Statutory auditors’ self-perception and their perception of audited companies and accountants. Behavioral research with the use of metaphors
Statutory auditors’ self-perception and their perception of audited companies and accountants. Behavioral research with the use of metaphors

Summary/Abstract: The study investigates the self-perception of statutory auditors and their perception of accountants, the relationship between accountants and statutory auditors, and the perception of audited companies. The research presented in the paper has a behavioral character. The methods and subject are both derived from psychology, social sciences, and linguistic and cognitive sciences. The research takes a qualitative approach. It uses projection, metaphors, and narrative analysis. The findings show that accountants are perceived by statutory auditors mainly in the context of their hard work, the necessity to constantly learn, that they are cunning and used by other workers, and that they are underestimated by their superiors. Auditors characterize themselves as clever, hard-working, face problems of unstable and unclear regulations, and that they oppose an audited company’s owners. Auditors have an organic, mechanistic, and systemic view of companies, perceiving them mostly in the context of different parts (organizational units) that work together.

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