What drives students to work in an audit firm at the end of their graduate degree? A study of the determinants of French students’ first job intentions?

Quelles sont les motivations des jeunes talents à intégrer un cabinet ? Une analyse des déterminants de l’intention de premier emploi des jeunes diplômés français?

Ingrid Bellettre (), Marie-Hélène Bihr (), Nathalie Gonthier Besacier () and Sandrine Falcy ()
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Nathalie Gonthier Besacier: UGA INP IAE - Grenoble Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes, CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes
Sandrine Falcy: CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes

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Abstract: We aim to identify the determinants of students' intention to join an audit firm for their first job. We use a structural equation model on survey data from 273 French students at the end of their graduate degree and in French audit firms' recruitment pool. We show that their intention to join an audit firm is quite strong, even if the students give themselves time to consider all options. Following Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (1991), we show that what mainly explains this intention is the advantages that students associate with such a position: working in an audit firm seems to be attractive to them, especially in terms of in-field training, good working conditions, and interesting work. Moreover, even if they anticipate facing difficulties in such a job, they are rather confident in their ability to cope with the high workload and stress they associate with it. Finally, the intention to join an audit firm is not influenced by recommendations from people close to the students. We identify two sub-models of intention characterizing two different groups of students. The first, the "Determined" group, shows a very strong degree of intention to join an audit firm, mainly explained by a perception of the job as very attractive. The second, the "Undecided" group, has a lower intention, based on a perception of the job as less enjoyable, but members of this group could be convinced to join an audit firm in order to gain valuable experience for their CVs, and they are more sensitive to recommendations. This is the first comprehensive study to focus on the intention of students to join audit firms. The results and discussion suggest several recommendations for audit firms facing difficulties in attracting young talent.

Keywords: audit firm; accounting; career intentions; students; theory of planned behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-05-10
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Published in Comptabilité Contrôle Audit / Accounting Auditing Control, 2024, Tome 30 (2), pp.103-144. ⟨10.3917/cca.302.0003⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04851667

DOI: 10.3917/cca.302.0003

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