Understanding the recruitment and selection processes of management accountants

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the recruitment and selection processes of management accountants to enhance the understanding of how employers form perceptions of a suitable management accountant. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on 17 interviews with individuals involved in the recruitment of management accountants. Empirical data were collected during the recruitment process at eight organisations. Findings The findings suggest that in the social context of recruitment, technical skills and abilities related to management accounting are increasingly perceived as “taken for granted”, and employers instead focus on evaluating candidates’ appearance and overall credibility. In particular, employers look for individuals who appear to be sociable, dynamic and appealing. Thus, a candidate’s overall appearance and personality are central to the recruitment process, both of which are assessed through characteristics and traits associated with personal charisma. Practical implications The findings have practical implications for both job seekers and recruiters of management accountants. Originality/value This study complements past studies on the role and image of management accountants by elucidating the social nature of their recruitment and selection.

Integration of social media into HRM practices: a bibliometric overview

“…Step-3 Understanding the recruitment and selection processes of management accountants: an explorative study Lepistö and Ihantola (2018) A multi-model recruitment strategy using social media and internet-mediated methods to recruit a multidisciplinary, international sample of clinicians to an online research study McRobert et al (2018) PLoS ONE 13(7) How passive job candidates respond to social networking site screening Suen (2018) Computers in Human Behavior, 85…”

Hybrid accountants in the age of the business partner: exploring institutional drivers in a mining company

“…Possibly as a consequence of the norms and expectations described above, business partner characteristics seem in many cases to be advantageous in management accountant recruitment processes, thus indicating the presence of such preferences in the selection strategies of human resource departments (Lepistö and Ihantola 2018). The business partner seems also to be an attractive ideal among management accountants themselves, guiding their individual preferences and expectations (Järvenpää 2007; Cieslak 2011; Lepistö and Ihantola 2018).…”

“…The notion of the business partner remains a popular template for practicing management accountants and a vibrant stream of literature in academic business research (Rieg 2018). Indeed, research shows that employers hire management accountants based on business partner characteristics (Lepistö and Ihantola 2018), possibly as a result of their social orientation and their emphasis on communication and interaction rather than rational technical skills (Lepistö and Ihantola 2018).…”

“…Hybrid accountants in the age of the business partner: exploring… Coad (1996) Friedman and Lyne (1997) Tuomela (2005) Management accounting innovations Endenich (2014) Regularized tasks and responsibilities Yazdifar and Tsamenyi (2005) Modern information technology Halbouni and Nour (2013) Financial control systems Hartmann and Maas (2011) Cultural organizational norms 2009Weber 2011Rieg 2018Human resource selection preferences Lepistö and Ihantola (2018) Individual preferences and expectations among management accountants Järvenpää (2007) Cieslak 2011Lepistö and Ihantola (2018) Management accountant attitude, personality, and initiative Byrne and Pierce (2007) suggests that grouping hybrid accountant drivers into different categories makes it possible to reduce the level of detail, thereby bringing the analysis to a conceptual level. By exploring different categories of institutional drivers, it should be possible to understand the forces at play in a more nuanced way than if the drivers are treated as one homogeneous group.…”

“…Research indicates that the management accountant's own preferences substantially influence his or her role (Byrne and Pierce 2007). Because cognitive drivers are subjective and individual, they can be expected to facilitate a business partner role or a more traditional management accounting approach, depending on the actor's beliefs and assumptions (Vaivio 2008;Lepistö and Ihantola 2018).…”