This paper examines linkages between discourse and social change, in the context of corporate
governance in times of turbulence. Specifically, we study how regulatory prescriptions
and best-practice discourse promoting a strengthening of audit committees’ work, in the
aftermath of the 2001–2002 financial scandals, were received by audit committee members.
Is reception characterized with a logic of compliance and/or one of resistance? Conceptually,
our study is informed by the notion of trials of strength, in that prescriptions are
submitted to a series of loosely connected and quite informal tests taking place within the
audit committee community.