Jan Bouwens is a Full Professor of Accounting at the University of Amsterdam and a Research Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School. His research focuses on performance measurement systems, target setting, and internal controls, examining how these mechanisms influence decision-making within firms and audit practices. He has published extensively in top-tier journals, including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Management Science, and Accounting, Organizations and Society.Jan earned his PhD in Accountancy from Tilburg University and has held academic positions at Tilburg University, Cambridge Judge Business School, and Harvard Business School, where he taught in the MBA program. He currently serves as Head of the Accounting Department at the University of Amsterdam and until December 2025 Academic Director of the Foundation for Auditing Research (FAR). He has advised the Dutch Parliament, Ministry of Finance, and the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets on topics related to education, compensation, and auditing.
In een vorige bijdrage liet ik zien dat onderzoek weinig aanleiding geeft om aan te nemen dat de kwaliteit van de controle afneemt zo gauw advies en controle onder één dak plaatsvinden. Nu zou de conclusie van dat stuk kunnen zijn: Als het dan toch geen verschil maakt, kunnen we voor de zekerheid evengoed naar een audit-only firm streven. Iedereen is dan tevreden
KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Audit firm culture is viewed by regulators and inspectors as the means to enhance audit quality. This study uses the Competing Values Framework (CVF) to explore the culture of
large audit firms, and their attempts to change their cultures. We find that these firms predominantly emphasize a culture characterized by collaboration and control, which is consistent with an inward focus. We also find that audit firms struggle to implement a consistent understanding of culture across their offices and function levels, and there is a gap in how partners perceive culture compared to that of non-partner staff. This “culture gap” has negative consequences on auditors, as larger culture gaps are associated with lower psychological safety and poorer person organization fit. Embedding mechanisms can lower the culture gap, but having adequate resources is far more important of an embedding mechanism than “tone at the top.” The findings underscore the importance of actively communicating and reinforcing stated cultural values, and provide audit firms with a practical tool to diagnose problems in achieving culture change.
Vorige week spraken ondernemingen en aandeelhouders in deze krant hun zorg uit over de plannen van de Europese Unie om zich actief te gaan bemoeien met de financiële verslaggeving. De EU wil besluiten van de International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) desgewenst kunnen aanpassen. Met als gevolg dat ondernemingen in de EU hun resultaten en balansposities op een andere manier zouden moeten verantwoorden dan de verslaggevingsregels van de IASB voorschrijven.
KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Audit firm culture is viewed by regulators and inspectors as the means to enhance audit quality. This study uses the Competing Values Framework (CVF) to explore the culture of
large audit firms, and their attempts to change their cultures. We find that these firms predominantly emphasize a culture characterized by collaboration and control, which is consistent with an inward focus. We also find that audit firms struggle to implement a consistent understanding of culture across their offices and function levels, and there is a gap in how partners perceive culture compared to that of non-partner staff. This “culture gap” has negative consequences on auditors, as larger culture gaps are associated with lower psychological safety and poorer person organization fit. Embedding mechanisms can lower the culture gap, but having adequate resources is far more important of an embedding mechanism than “tone at the top.” The findings underscore the importance of actively communicating and reinforcing stated cultural values, and provide audit firms with a practical tool to diagnose problems in achieving culture change.
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