An Exploration of Interactions between Staff Auditors and their Clients

• In Event: Auditor-Client Interactions

Abstract

Staff auditors increasingly interact with high-level client management and there have been recent calls to better understand dynamic auditor-client interactions, which are difficult to observe in controlled experiments. In order to better understand interactions between staff auditors and their clients, we conduct semi-structured interviews with 22 practicing associate- and senior-level auditors to investigate antecedents to and outcomes of auditor-client interactions. Our results shed light on a deep-rooted power dynamic between staff-level auditors and their clients, whereby clients control the space, time and atmosphere of audits. As part of this dynamic, we also document auditors’ heightened concern for their clients’ perception of both them and the audit team. Finally, we observe that auditors often tiptoe between the need to fulfill their professional responsibilities while also ingratiating themselves to the client. These forces, we find, often lead to audit quality threatening behaviors such as client avoidance and “ghost ticking.” Our results have implications for audit practice and academia as auditors are being trained for “client service” roles.

Authors

• Melissa Carlisle, Case Western Reserve University

• Christine Gimbar, DePaul University

• James Gregory Jenkins, Auburn University