Background/problematization: The audit industry has historically been characterized by male dominance, and it has long been a problem to succeed in retaining women throughout the work life. Female senior managers are influenced by triggering factors that cause them to consider their continuation in the audit profession. A high number of women opt out audit firms especially at the senior managerial level and choose to restart elsewhere.  

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand the decision-making process of leaving the audit industry of midcareer female auditors. By studying the phenomenon from a life world perspective, it will be described as it is perceived by the women.   

Methodology: The study is based on a narrative interview method with an abductive approach where the interviews were conducted with six former female senior managers from the audit industry who left less than 10 years ago. A thematic analysis was conducted in order to analyze the collected data.  

Findings: The findings indicate that family, discrimination, heavy workload, job offer and renumeration are influencing factors during female senior managers’ decision-making process. Further, the findings show that the factors influence their decision to varying degrees in different stages of the process.