Abstract

The primary function of top managers is to manage resources, particularly human resources. To do this effectively, they must recruit and retain teams of competent, goal-oriented line and staff subordinates who possess the complementary skills needed to meet corporate objectives. This coordinative use of specialized talents appears in almost every type of business organization, and, where particular skills are not present within the firm, they must be obtained from without. An important school of thought, however, stresses the shortcomings inherent in self-appraisal, correction, and improvement programs-notably, bias and lack of objectivity-and places emphasis instead on the need for independent assistance and appraisal. The extent to which management relies on independent assistance is demonstrated clearly by the impressive growth of business consulting and by the extension of external audit programs to include elements of management far more intangible than the dollars and cents of financial records. Although admittedly not the only, or even the predominant, practitioners of these services in certain cases, the participation of the accounting profession in business advisory services is already extensive and continues to increase.