An autoethnographic approach on auditing: a Brazilian investigation

• Ano de defesa: 2023
• Autor(a) principal: Carmo, Liege Moraes do
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Audit professional; Carreira de mulheres; Feminine resistance; Inequalities regimes; Profissional de auditoria; Regimes de inequidade; Resistência feminina; Shame resilience theory; Women's careers
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12136/tde-25052023-192823/

In this dissertation, we discuss the social environment of the audit career in São Paulo, Brazil, from the perspective of a newcomer to the profession, aiming to explore issues such as diversity, equity, inclusion policies, gender, race, and sexuality. Studying the social aspects of the auditing career is motivated by the need to deepen the comprehension of how the social sphere shapes the development of auditors\' careers, in this case, women\'s careers. The extant accounting literature has described the auditing field as marked by the crystallization of masculine and masculinized rites and symbols. Thus, those female workers who do not perform as \"ideal workers\", i.e., from the expected standard (fitting into the mold), suffer impacts in their professional path progression (entering, progressing, and leaving). In this sense, studies have demonstrated obstacles and difficulties, relating various topics of struggles for non-hegemonic groups of employees (women, LGBTQIAP+ community, for example). Thus, the study is based on three papers that discuss: (i) the socialization of a female newcomer to the auditing field based on inequalities regimes by Joan Acker; (ii) the process of facing a conflictual situation related to violence against women and speaking up from a lower rank position, basing our discussing on \"affective solidarity\" and \"feminist resistance\" (Hemmings, 2012; Vachhani & Pullen, 2019); (iii) for last, we propose a methodological contribution focusing on how \'stories from the field\' can help the research subjects (and participants) to reflect on their own experiences and what they mean(t), supported on Shame Resilience Theory by Brenné Brown. Our methodological design used an autoethnographic approach based on the main author\'s lived experiences while working for a Big Four firm in São Paulo, Brazil\'s economic centre. First, the corpus of research was built as a memoir. Second, it was organized into a set of short vignettes telling the stories filtered by the most hard-felt situations encountered. These vignettes were related to sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism. Using these vignettes, we reflect on the feelings and emotions evoked in the self by the harsh work environment. In that sense, it was possible to observe the (i) enhancement of the understanding of the socialization of a non-ideal worker and the development of coping mechanisms to resist not \"fitting into the mold\" and, lastly, furthering the fight for social justice in the workplace; (ii) also, in the second paper, we built from an \"outsider within\" perspective (researcher/trainee) about understanding the process of \"speaking out\" and \"be(com)ing an ally\" in a situation of discrimination in the workplace and its repercussions (professional and personal); and last, (iii) in the third paper, we purpose that sharing experiences, although an uncomfortable process (being vulnerable, displaying vulnerability), could lead to reflections and resignifications, fostering a possible change in the work environment. This way, a collective reflection becomes an alternative for the birth of resistance, opposing silence and discomfort. In this sense, the study tells the story of women occupying positions in a sector that initially did not want them there, and is still repelling them. Our overall contribution resides in exploring a woman\'s experience in the early stages of the auditing career, aiming at how vulnerabilities can support the understanding of socialization for non-ideal workers, as those who do not fit the mold and live the auditing hell.