Dual Track or Academic Route for Auditors

In the Netherlands auditors can be trained in a part-time educational track in which students combine working and studying or in a full-time educational track. The former training is relatively firm-specific whereas the latter training is relatively general. Applying human capital theory, we expect higher wage growth for full-time educated auditors than for dual-educated auditors. Furthermore, full-time educated auditors may have better outside options than part-time educated auditors. This may make it easier for them to switch employers than for the part-time educated auditors. The predictions on tenure and wages of differently educated auditors are supported by the estimation results in this paper. The part-time, dual track appears an important route for students from a lower socioeconomic background.