PhD position on the topic Relational Drivers of Audit Quality: Up Close and Personal

Job description

The Graduate School of the Faculty of Economics and Business at University of Groningen has a fully funded PhD position on the topic “The Relational Drivers of Audit Quality: Studying the Behavioral Dynamics Between Auditors and Upper Echelon Actors”.

Auditors stand as the guardians of financial information, verifying that a firm’s statements are reliable. They perform a key role in society. Accordingly, auditors are subject to regulatory scrutiny and The Big Four audit firms prominently feature in the business press as well as academic research. Yet, notwithstanding strict regulatory requirements, auditors are also appointed by and work with a firm’s upper echelon—the actors they are supposed to critically audit. This includes the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as well as other top-level actors at the audited firm. The aim of this PhD project is to identify how relational dynamics between upper ech...