What Kind of Leaders are Needed for Today’s Accounting Firms?

Abstract

This paper attempts to answer the question: What kind of leaders are needed by accounting firms? It is no secret that changing the trajectory of an organization that is on the wrong path is not easy. In the knowledge economy, however, not being able to adapt quickly can be dangerous. This is why it is important for an organization to have the right kind of leader as well as the right kind of employees. The ideal leader must be one who has a vision and knows how to communicate it, believes in servant leadership, wants to set an ethical tone at the top, cares about all stakeholders, believes in maximizing client satisfaction, encourages teamwork by building a learning organization, understands the importance of diversity, supports CSR, and wants to build a strong, positive reputation for his/her organization. Indubitably, it is time to do away with the extremely dangerous goal of maximizing shareholder value and not hire leaders who believe in this philosophy