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Despite the entry of large numbers of women into the accounting profession over the last decade, few women have reached top management levels. Two alternative paradigms that attempt to explain this phenomenon are the person‐centered explanation and the organization‐centered explanation. This study explores the Type A ‐ Type B personality traits, job satisfaction and turnover intentions, while controlling for level of decision making authority andoccupational setting, for a sample of certified public accountants. The research was undertaken to determine if women differ from men in any of these orientations and attitudes, and to assess whether any observed differences lend support to the person‐centered explanation on women’s failure to advance in the accounting profession. The results confirmed previous research which has indicated that Type A prone personality is associated with advancement in the accounting profession, and that women accountants possess relatively higher Type A prone personalities than men. The results also indicate that both level of decision making authority and occupational setting are significant factors associated with personality. The only significant factor found to be related to job satisfaction and turnover intentions was level of decision making authority. It was concluded that women possessed the personality characteristics necessary for success in the accounting profession, but were not advancing. Consequently, the results failed to support the person‐centered explanation on women’s failure to advance in the accounting profession.

Previous research has found accountants to possess the distinctive Type A personality, which may not be as prevalent in minority populations as it is in the Euro-American populations. This article reports on the results ofa survey of a sample of 860 Euro-American and 119 Hispanic certified public accountants. It assesses potential differences in personality, job satisfaction, and turnover intention by ethnicity, occupational setting, and level of decision-making authority. Analyses of the data found that ethnicity was not associated with any of the independent variables. However, personality was found to be significantly associated with occupational setting and level of decision-making authority. Job satisfaction, was not found to be associated with occupational setting but was associated with level of decision-making authority. Finally, turnover intention was not found to be associated with occupational setting but was found to be associated with level of decision-making authority.