Abstract
Attracting and retaining qualified staff is the biggest discussion within the accounting profession today, and younger generations are seeking a distinctly different work-style. Millennials make up the preponderance of the public accounting workforce, and because of millennials’ affinity for alternative work arrangements (AWAs), accounting firms are concerned with ensuring that their AWA options are not only competitive, but are also adequately addressing the expressed needs and priorities of the millennial generation.|It is ironic, then, that the literature provides damaging evidence regarding how AWA participants are perceived in the accounting profession. Given the disconnect between the public promotion of AWAs by public accounting firms and the evidence regarding the damaging effects to AWA participants’ careers, this study seeks to demonstrate the millennial impact on AWA support in public accounting, and to determine the demographic profile of AWA naysayers and AWA supporters in public accounting.|This study hypothesizes that millennials demonstrate greater support for AWAs than non-millennials through two (out of three) distinct dimensions of AWA support, and that millennial managers demonstrate greater overall AWA support than non-millennial managers. Analysis of variance results indicated that these hypotheses were not supported, but did find that females were more supportive of AWAs in two dimensions of AWA support, and that AWA participants were more supportive in all three dimensions of AWA support.|The similarity between millennial and non-millennial responses is surprising given the robust, generational differences research, but it is important to note the sample size limitation in this study given only 32 non-millennial participants. Despite this limitation, this study contributes to the literature by demonstrating more agreement in public accounting with the societal ideals related to AWAs than with the perceived organization costs or personal costs related to AWAs. This study also finds a disproportionate number of manager/senior manager AWA participants compared to lower ranks in the firm, and suggests areas where operational changes may be warranted in firms’ AWA programs. Collectively, these findings provide insights to firms regarding where to target AWA support efforts, and allows future research to further analyze naysayer subgroups and determine possible remedies for their concerns.