Mind the gap: Accountants at work and play

Unitary scales like the Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI) and the NEO-PI-R may be inadequate measures of the ability for personality changes across situations. The paper offers an alternative personality measure called the typotypical behaviour indicator (TBI) which has been developed by the authors over a 7-year period to fill the current gap. This paper determines whether students of accounting show the same preferences in two important life situations, at work and when socializing using the MBTI and the TBI.The results using the MBTI on 356 third year accounting students showed overall preference for the dimensions of sensing, thinking and judging, of 40% in 2002 and 35% in 2003. Using the TBI this rose to an alarming 52 and 58% in 2002 and 2003, respectively, at work but plummeted to 13% in both years in social situations, respectively.These results suggest that many students of accounting adopt quite different personality profiles in different situations. The results also suggest the need for a major reassessment of the assumptions often made about stereotypical accountant's personalities.