Playing the Big Four recruitment game: The tension between illusio and reflexivity

Daoust, Laurence

doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2019.04.002

Cited by 42 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Those attractions are particularly powerful in the context of hiring decisions made by elite professional service firms, where the recognition and possession of the right connections (i.e., the right social capital) plays a crucial role in the selection process (Cook et al ; Daoust ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When the Client Is a Former Auditor: Auditees' Expert Knowledge and Social Capital as Threats to Staff Auditors' Operational Independence

Daoust

Malsch

2020

Contemporary Accting Res

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Auditees can play an active role in influencing staff auditors' professional judgment and skepticism. Yet, although it constitutes one of the main threats to auditor independence, very little is known about the means and extent of auditees' power during the audit engagement. To address this knowledge gap, our study focuses on a specific category of auditees, namely, auditees who have worked as auditors in large accounting firms. We interviewed 36 of these auditees and triangulated our findings with 11 interviews conducted with auditors. At the theoretical level, we conceptualize auditees' influence over auditors as intentional and active through the notion of “social power.” Overall, our analysis shows that the efficacy of auditees' power during the engagement materializes through the mobilization of two main power resources developed during their time at the firms: (i) expert knowledge of auditing techniques and (ii) social capital. On the one hand, relying on their cognitive authority, auditees' employ three different power strategies to constrain staff auditors' operational independence: stage‐setting, teaching, and questioning. On the other hand, auditees' social capital can support the use of two additional strategies: attracting and monitoring. Our triangulation analysis confirms our findings and suggests that auditors may be aware of the threats to independence that auditee expertise and social capital pose. By focusing on auditees' agentic capabilities—that is, individuals' capabilities to consciously exert influence over the course of events—we reinterpret the pressures exerted by clients on auditors as the product of strategic actions and discuss substantive consequences for independence risk.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When the Client Is a Former Auditor: Auditees' Expert Knowledge and Social Capital as Threats to Staff Auditors' Operational Independence

Daoust

Malsch

2020

Contemporary Accting Res

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“…Our research also provides insights into the type of students that are being recruited nowadays. Prior research has observed that professional values like integrity and independence are no longer a focus in the recruitment of accounting firms (e.g., Daoust 2020;Picard, Durocher, and Gendron 2014). While our study does not directly speak to the topic of professional values, it does show that students with higher levels of narcissism are more likely to start their careers in a Big 4 firm.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There might be differences between the culture and values of the Big 4 firms, so that students are not equally likely to seek career at each of these firms (see Daoust 2020). Likewise, while the focus of the current paper was on public accounting, it would be interesting to examine if results are different for (accounting) students seeking career in private accounting, as research has highlighted important differences between the work environments of public accounting and industry (e.g., Buchheit et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For those people, the work environment can be of particular importance because it offers a way to increase prestige and status (Jonason, Wee, and Li 2015). As higher levels of prestige and remuneration are defining characteristics of the Big 4 (Bagley, Dalton, and Ortegren 2012;Daoust 2020), narcissistic individuals might thus be more likely to seek career in the Big 4 than in the non-Big 4. Likewise, individuals high on Machiavellianism may prefer to seek career in the Big 4 as such individuals are highly concerned with social influence and status (Jonason and Webster 2012).…”

Section: Personality Traits and Career Choicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, we contribute to the literature that has aimed to gain insight into the identities of the people that work in accounting firms (e.g., Fogarty, Reinstein, and Heath 2017). Third, we contribute to the limited research that has investigated career choices in accounting and accounting firms' recruitment policies and practices (e.g., Daoust 2020;Durocher et al 2016). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine how personality differences relate to career entering decisions in accounting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Starting Your Career at an Accounting Firm: The Role of Personality in Explaining Career Starts

Kerckhofs

Hardies

Vandenhaute

et al. 2020

Accounting Horizons

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This study investigates whether personality affect graduate business students’ decisions to start their career in the accounting profession, and at a Big 4 accounting firm. We analyze survey data from 348 graduate students. Results show that students with lower levels of openness to experience are more likely to seek careers in accounting. Further, results show that students with higher levels of narcissism are more likely to start their careers in a Big 4 firm. Additionally, we show that this effect of narcissism is fully mediated by students' attitudes towards the Big 4. Compared to students who seek careers at non-Big 4 firms, Big 4 career seekers believe that the Big 4 offer higher salaries, better opportunities for training, experience, and networking, more advancement opportunities, better career prospects, more interesting, challenging, and fulfilling work, more friendly colleagues, a better relationship with supervisors, more job security, and higher prestige.

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Impression management and Big Four auditors: Scrutiny at a public inquiry

Dunne

Brennan

Kirwan

2021

Accounting, Organizations and Society

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Playing the Big Four recruitment game: The tension between illusio and reflexivity

Cited by 42 publications

References 88 publications

When the Client Is a Former Auditor: Auditees' Expert Knowledge and Social Capital as Threats to Staff Auditors' Operational Independence

When the Client Is a Former Auditor: Auditees' Expert Knowledge and Social Capital as Threats to Staff Auditors' Operational Independence

Starting Your Career at an Accounting Firm: The Role of Personality in Explaining Career Starts

Impression management and Big Four auditors: Scrutiny at a public inquiry

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