The PCAOB's audit-quality framework posits that superior inputs are essential for achieving high audit quality, and these inputs depend on the accounting firm's ability to recruit and retain quality personnel. However, the link between these inputs and audit quality has gone largely unexplored due to a lack of data. We use employee-level reviews of accounting firm employers from Glassdoor.com to examine perceptions of these inputs, and test whether accounting firms' internal characteristics explain employee satisfaction and audit quality. We provide descriptive evidence suggesting that "career opportunities," "senior management," and "culture and values" play a more important role in employees' satisfaction than do "compensation and benefits" or "work-life balance." Although work-life balance is not among the most important factors that are associated with audit employees' overall satisfaction, better work-life balance is nonetheless associated with higher audit quality. However, we do not find a significant association between audit-employees' overall job satisfaction and audit quality.
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Research Article|
December 11 2020
Employee Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance in Accounting Firms and Audit Quality
Jagan Krishnan
Jagan Krishnan
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AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory AJPT-18-029.
Article history
Received:
February 22 2018
Accepted:
November 17 2020
Citation
Joshua A. Khavis, Jagan Krishnan; Employee Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance in Accounting Firms and Audit Quality. AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory doi: https://doi.org/10.2308/AJPT-18-029
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