Managing clients and patients: Exploring the experience of client-based incivility in veterinary practice

Background: Interactions with clients have been identified as a key potential stressor within veterinarian work. However, there is a lack of research investigating the experience, and impact, of specific behaviours such as incivility. The current study aimed to address this literature gap by investigating veterinary perceptions of client-based rudeness. Method: Telephone interviews were used to gather qualitative data regarding veterinary perceptions of client-based rudeness. This encompassed the potential causes of incivility, the impact on the veterinarian, and coping strategies.Results: Thematic analysis produced 16 themes relevant to client-based rudeness, and one over-arching theme. The over-arching theme suggested that vets consider client management, and patient care, two distinct aspects of their role. Key themes included the perception of client worry as a key causal factor of rudeness, the utilisation of empathy as a client management technique and the potential for rudeness to have an adverse impact on mental health. A supportive practice was considered vital for enabling successful coping.Conclusion: It is important that veterinary practices are aware of the potential for client rudeness to adversely impact vet wellbeing. Practices should seek to develop guidelines detailing appropriate responses to rudeness, alongside developing a supportive culture to maximise vet coping strategies.

Various approaches to communication in internal audit

In order for the auditor's reports to be adequate, the auditor's communication with the audited entities and its representatives must be adequate. The paper discusses ways how to make internal audit more popular and what communication techniques to use with audit client management. Every aspect of vertical and horizontal communication in internal audit should be approached carefully in order to unify, integrate and focus audit activities on controls, risks and objectives. This includes an introductory and closing meeting, a specific approach to conflicting clients, information on specific objectives and the level of their achievement, using the experience of audit teams in the Telekom Srbija Group.

Determinants of Audit Engagement Profitability

ABSTRACT We examine determinants of audit engagement profitability using proprietary data from the national office of a Big 4 public accounting firm in Canada. We verify through interviews with senior audit partners that the audit realization rate is the primary measure used to assess engagement-level profitability, and use the former to proxy for engagement profitability in our archival analysis. We find that engagement profitability is positively associated with the firm's assignment of lead senior audit managers, as identified by the national office, and its delivery of intangible client service dimensions, such as communication, customization, and responsiveness (obtained from satisfaction surveys of client management and audit committee chairs). We find no evidence that audit quality, measured by discretionary accruals and audit adjustments, is sacrificed to attain higher engagement profitability. We discuss implications for regulation and competition in audit markets.