Thanks for the clarification and reply. I've updated my original question, as you were correct, I meant rel=author set up.
From what I understand then is that it's best to link to active Google+ profiles. I guess I was also curious if there were any SEO benefits to linking to a domain-based account, but it sounds like it really is more based on active accounts that speak.
Does anyone know if Google has made any statements on having multiple Plus accounts? My assumption is that they'd rather people have one identity. It has caused great confusion within our organization. No one knows which profiles to really use.
Luckily, not many people have started using the domain-based accounts at our organization, so I think I'll go ahead and encourage our employees to use their personal accounts moving forward.