Supervisory Actions and Job Satisfaction: An Analysis of Differences Between Large and Small Public Accounting Firms.

Abstract In the Fall of 1993, the Accounting Education Change Commission released its Issues Statement No. 4 addressing concerns with the early employment experiences of professional accountants. Among other suggestions, the Commission recommended a number of actions supervisors of entry-level staff can employ to improve job satisfaction. This study reports the results of a survey of 189 entry-level accountants from 14 local, regional, and Big 6 accounting firms relative to their perceptions of the existence of the supervisory actions. The study finds that the three major elements of supervisory action recommended by the AECC, leadership and mentoring, working conditions, and assignments, are all highly correlated with reported job satisfaction. However, there are significant differences between small firms and Big 6 firms relative to both working conditions actions and job satisfaction, with accountants at smaller firms reporting higher levels of each.