Purpose:

The purpose of this paper is to explain how professional and organisational identities influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms.

Design/methodology/approach:

The paper is based on a survey distributed to 3588 members of FAR, the professional institute for authorized public accountants, approved public accountants and other highly qualified professionals in the accountancy sector in Sweden, and answered by 374 of the professionals surveyed.

Findings:

Findings of the study indicate that commercialisation in audit firms is a three- dimensional construct consisting of market-, customer- and firm process orientations. The results of the study show that the stronger the auditors’ organisational identity, the more influence it has on auditors’ perception of all three dimensions of the increasing commercialisation of their firm. The increasing strength of that professional identity is shown to be reflected in the perception of their firm to be firm process oriented, while no effect is shown on the other two dimensions of commercialisation (market and customer orientations orientations).

Originality/value:

The paper presents a new conceptualisation and set of measures of audit firms’ commercialisation and shows how professional and organisational identities influence perception.