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An Observation Study of a Large Public Accounting Firm

Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, Room 602, Uris Hall, New York, New York 10027

The concern of this inquiry is with management strategy in a large, international public accounting firm. The large accounting firm must deal with a variety of difficult problems in its efforts to grow and remain successful. Borrowing from the terminology of Emery and Trist, the interrelatedness of many of these problems tends to suggest a "turbulent field environment. " In this paper, an observation approach is used to discover the strategy which the large accounting firm employs in its attempt to deal with a complex and changing environment. Results indicate that there is a three pronged strategy consisting of providing clients with a tangible product (Doing), marketing the image of the firm to the business community (Representing), and marketing the image of competence and integrity of the firm to the government and society (Being). Indications are that the firm is successful in dealing with its environment on a piecemeal and short-run basis. Implications for the long run are less clear.

Human Relations, Vol. 30, No. 11, 1005-1024 (1977)
DOI: 10.1177/001872677703001104


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