The order of the authors reflects their contribution. The authors are thankful to the current (at the time of the study) and former audit assistants who answered the survey, to the participants in the 39th EAA Annual Congress for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper and to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. 2 AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore why audit assistants leave the audit profession. By including both the perceptions held by audit assistants that left the audit profession and the perceptions of audit assistants still working in the audit profession, this study aims to explore how determinants of job satisfaction are associated with decisions to leave the auditing profession.Design/methodology/approach -To explore the association between determinants of job satisfaction and decisions to leave, a survey was developed based on a literature review of determinants of job satisfaction. The survey was sent to both current and former Swedish audit assistants. The subsequent analysis was based on 231 complete surveys, of which 78 were from former audit assistants.Findings -The main finding of this study is that there is a negative association between the choice to leave the profession and audit assistants' perceptions of the profession and between the choice to leave and work-life balance. Another finding was that met expectations and Big 4 were found to be positively associated with career change.Originality/value -By approaching both current and former audit assistants, this study contributes to the literature on audit employee turnover by exploring determinants of actual career change, rather than turnover intentions. It also contributes by identifying and testing a variable not previously used as a determinant of job satisfaction; perceptions of the audit profession.

The overall purpose of this licentiate dissertation is to advance our understanding of the auditor by creating a concept of the auditor through focusing on auditors' own perceptions and understandings of their work in relation to boundary-setting forces. The audit profession, the audit firm, the client, society, regulations, and the market are all boundary-setting forces that influence the work of auditors and how auditors perceive and understand their work. The concept of the auditor consists of who the auditor is and what the auditor does; this concept is shaped interactively by the boundary-setting forces, that exist in the auditors' environment and by the auditors themselves, through the view auditors have of themselves and their environment. The boundary-setting forces have in recent decades undergone significant and rapid changes; for example, increased commercialization as well as significant regulatory changes, which are expected to have influenced the concept of the auditor. The concept of the auditor therefor needs to be explored to understand who today's auditor is and what today's auditor does.

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