1、外文翻译 Developing the Marketing Concept in Public Accounting Firms Material Source: http:/ Author: Tyzoon and Albert INTRODUCTION The Metcalf Report of the Senate Subcommittee on Reports, Accounting, and Management has declared that the public accounting profession needs to foster competition. 1 The a
2、ccounting establishment faces a curious dilemma: aggressive marketing activity is a necessary ingredient in intensified competition, yet this activity is all too often perceived to conflict with professional standards of ethical conduct. To some extent this conflict arises out of a misconception of
3、marketing. The scope of modem marketing stretches far beyond the solicitations and hardsell of the Fuller Brush Salesman or the skillful manipulations described by social critics such as Vance Packard. The purpose of this paper is to develop the relevance of a marketing orientation to firms providin
4、g public accounting services. Though the paper focuses on public accountants, the methodology developed here could be extended to the marketing of the other professional services. At a fundamental level, the formulation of marketing strategy consists of four steps. They are:(1) To identify the needs
5、 of current and prospective clients for services and information； to identify their current behavior and the problems they encounter.(2) To partition the total market into segments so as to highlight the different needs and problems of various groups.(3) To select one or more of these segments as th
6、e target(s) of the firms business activities.(4) To design and implement client services, including communication programs which convey the benefits these services could provide to prospects in the target markets. The following section reviews existing research on selection of public accounting firm
7、s. The next section develops the first two of the above steps. The results of a telephone survey of chief executive officers and chief financial offiers in privately held high technology finns are reported as a case example. In addition, the evolution of a small firm and its accounting needs is pres
8、ented in a hypothetical example to dramatize the research results. The discussion then turns to the last two of the above four steps. Here the focus broadens from client needs to include an understanding of 2 the strengths and weaknesses of the CPA firm which is formulating the strategy. The marketi
9、ng audit is introduced as a vehicle for formulating marketing strategy and evaluating performance. Taylor and Thompson (1962) report on a study of the selection decision for 222 manufacturing firms. The criteria that firms used in selecting a public accounting firm were its reputation, professional
10、standing, competence, national and international coverage, and knowledge of the client firm and its industry. Over 85% of the firms had not changed their CPA firm for more than 10 years because the change would be costly and time-consuming, result in a loss of continuity and, perhaps, be adversely v
11、iewed by the business community. Approximately 95% of the firms use their CPA firms for services other than the annual audit. These services include preparation of tax returns, evaluation of acquisition, merger and consolidation prospects, internal cost accounting and development of management infor
12、mation systems and special studies in the areas of financing, pension funds, profit sharing programs, and foreign subsidy organization and operation. About half the firms used their CPA firm as consultants on management problems. Burton and Roberts (1967) studied the firms on the Fortune list of the
13、 500 largest industrial firms. For the period of 1952-1965, only 83 firms showed a change of its CPA firm for reasons other than the merger of the public accounting firm. Of these changes, only five were to a smaller sized CPA firm, 31 were from a small CPA firm to a Big 8 firm, and in 46 cases, the
14、 outgoing and incoming CPA firms were of comparable size. The principal reasons for the change were a shuffle in the client firms management (31 cases), the need for additional services (17 cases), and the need for new financing (9cases). Disputes or dissatisfaction were mentioned in only 11 cases a
15、nd the fee was an issue in only one of the cases. Beding field and Loed (1974) identified 250 firms registered with the SEC which had changed CPA firms between November, 1971 and February, 1973. They surveyed 141 of these companies and found that the fees of the outgoing firm and dissatisfaction wit
16、h it were cited in over 40% of the cases. When the change involved movement from a non-national CPA firm to a national CPA firm, there was often pressure to do so from the investment bankers involved in the client company. In a survey of 165 firms which went public in the last quarter of 1969 and th
17、e first quarter of 1970, Carpenter and Strawser (1971) found that, in over half the cases the public accounting firm had been changed in the five years prior to going public. This is in contrast to the other studies cited above which found a relatively low incidence of changes in CPA firms. The figu
18、re, however, supports our contention that the period of early growth of a company places stress its 2 management system, and hence on its relation with its CPA firm. There is a clear gap in the literature which points to the need to study companies which are privately held and in early growth stages
19、. CLIENT NEEDS AND MARKET SEGMENTS: The marketing concept advocates a strategy which emphasizes the satisfaction of customer needs as a key to success in the market. Hence, it becomes imperative to monitor the needs of the market. In the case of a CPA firm with branch offices in several geographic a
20、reas and a diverse client base, it would be dangerous to assume that informal reporting procedures will result in a coherent market information system. Instead a periodic formal report from personnel who have a high degree of client contact would be necessary. The design and administration of such a
21、 reporting system, of course, must be sensitive to the organizational structure of the CPA firm. A major limitation of such an information system is that it is a poor vehicle for evaluating new clients and new markets with whom the CPA firm has no contact. Marketing research which surveys new market
22、s is invaluable in the assessment of market needs. Key individuals in prospective client organizations can be interviewed to answer questions such as: What influences the search for and selection of a CPA firm? Who influences this process? What services are used by the client? In this section these
23、issues, and others, are analyzed on the bases of a telephone survey of a particular target market, namely the small, technology-intensive firm. The survey was limited to the 140 privately held high technology firms in the San Francisco Bay Area, with 15 to 150 employees and which was listed in the A
24、merican Electronics Association directory. The interest in these firms was motivated by their rapid growth which, it was hoped, would provide insight into the stress which growth places on the auditing, accounting, and information needs of a firm. Also, the top management of these firms typically co
25、nsists of individuals with scientific and technical backgrounds, and hence, such firms are in particular need of management advice from their CPA firm. Moreover, existing studies of CPA selection have concentrated on large public firms, ignoring the small private firm (Beding field and Loeb, 1974；Bu
26、rton and Roberts, 1967； Taylor and Thompson, 1962).The sample consisted of 140 firms in the 15 to 150 employee range. Of these firms, 112 agreed to participate in the survey. The 80%completion rate was achieved through a combination of pre interview notification by mail, and telephone interviews. The characteristics of the non-respondents were examined and were not significantly different from those of respondents. The person interviewed was either the chief executive officer (CEO) or the chief financial officer (CFO) depending on their
