ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights results of the research covering many varied aspects of human resource issues within accounting and audit firms. It develops themes relevant to the process of human resource management in large accounting and audit firms, and illuminates and enhances discussion by reference to ideas and perspectives derived from the interviews with personnel with human resource management responsibilities in these firms in the UK. The single most distinctive feature of human resource management in accounting and audit firms is the pyramidic staffing structure whereby each year large numbers of very able graduates are recruited of whom only a small proportion will in time achieve partnership status within the firm. The need to service clients on an international basis is likely to strengthen the pressures for greater uniformity but there are significant obstacles to the introduction of common human resource management practices worldwide.
