Intégrer la bonne Écurie ou comment devient-on associé d’audit ? Le fonctionnement des réseaux informels de promotion dans les cabinets Big 4 en France

So far, literature has sought to describe and explain the advancement of auditors as an inexorable progression to the top of the hierarchical pyramid, through the up-or-out system, all the way to the climax in an auditor?s career: co-option as a partner. By adopting an interactionist perspective, the longitudinal and micro-sociological concept of career enables us to consider promotion-to-partnership as a process that began the very first working day, and continues throughout the individual?s career inside the firm. We demonstrate that invisible promotion networks, compared to ?teams?, informally organize the top-down structure of hierarchy inside Big 4 Firms, and play a critical but overlooked role before, during and after co-option as a partner.