Steven Salterio is the Stephen J.R. Smith Chair of Accounting and Auditing at the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. He is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA, FCA) and holds a PhD from the University of Michigan. Professor Salterio has taught across undergraduate, graduate, and PhD programs and is widely recognized for his research on the balanced scorecard, auditor-client management negotiations, and field research methods.He has served as Editor at The Accounting Review, Senior Editor at Behavioral Research in Accounting, and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Accounting Research, among other editorial roles. His work has been published in leading journals such as The Accounting Review, Accounting Organizations and Society, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory.Professor Salterio has received numerous honors, including the Lifetime Notable Contribution to Behavioral Accounting Research Award, the Haim Falk Award for Distinguished Contribution to Accounting Thought, and the Notable Contribution to Audit Literature Award. He is also a two-time recipient of the Smith Excellence in Research Award.
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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