Why do law, accounting and consulting firms break the law? Why is it that some firms go off the rails when others manage to stay on the straight and narrow?

Some interesting insights from some Dutch academics at Erasmus University in their paper White Collars, Dirty Hands: A Grounded Neo - Institutional Theory of Misconduct in Professional Service Firms.

The paper found that auditors are much less likely than other professionals to engage in client-centered misconduct like overbilling. There's a lot to be said about fixed fees. Lawyers don't come out looking real good either.

Another interesting finding is that parallel governance structures, where both professional associations and the firms themselves are in charge of detecting and sanctioning misconduct, can actually make things worse.