Commercial and professional audit goals: Inculcation of audit seniors

The complexity of audit firm goals and the potential conflict between commercial and professional goals have been documented in the literature. Previous research points to the growing dominance of commercial goals in audit firms from the mid-1960s onwards. Major corporate collapses such as Enron focused public attention on commercialism and this study examines audit seniors' perceptions of the goals of audit firms and audit partners in 2005. The study highlights a difference between the lived experiences of audit seniors and the impression they felt audit partners were giving of the audit working environment to audit clients and/or prospective employees. Consistent with existing literature on the increasing commercial focus of the auditing profession, profitability was perceived to be the dominant goal in action of both partners and audit firms in the majority of interviews; however, the main goals rhetorically espoused in the marketplace were perceived to be quality and client satisfaction, while the main goals of audit firms espoused to enrol current and prospective employees were perceived to be staff satisfaction and development. Implications of the findings and areas for future research are discussed in the paper.