Examining Mentoring in Public Accounting Organizations

This study explores the literature regarding the components, costs and benefits of implementing mentorship programs within professional organizations. Using a public accounting firm as a general template, we highlight mentoring's contributions in developing employees, minimizing unwanted turnover and providing other organizational benefits. It examines personal and organizational costs and benefits and discusses areas of further research, such as mentoring's developmental and psycho-social components and measurable performance enhancement for the organization as a whole-applied especially to CPA firms. The literature shows that mentors and proteges view mentoring experiences differently, finding opportunities and pitfalls of this process. For example, mentoring can improve the ethnic and gender diversity of CPA firm employees, but this process creates special problems including a general lack of available minority mentors. Next, given the high turnover in a CPA firm environment, mentoring is especially useful as a means to alleviate stress; to help guide new employees through the firms' political and organizational processes; and to help minimize unwarranted turnover of their "best and brightest" employees.