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STRATEGIC PLANNING/MANAGEMENT IN SELECTED BIG EIGHT ACCOUNTING FIRMS
Abstract
The focus of this study was to analyze and explore the current state of the art of strategic planning/management processes among selected Big Eight accounting firms in the United States and to determine any resulting implications. Strategic planning/management as a process did not appear in Big Eight accounting firms before the mid-to-late seventies. Many public accounting firms did not publicly recognize the dynamic market environment and the need to adapt to change. Concentrated efforts by these firms to adopt strategic planning/management concepts did not occur until the early 1980s. By January of 1986, strategic planning/management concepts have attained some degree of acceptance and integration in selected Big Eight accounting firms with varying degrees of operationalization and success. Each accounting firm's strategic planning/management model was compared to Digman's Integrated Model of Strategic Management. Current research in the area of strategic planning/management of public accounting firms does not exist; only limited literature was available on the strategic planning/management processes used in other service firms. Primary data from seven of the Big Eight firms were collected to provide an opportunity to explore and analyze the linkage between strategic planning/management and operational management with specific attention devoted to strategy formulation, evaluation, implementation, and control of their connection to operational tasks and functions. Given the limitations of the sample and research design, it was found that although several Big Eight firms have formal models, most do not have formalized procedures; only general patterns and procedures (many intuitive and ad hoc) are utilized in the development in strategic planning/management models and processes. Furthermore, some firms are either in the initial stages of development of the strategic planning/management process, or are at the point where completion and measurement of results is not yet meaningful.
Subject Area
Accounting
Recommended Citation
REDINBAUGH, DONNA FAYE HEERMANN, "STRATEGIC PLANNING/MANAGEMENT IN SELECTED BIG EIGHT ACCOUNTING FIRMS" (1986). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8706244.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8706244