An Analysis of Generational and Job Rank Determinants of Accountants’ Work Styles

Abstract

Because the recruitment and retention of qualified certified public accountants (CPAs) is vital to an organization's fiscal management and success, it is critical that businesses attract and hire accounting professionals whose work styles align with the skills demanded of the profession. When seeking to fill positions for professionals in high demand occupations with high turnover rates, such as CPAs, finding accountants whose work styles are congruent with positions' work and skill competencies is critical.The problem to be addressed in this study is that organizations need to hire and retain CPAs who possess the work style dimensions that contribute to organizational success, work style dimensions of CPAs are unknown, and organizations need tools to assess CPAs' work style dimensions. Therefore, it is important to assess the CPAs' work style dimensions.The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the extent to which, if any, CPAs'work style dimensions differ according to generation and job rank as measured by the Leading Dimensions Profile (LDP).