Personality Differences Among the Big Four Professional Service Firms:examining the Big Four Through the "big Five"
Open Access
Author:
Silver, Caitlin Ann
Area of Honors:
Accounting
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Mark William Dirsmith, Thesis Supervisor Orie Edwin Barron, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Accounting Firms Big Four Personality NEO Five Factor Model
Abstract:
“It’s the people.” That is the response an undergraduate hears when asked why PwC? Why EY? Why Deloitte? Why KPMG? But what does that really mean? How different can one “Big Four” professional service firm be from another? They all offer the same services, recruit for the same skills, and have offices in the same cities. How different can their employees really be? While plenty of research exists on the personality types of accountants, no publicly available research has examined personality differences between the “Big Four” firms. Through administering a NEO Five Factor Inventory personality test to former and current interns and staff, I’ve concluded that there are no significant differences among the recruits of the firms or service lines. Maybe it is the people, but one would be able to find those newly hired people at any Big Four firm.