US
AU
UK
NZ
Other countries
Identifying and Developing Emerging Leaders at Your Firm
This article was originally published in Accounting Today on February 4, 2026
Identifying and developing emerging leaders at your firm
At a time when only one in fifty accountants (2%) achieve partner status, it’s natural to wonder if there are certain personality traits that significantly improve, or detract, from reaching that lofty position.
A recent study we conducted suggests the answer is ‘no’. We found that those who make it to leadership positions are not outliers. They’re just consistently a little better at handling certain workplace situations and challenges than their peers. Bottom line: everyone has the potential to be an effective leader.
Still not convinced? Let me share some results from the BDO Alliance USA Emerging Leaders program of which we’re a part. BDO Alliance USA is an association of independently owned accounting and consulting firms. Each emerging leader is selected by their firm to participate in a year-long leadership training program.
As part of the program in 2025, participants were encouraged to complete our firm’s Pathway to Partnership (P2P) leadership development module, an offshoot of our firm’s Accountants Personality Profile Questionnaire. APPQ is a "Big Five"-style personality profile which measures Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (aka OCEAN) -- often used to predict life outcomes such as job performance and well-being. Here's more about Big Five Personality Traits.
According to Kathy Sautters, leader of the BDO program for emerging leaders, the group is a mix of participants who have achieved partner status and participants on the verge of promotion. “Many of their firms don’t have comprehensive ’path-to-partner’ guidance,” noted Sautters. “This tool provides an introspective summary of the intangible criteria required outside of the technical depth and client deliverables that are so often emphasized in staff development,” she added. According to Sautters, participants found it valuable to compare “perceived strengths” of current partners to the expectations of future partners and their current ratings.
Of the nearly 100 firms in the Emerging Leaders program, 66 completed the P2P. We analyzed the results in two ways:
1. How did emerging leaders from the BDO Alliance group compare to our norm group of accountants who have completed the APPQ?
2. How did these emerging leaders compare to our “ideal leader” profile?
When we developed the APPQ we collected a substantial amount of personality data on over 300 accountants ranging from graduates to partners to CFOs. For each of the traits and sub-traits we calculated a “norm group” which shows the spread of candidate responses across each trait.
How emerging leaders are different
Any candidate can be benchmarked against this norm group to see how their preferred way of working compares to the average respondent’s score. Based on responses from the 66 emerging leaders in the BDO Alliance group, three important findings emerged:
1. Emerging leaders were not statistically different (i.e., more than two standard deviations away) from the norm group for any of the traits or sub traits.
2. Among traits for which they scored higher than the norm, the standout was Calmness -- a respondent’s tendency to remain steady, composed, and emotionally unreactive under stress. They also scored higher on Self Confidence, Affiliation (preference for teamwork and collective decision making) and Self Confidence.
3. The only trait for which they were materially lower than the norm was Emotional Stability (i.e. resilience under pressure and the ability to summon the energy to push through difficulties).
As part of the P2P, we also compare a candidate against an “ideal leader’” industry standard. We don’t expect any candidate to be 100% ideal, but the size of the gaps in their responses gives interviewers, coaches and mentors a place to focus. We don’t focus on whether or not a candidate has a gap; we focus on how they adjust their work style to compensate for that gap.
For BDO Alliance’s emerging leaders group, two important trends emerged:
1. They were closest to the ideal leader profile when it came to Conscientiousness, Affiliation and Trusting.
2. They were furthest from ideal when it came to Emotional Stability and Communication Style.
You may have noticed that Emotional Stability comes up twice. Emotional Stability is the tendency to experience consistent, balanced emotions and to recover quickly from stress. Some practical ways for leaders to improve their emotional stability could include:
· Verbalizing their feelings. For example: “I’m feeling overwhelmed right now – give me a moment before I respond.”
· Using a practiced and predictable process to respond to difficult situations or emails – e.g., the “three-minute rule” which suggests waiting three full minutes before responding to an emotionally charged email. A brief pause allows the prefrontal cortex (reasoned thinking) to regain control from the amygdala (emotional reaction).
· Considering the reason why the other person is reacting as they do. Leaders with low emotional often take things personally. Those with higher emotional stability think carefully, or jot down, what the other person might be thinking.
It’s important to note that emotional stability and calmness are not synonymous. Calmness reflects how relaxed and unflustered a person appears in the moment, while emotional stability reflects how consistently they regulate and recover from negative emotions over time. It’s not uncommon for those two attributes to be different – many people are outwardly calm but masking internal turbulence.
Key Takeaways
1. Don’t look for perfection in future leaders – you won’t find it. Our data shows firms are not promoting outliers.
2. Future leaders can be far from ideal in terms of being effective leaders. Give them the coaching and mentoring they need. Cut them some slack. Provide realistic and attainable goals.
3. When they make partner / owner / leader don’t take away their support. The journey to being a good leader doesn’t stop just because you achieve a leadership position
Conclusion
I remember on my own journey to becoming a Big 4 partner. At first I couldn’t imagine having the self-confident -- the aura -- that the partners seemed to exude. My own personality profile shows that I am highly Conscientious, low on Calmness and Affiliation, and average when it comes to Emotional Stability. I had so much self-doubt at the time, I came within a whisper of quitting public accounting and moving to the safety of a corporate accounting job. But I hung in there and I’m glad I did. If nothing else, I learned that the most stressful part of becoming a partner is the journey, not the destination.
Giles Pearson | After 18 years as a partner with a large public accounting firm, Giles founded Accountests to help those recruiting accountants make better hiring decisions
