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Turnover of experienced and well-trained professionals continues to be a problem for accounting firms. Much of the turnover is among individuals who are trying to satisfy demands of both work and family. This study examines the sources of work-family conflict and their association with job outcomes in the accounting profession. One source of work-family conflict, work interfering with the family (WIF), is found to significantly relate to job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Females are much more likely than males to experience turnover intentions when their work interferes with their family. Another source, family interfering with work (FIW), is not significantly related to either job satisfaction or to turnover intentions when flexible work arrangements are offered, but is related to turnover intentions when flexible work arrangements are not offered. As currently offered, flexible work arrangements seem to be effective at reducing turnover related to FIW.

One way for firms to promote the mentoring of employees is to establish formal programs that match employees with potential mentors. Whether employees are satisfied with such formal mentoring is an empirical question. This paper examines that issue as well as whether formal mentoring programs serve to reduce perceived barriers to obtaining a mentor. The study is based on survey data obtained from 723 respondents currently working at the major public accounting firms. The study found that certain methods for matching potential mentors and prote´ge´s, as well as certain formal structures (e.g., meeting regularly and setting goals and objectives), are associated with greater mentorship satisfaction by employees. Also, the study found evidence that employees exposed to formal mentoring programs perceive no more barriers to obtaining a mentor than employees who develop informal mentoring relationships. No evidence was found suggesting that female employees, compared to males, perceived greater barriers to obtaining a mentor, or were more likely to leave the firm. These results suggest that formal mentoring programs may be associated with a changing social structure at the large public accounting firms.

This paper examines whether supervisors in nontraditional accounting services (vs. supervisors in financial auditing and tax services) are more likely to acquire transformational leadership skills, and, whether such skills impact subordinates' role clarity and role outcomes. Transformational leadership coincides with the AICPA's Vision Project's definition of leadership skills: the ability to influence, inspire, and motivate others to achieve results. The paper uses role theory to articulate specific links between transformational leader behavior, role clarity, and role outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance). Data was obtained through a mail survey to 1,150 AICPA members, with 416 usable responses obtained. Participants who primarily worked in the functional area of information system assurance and business consulting (ISA/BC) perceived that their supervisors demonstrated higher levels of transformational leadership, compared to participants from two other service areas (financial auditing and tax services). Transformational leadership was directly and positively associated with role clarity, job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment, and indirectly associated with job performance, across all three functional areas. The current study serves as a baseline, demonstrating transformational leadership is more likely to occur in public accounting functions that are less standard-intensive. However, future research must determine whether transformational leadership in nontraditional services translates into economic gain, i.e., into increased revenues and an expanded client base.