The Client or the Employing Firm? Exploring Compliance and Convergence of Commitments to Professional Values in the Auditing Profession

In the accounting profession literature, considerable attention has been paid to the role of the organization of the accounting firm in creating, maintaining, and changing professional value commitments. However, many of the more recent changes in auditor working life concern specific client types. Analysing questionnaire data from 1646 certified auditors in Sweden, this study examines how client type influences auditors’ commitments to the core values of their profession. The results indicate that client type is as important as the employing organization in explaining auditor commitments to professional values. The type of client served, regardless of the auditor’s position in the organizational field (i.e. Big 4 vs. non-Big 4 firms), is a source of both conformity and variation in commitments to professional values in the auditing profession. The results also indicate that auditors in Big 4 firms comply and converge more closely than do auditors in other accounting firms in espousing commitment to independence. The study offers a new approach to distinguishing, both conceptually and in terms of measurement, between compliance and convergence, two often overlooked types of conformity to value commitments in professions.