The Status of Talent Management and Auditing Performance in Audit Firms

Maintaining and strengthening human resources in auditing institutions, nurturing and maintaining partners, managers, supervisors, senior auditors, and auditors, preventing the departure of capable auditors from the profession, and increasing the quality of auditing hold significant significance within auditing firms. Therefore, gaining insight into auditors' viewpoints on implementing talent management strategies and assessing auditors' performance arises as an essential endeavor. In this study, we investigated an extensive range of talent management practices in the Iranian auditing field, encompassing areas such as policy establishment, recruitment, ethics oversight, training, supervision, compensation, work-life balance, and succession planning. Our focus was on assessing auditors' perceptions of talent management's status and auditors' overall performance. The statistical population of this study included partners, managers, supervisors, and auditors of auditing firms. The data collection tool of this study was a questionnaire distributed among 181 participants to gather the required data. T-test and ANOVA statistical tests were used to analyze the achieved results. The outcomes revealed that the conditions related to compensation, formulation of talent management policies, education and development, work-life balance, and succession planning were relatively unfavorable within auditing firms. The situation of ethical management and the performance of auditors in auditing firms were favorable. While the outcomes for other elements like recruitment, supervision, and review were not statistically significant, these mentioned components still held an average above three. The ANOVA test outcomes revealed a noteworthy distinction among the viewpoints of four groups – partners, managers, supervisors, and auditors – within auditing firms concerning talent management techniques and auditors' performance. These discrepancies were apparent across 41 statements related to talent management practices and five statements regarding auditors' performance, with the most notable dissimilarities occurring between partners and auditors. The results of this study indicate that regarding the components of talent management for which there is a specific regulation or standard requirement, the situation of using the components of talent management has been somewhat appropriate. However, in other cases where there is no legal obligation or pressure, the situation of talent management is not very favorable. The results of this study can be used by the Iranian Society of Certified Public Accountants and auditing firms.