ioniser said:
your only thinking in australia( its not a couple of "ceo s" are headed by former engineers but pretty much all in mining ,most mining companies only take ceo's who would have started off as mining,mechanical,electrical engineers in the mining sector or either have a mining background),but in general on a global stage most ceo 's are from an engineering background in the top 100
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_industrial_engineers
you also find on this page most of the ceo s either have no background and some of the large compaines like vodafone are headed by former engineers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chief_executive_officers
um...I'm not sure you are correct about engineers dominating CEO positions internationally. For starters the links show no evidence to support your assertion.
Secondly, you have to realise that very rarely are top Accountants called "Accountants". They usually work in other positions such as "business analyst" or "treasurer" or "Finance Manager" etc. I see a lot of those names on the links you have listed.
Thirdly, EVEN if you are correct when you say engineers dominate, you are comparing the a whole field of study (engineering) (including civil, chemical, IT, electronic, mechatronic, mining etc...all vastly different areas) to a portion of the field of business (accounting...even though it too has many areas of specialisation, they are all compulsory study and one cannot specialise in Uni like engineers can), so that comparison is inappropriate anyway.
Similarly, just earning a degree in Engineering is
not enough to say "oh they were engineers". u have to agree that a vast majority of ceo's in the USA have MBAs. Given that Accounting studies are compulsory in MBA courses, can you then say that "oh they were accountants"?
However, I do acknowledge that the source from which I made my earlier assertion that there are more CEOs who are from accounting backgrounds than any other is from a biased source (CPA Australia). However, based on evidence I do believe it.