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Blockchain is transforming not only the way of recording, processing and storing financial transactions and information, but also the way audit firms can practice their profession. The purpose of this article is to examine how this technology will affect the audit profession. Based on a qualitative study carried out on a sample of 17 auditors, this research shows that this technology could affect audit firms at six key levels. Blockchain will allow an auditor to (1) save time and improve the efficiency of their audit, (2) favor an audit covering the whole population instead of an audit based on sampling techniques, (3) focus the audit on testing controls rather than testing transactions, (4) set up a continuous audit process, (5) play a more strategic audit role and (6) develop new advisory services. The results underline the need for the establishment of a clear and coherent legislative system and new audit standards, allowing auditors to embed this technology and enhance audit practices. JEL Codes: M42

Cet article tente d’identifier les determinants ayant permis a des associes des grands cabinets d’audit (GCA) en France d’acceder au Top management (TM). Nous avons effectue 19 entretiens semi-directifs aupres de membres d’organes de gouvernance des GCA. Quatre dimensions cles expliquant l’acces au TM des cabinets d’audit ont ete identifiees : les criteres de succes de l’individu, organisationnels, vis-a-vis des parties prenantes et du leadership.

Les normes de Macneil (1980) ont ete utilisees par plusieurs chercheurs en marketing pour mieux apprehender la relation d’echange. Plusieurs echelles de mesure de ces normes ont ete proposees. Cependant, ces dernieres se sont limitees au contexte B to B. L’objectif de ce papier est de proposer des echelles de mesure des normes de la relation de Macneil dans le contexte B to C. Une demarche methodologique, s’inspirant des travaux de Churchill (1979), et associant des etudes qualitatives et quantitatives a ete mise en œuvre. Ce travail debouche sur le developpement des echelles de mesure pour 3 normes transactionnelles et 5 normes relationnelles.

This research investigates the relevance of exchange norms in a business-to-consumer context and studies the impact of both relational and discrete norms on customer satisfaction in services. As existing scales focus only on relational norms and are mostly limited to business-to-business contexts, Study 1 ( n = 164) proposes measurement scales for seven exchanges norms adapted to a business-to-consumer context: Reciprocity, The Linking norms, Creation and restraint of power, Role integrity, Solidarity, Flexibility, and Effectuation of consent. Study 2 ( n = 295) tests the influence on these norms on customer satisfaction. The article demonstrates that exchange norms as a whole positively affect customer satisfaction and, more specifically, that relational norms explain satisfaction better than discrete norms. The findings also show that, contrary to customer relationship proneness, relationship duration moderates the link between exchange norms and customer satisfaction.

In the contemporary business world, the diversity of boards in terms of gender has been examined by many researchers and those responsible for public policy. Although many studies have assessed the correlation between how a company performs financially and the gender diversity of its board, this research has tended to focus on larger companies and the results have been inconclusive. This paper will re-examine key elements of the existing discourse by focusing on a selection of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France between 2009 and 2014. Panel data and the two-stage least squares (2SLS) methodology was employed to assert empirical control over both the significance and direction of the correlation between the financial performance of an organisation and the diversity of its board. Unlike the literature, in our study of French SMEs, we found no notable correlation between how a company performs financially and how diverse its board is in terms of gender. This paper will examine the benefits firms can access by ensuring the gender diversity of their respective boards.

The literature demonstrates the growing interest of digitalization in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of digitalization on audit’s business and to understand how it can improve the role of audit as a governance mechanism. A qualitative approach was conducted by interviewing auditors from the five largest auditing firms in France. This paper demonstrates that digital technology is impacting at five key levels audit firms especially the audit role as a governance mechanism. Digitalization will improve the audit relevance (1) allowing audit firms to extend their offers by proposing new services (2). It will also improve the audit quality mainly by analysing all data’s customer (3). Finally, with the digitalization a new auditor profile emerges (4), enabling the culture of innovation within audit firms (5). Thus, the firm governance will be improved but the managers ‘discretionary power will be limited. This research highlights the importance of implementing digital strategies to provide regulators with the necessary modifications that need to occur for audit standards. It should enable Business School and universities to adapt their training programs according to the audit firms’ expectations.

Based on the resource dependency theory, this article investigates the relationships among board gender diversity, innovation, and firm performance. Specifically, this article examines the mediating role of innovation, which may explain how board gender diversity is related to firm performance. Using a sample of 120 SBF companies from 2009 to 2012, the results indicate a negative effect of board gender diversity on innovation. In addition, we do not find evidence of a mediating role of innovation within the board gender diversity-firm performance relationship.