Partner-Track Aspirations in Public Accounting: Comparisons between Partners and Nonpartners
调查224名公共会计专业人士，比较合伙人与非合伙人对晋升合伙人所需利益与牺牲的态度差异，并分析性别差异，为事务所提升合伙人意愿提供指导。
SYNOPSIS Partner aspirations (i.e., an employee’s desire to make partner) benefit accounting firms by promoting succession planning and reducing unwanted employee turnover. Further, female partner aspirations are critical for firms striving to achieve gender equity at the partner level. Prior research has begun to examine partner aspirations (e.g., Jones and Iyer 2020); however, little is known about how partner and nonpartner attitudes and values differ regarding the benefits and sacrifices required of the partner track. We survey 224 public accounting professionals (101 partners and 123 nonpartners) to systematically compare partner and nonpartner attitudes and values. By identifying mismatches in perceptions between these two groups, our results direct firm leadership to specific issues most detrimental to partner aspirations. Our comparisons by gender provide further insight into specific issues that firms need to address to increase female partner aspirations.