Competitive Advantage Analysis Of Folks DFK & Co.

4.5 Competitive Advantage Analysis
This part of report will analyse whether Folks DFK & Co. is able to utilise its resources and overcome its certain issues faced by the firm to sustain competitive advantage in current market.
4.5.1 Resource Allocated
A. Human Resource
The firm's human resource management is mainly controlled by partners, which include the involvement of partners in the recruitment process. Human resource department will select candidates with certain requirement to be shortlisted for interview. However, the interview will be conducted by the firm's partners themselves. Technical knowledge will be tested during the interview to ensure the qualification of employees to be recruited.

Several factors which contribute to the
are allocated based on different Business Group. Each business groups form a clan and have its own sub-cultures in the firm. Clan control can be considered as an important type of management control system in a service organisation such as audit firm. It is able to provide a sense of belonging to the staff, increase staff loyalty, and thus higher staff
Staff will not feel awkward for seeking further information, explanation and guidance from manager, director or even partner when he or she is facing some problem during the audit process. This indirectly enhances the audit quality as the staff gets direct guidance from their supervisor.

Authorised training employer
Folks DFK & Co is one of the ICAEW Authorised Training Employers (ATE). As there is not much ICAEW ATEs in current marketplace, the firm status as the ATE give benefits to the firm to attract and retain talent. Besides act as ICAEW ATE, the firm also offer sponsorship for other selected professional qualifications such as ACCA, CPA Australia, and MICPA-ICAA. Through this, the firm is able to recruit the best and attract committed individuals to join the firm and helps to enhance firm's performance.

Junior staff being given opportunity to learn
As compared to junior staff status in Big 4 firms, junior staff in small and medium sized audit firms are being given more responsibilities and chances to take part in the overall audit process. This is because majority of the clientele of Big 4 are big multinational corporations and public listed companies with complex operations, junior staff might not be able to perform adequate audit procedures due to lack of experience and