L'identité négative de l'auditeur

Lambert Jerman () and Alaric Bourgoin ()
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Lambert Jerman: HEC Montréal - HEC Montréal
Alaric Bourgoin: HEC Montréal - HEC Montréal

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Abstract: In this paper, we develop the concept of "negative identity" to enlighten the identity work of auditors in major firms. It refers to the tension by which individuals create their professional identity through a continuous and fragile rapport with their difficulties and own weaknesses. To do so, individuals strive to create a coherence between their personal identity and their social identity, i.e. between their intrinsic qualities (and weaknesses) and the professional roles expected from them in the firm. Based on a six month ethnographic study, we illustrate the mechanics of auditor's negative identity around three core sets of practices and discourses: experimenting, confessing and administrating difficulties and weaknesses. By tracing these sets of practices, we investigate a lesser known aspect of auditor's work, and show that the difficult rapport that an individual can have with his own weaknesses might not be an undesirable effect of the job, but one of its main drivers.

Keywords: Auditeur; travail identitaire; Big Four; identité négative; ethnographie; identity work; negative identity; ethnography; Auditor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-05-30
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01902594
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Published in Accountability, Responsabilités et Comptabilités, May 2016, Poitier, France. pp.cd-rom

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01902594

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