of Value Factors for Adopting Information Technology in Professional Service Industry — A Demonstrative Case of Accounting Firms in Taiwan

2002 ◽  
Vol 05 (04) ◽  
pp. 509-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shi-Ming Huang ◽  
Cheng-Yuan Ku ◽  
Yuan-Te Chu ◽  
Hsiang-Yuan Hsueh
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Operational Activities

With the popular adoption of information technology (IT), business models and types of services in industries are strongly influenced. Consider the professional service industries such as accounting firms, services are the main business activities in their daily job. These firms are now facing the critical issue on how to apply IT effectively and improve their service quality. The purpose of this paper is to provide a demonstrative analysis for the evaluation of valuable activities in professional service firms via "Value Shop" model. And then find the strategic benefits of IT invested with corresponding value activities by the case study of accounting firms in Taiwan. The findings indicate that IT investment is indeed helpful for activities in daily business activities in such firms, whether it is strategy-centric, managerial, or operational activities.

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