QUALIFICATIONS OF ASSISTANT AUDITORS AND INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT OF AUDITING OFFICES IN BANGKOK AND SURROUNDING AREAS AFFECTING THE ADVANCEMENT TOWARDS BECOMING CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

Abstract

This research aimed at identifying the characteristics of assistant auditors that affect the progress towards becoming a certified public accountant (CPA) and whether the internal environment of the audit firms also affects such progress. Therefore, two hypotheses were set up. The first group of hypotheses is a study of the qualities of assistant auditors that affect their progress towards becoming a licensed auditor. The second group of hypotheses is to study the characteristics of assistant auditors along with the internal environment of the audit firms that affect the progress towards becoming a certified public accountant. Then two groups of hypotheses’ results were compared to see which independent factors could better explain the progress towards becoming a certified public accountant, which is the dependent variable. This research was conducted using a quantitative approach. The research tool was a questionnaire. Its samples consisted of 334 assistant auditors working in auditing firms located in Bangkok and its vicinity, calculated by using Taro Yamane’s formula with a 0.05 margin of error. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and inferential statistics, using multiple regression analysis to test hypotheses.

The findings revealed that the two groups of variables, assistant auditor characteristics and audit firm internal environment, together can explain the progression towards becoming a CPA better than assistant auditor characteristics alone. Among these 2 groups of independent factors, the characteristics of assistant auditors in terms of financial freedom needs and the environment of the audit firm in terms of job pressure have a more positive influence on the progression towards becoming a CPA than the environment of the audit firm in terms of organizational support and the characteristics of the assistant auditors in terms of experience in auditing and accounting knowledge.