Becoming a professional auditor: Professional identity formation among junior auditors in Bali

Abstract

Professional identity formation is a critical process for junior auditors, as it shapes how they understand their professional roles, values, and responsibilities during the early stages of their careers. Beyond acquiring technical auditing competencies, junior auditors are expected to internalize professional values such as integrity, objectivity, independence, competence, and professional responsibility through their workplace experiences. This study aims to understand and describe the lived experiences of junior auditors as they develop their professional identities in Bali, Indonesia. A qualitative research design employing Moustakas’s (1994) transcendental phenomenological approach was adopted. Five junior auditors working at public accounting firms in Bali participated in the study. The participants had less than two years of professional experience and had been directly involved in audit engagements. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation. Data analysis followed the stages of epoche, phenomenological reduction involving horizontalization and the identification of invariant constituents, imaginative variation, and the synthesis of meanings and essences. Trustworthiness was established through member checking, methodological triangulation, and peer debriefing.