ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relationships between the socialization processes of trainees, and the culture of the organization and of the profession in order to explore the thesis that: The socialization of audit trainees is into organizational culture first and professional culture second. It examines the discourse of ‘profession’ and ‘professional’ within the research sites: how and in what terms trainees conceive and define themselves as professional, to what extent these discourses reinforce or cut across specific organizational identities, and how these discursive practices are acquired and enacted. The chapter focuses on the associations between trainees and their professional knowledge and training by considering the interrelationships that trainees delimit between their membership of a professional institute, their acquisition of professional knowledge and expertise, and their work, both in terms of present experiences and future employment plans. It also considers the influence of specific organizational cultures by contrasting the corporate culture initiatives of firms.
