Professionalisation of Family Firms and Accounting Function: Empirical Evidence

An increasing influence of families in firms is associated with lower professionalisation. A less professionalized firm might not be able to exploit the benefits of elaborate accounting functions that are fundamental for effective decision-making and control. Yet, it is unclear to date if higher family influence leads to less differentiated and professionalized accounting functions and hence less effective decision-making and control. We test this proposition based on survey data with Bayesian regressions and interaction effects. We find evidence that the impact of family on professionalisation is particularly pronounced in smaller firms, and the effect decreases with the firm's size. This indicates that family influence and professionalisation have more significant impact on the use of accounting instruments and less impact on the differentiaiton of accounting functions, except for smaller family firms.