Investigation of the expectations and satisfaction levels of taxpayers with accountants (Survey study in Erzurum province)

This study was conducted to investigate the expectations and satisfaction levels of taxpayers with accountants. It was conducted through a face-to-face survey method including 103 randomly selected business owners or managers registered with Erzurum Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the study, the measurement of taxpayers' satisfaction with accountants was evaluated in terms of three aspects: "Satisfaction with Personal Characteristics", "Satisfaction with Professional Knowledge and Skills" and "Satisfaction with the Service Received". In the scale development process, a 33-item scale was used and factor analysis of the data was applied. The ones with low scale values according to the Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) results were eliminated and a 20-item scale was created in the end. After the validity of this 3-factor and 20-item structure was determined through explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses, the reliability and validity of the scale were determined by conducting a reliability test. According to the descriptive findings of the scale scores obtained, it was determined that the satisfaction levels of the participants with the accounting professionals were positively high. When the satisfaction aspects are were, it was seen that the highest satisfaction aspect was professional knowledge and skills, and then followed respectively satisfaction with personal characteristics and satisfaction with the service received. The service satisfaction sub-dimension scores were observed to differ significantly when the satisfaction scale scores were compared according to the operating period of the enterprises and the working time with the last accountant. According to the test conducted to determine the groups between which there is a difference, it was seen that the service satisfaction score of the companies with an operation period of 10 or fewer years with the accountants was significantly higher than the satisfaction score of the businesses with an operating period of 21 years and above. The comparison made in the working time with the last accountant has shown that the satisfaction score of the companies that had worked with the last accountant for 1-5 years was significantly higher than the satisfaction score of the companies that had worked with the last accountant for 6-10 years. When the reasons for the change of accountants were examined, it was found that the ranking of the answers of the participants according to the percentage distribution was (i) not getting enough information, (ii) not being able to reach when requested, (iii) not getting enough attention and (iv) problems related to the personalities of the accountants. Based on these views, accountants should spare more time to their customers, be accessible, inform them sufficiently by dealing with their problems, and have a strong personality so that the satisfaction level does not diminish as the time spent working with the customer increases.