Empirical Analysis On Service Quality Gaps Of CPA Firms In Taiwan

Service sector has become the major driving force for national economic development for many countries in recent years. For service industries, quality of the service is the key to survival. Measurement scale must be used for ascertaining service quality. Without the confirmation of a scale, service quality is unidentifiable and unable to be applied to practical. A scale to service quality is the wind to the sails. Therefore, the development, application and validation of the scale is an essential foundation to the development in the area of service quality. A review over the existing measurement scales of service quality shows that researchers' opinions have not progressed with time. On the contrary, they become more and more out of focus in terms of accuracy of their studies. Discussion of service quality measurement started in 1985 when Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, et al. proposed the Five-gap Model of service quality for the first time, and the conceptual model of "SERVQUAL" was developed. This becomes the first practical and applicable scale in history.Methodology of this study builds on empirical examples. Refer to describes the concept of professional service quality among Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firms in Taiwan and assesses their existing practices. The study also proposes the key factors and a scale of successful service quality, as the basis for CPAs' self-assessment of their service quality. For data collection, the study is based on the theoretical framework of overseas and local discussions over service quality and over the operational model of Taiwan's CPA firms, and takes Kaohsiung City CPA Association as the study population for a questionnaire survey. Survey results are analyzed by frequencies, etc. In addition, qualitative interviews have been conducted with famous accountants in Taiwan, which moderates the results from statistical analysis. Hence the key factors of successful service quality and the service quality scale are proposed.According to the study, the gaps of service quality and the suggestions for CPA firms are as follows. The first gap is "the lack of understanding about customers' anticipation." It is suggested to respond with flexible organization framework, stable staff and workable R&D operation. The second gap is the establishment of a wrong standard of service quality. It is suggested to respond with professional technological integration, a complete database system, efficient operational processes and perception of feasibility. The third is uncertainty of service performance. It is suggested to respond with progress control, budget control, work quality control, team cooperation and value audit. The final one is noncooperation with promise. It is suggested to respond with public relations planning, fair and reasonable contracts and horizontal communication.Standard of service quality is an open framework, formed by continually reviewing, revising and assessing the existing criteria. Therefore, design of the measurement scale changes with time and space too, requiring timely and proper addition, deletion and revision. It is recommended that CPA firms make good use of the measurement scale, for enhancing service quality and creating a basis for profits with a good management system.