Aim: The aim of this study is to explain how professional and organisational identity influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms. The purpose is to see if there are possible differences between these identities and how they influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms and if this perception is positive or negative. Theoretical approach: Theory that focuses on commercialisation in especially marketing literature and theory regarding professional identify in foremost organisational research, have been used. Empirical Methodology: A quantitative approach was used to be able to analyse auditors’ response from a questionnaire. When analysing the data, Pearson correlation matrix and multiple linear regression have been used. 374 answers from participating auditors in Sweden have been analysed. Conclusions: The empirical result of this study suggests that both professional and organisational identity influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms positively. / Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att förklara hur professionell och organisatorisk identitet påverkar revisorernas uppfattning av kommersialisering i revisionsbyråer. Vidare vill vi se om det finns eventuella skillnader mellan nämnda identiteter och hur de påverkar revisorernas uppfattning av kommersialisering i revisionsbyråer och om uppfattningen är positiv eller negativ. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Studien utgår ifrån marknadsföringslitteratur med fokus på kommersialisering samt teori om professionell identitet från främst organisatorisk forskning. Empirisk metod: En kvantitativ metod har använts för att kunna analysera revisorernas svar från en enkät. Vid analys av data har Pearson korrelationsmatris och multipel linjär analys använts. Totalt har 374 svar från revisorer i Sverige analyserats.   Resultat: Det empiriska resultatet av studien tyder på att både professionell och organisatorisk identitet har en positiv påverkan på revisorernas uppfattning av kommersialiseringen i revisionsbyråerna.

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the socialization process that audit associates experience within an auditing firm that is included in the Big 4-sphere. Our purpose is also to describe which attributes that characterize the organizational identity, and how these attributes are reflected in the self-image of the associates. Furthermore, we seek to explain how the socialization process has influenced the organizational identification. This subject is of interest since the business of auditing is facing higher demands from regulators and politicians, due to the bankruptcy of HQ-bank among others during the financial crisis in the beginning of the 21st century. Earlier research claims that the socialization process of recruits, especially in the initial state of the employment, has a major impact on their future values and attitudes in their job performance. Thus, the socialization process should also be a vital means to achieve organizational identification, which consequently will help the organization to assure a uniform outcome among its employees.       Methodology/approach: The collection of primary data was done by five interviews with audit associates, working within an auditing firm that belongs to the Big 4-sphere.  Findings: The socialization process within the auditing firm is foremost characterized by an informal socialization strategy, where learning by doing and interaction with more experienced colleagues are fundamental parts within the process. Hence, the serial strategy is integrated in the informal socialization process. Moreover, the individual socialization strategy is present in terms of the individual learning that takes place in the daily work context. Considering the explicit and mandatory steps within the personal development plan, the sequential strategy is distinct. Thus, with the emphasis on the educations, influences of the fixed strategy can also be identified. However, the personal development varies among the associates with differentiated goals, which is in accordance to a variable strategy. Finally, due to the complexity of the profession of auditing concerning specific skills, the socialization process has influences from both retaining and processing strategy.  The length of the employment enhances the degree of the organizational identification, and therefore also by how far the associate has made it in the socialization process. Attributes that characterize the organizational identity and that are reflected in the associates’ self-image are for example analytical skills, urge, quality, ambitious and stress-hardy. The socialization process can in various ways explain why these attributes are apparent.

Title: The Full-Range Leadership enacted by Swedish Audit team managers Background: The background of this study mainly relies on Leadership theories, more precisely theories about the Full-Range leadership model (FRL) and its features. However, key facts about the audit are also displayed in this part of the report to present it to readers. Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to add to existing theory on the universalistic feature of the Full-Range Leadership model through the case of Swedish audit team managers. Such purpose entails the definition and the explanation on how the model of Full-Range Leadership is enacted by Swedish audit team managers in their day-to-day practice of leadership. Originality/Value: This research paper is one of the few researches at puzzling out existing researches to contribute clearly to the Full-Range Leadership model -as developed by Bass and Avolio- in the audit context. Furthermore, this is the first study aiming at defining and explaining Swedish audit team managers’ leadership practice and emphasizing the non-managing audit staff for so. Practical implication: After the destruction of a great amount of money resulting from corporate financial scandals and the discovery of high level of dysfunctional behaviors occurring in the audit/accounting profession worldwide, growing number of studies investigated further financial systems and particularly audit professionals since they are supposed to be the ‘public watchdog’/‘public guardian of trust’ of worldwide markets and Economies and so, display strong values and rigor. In parallel, considerable number of studies demonstrated that leadership was the key to those issues. This study while putting the light on leadership practice in Swedish audit firms, wide opens the door for further reflections and improvement of the existing systems. Method: The featured piece of research is based on a field survey of the non-managing audit staff working in Swedish audit firms, which were asked to assess their managers through the use of the Multi-factor questionnaire X5 (short version). Findings: The study unveiled that even if the transformational leadership was the most enacted leadership by Swedish audit team managers and that so before transactional and passive/avoidant leadership, a great misalignment existed between the found-out empirical FRL model and the FRL model as defined theoretically. Accordingly, this study unveiled that the FRL model was not as universal as claimed when investigated in the Swedish audit firm context.

Historiskt sett har flertalet skandaler uppmärksammats där revisorer har haft en beroendeställning till sina klienter. Trots att externa åtgärder i form av lagar och bestämmelser har tillkommit och utvecklats efter hand, tyder det återkommande problemet med oberoendet på att ytterligare åtgärder kan behövas. Vi har därför valt att se på problemet med revisorns oberoende genom att fokusera på revisions-byråernas interna åtgärder. Syftet med studien är att förstå hur ledande revisionsbyråer arbetar med etiska koder som ett styrverktyg för att säkerställa revisorns oberoende. För att förstå arbetet utforskas hur etiska koder implementeras i organisationerna och hur de används som ett styrverktyg i det dagliga arbetet.   Utifrån ett styrningsperspektiv har en kvalitativ fallstudie genomförts. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har använts som datainsamlingsmetod och sammanlagt har sex revisionsmedarbetare från två ledande revisionsbyråer intervjuats. Med en abduktiv forskningsansats har en teoretisk referensram legat som grund för studien samtidigt som analysen har tillåtit nya infallsvinklar.   Studiens slutsatser är att revisionsbyråerna arbetar med att föra in de externa reglerna i sina interna etikkoder och att etikkoderna implementeras i organisationerna genom styrsystemen kultur-, handlings- och personalstyrning. De etiska koderna implementeras i det dagliga arbetet och blir då en del av den organisatoriska kulturen, integreras i system och processer samt styr rekryteringsprocessen. Revisionsbyråerna säkerställer alltså revisorns oberoende genom att etikkoderna används som en del i styrsystemen. / Historically, a number of scandals have been noted where auditors have been dependent on their clients. Although external actions such as legislation and regulation have evolved over time, the recurring problem of independence indicates that further actions may be needed. We have therefore chosen to look at the problem by focusing on the internal actions of the audit firms. The purpose of the study is, therefore, to understand how leading audit firms work with ethical codes as a control tool to ensure the auditor independence. To be able to understand the work, we look at how ethical codes are implemented in organizations and how they are used in the daily work.   Based on a management control perspective, a qualitative case study has been executed. Semi-structured interviews have been used as a method to collect data. In total, six employees from two of the leading audit firms have been interviewed. With an abductive approach, the theoretical framework has been underlying, while the analysis still allowed new angles.   The conclusions of this study are that audit firms incorporate the external rules into their internal codes of ethics and that the codes are implemented in organizations through the management control systems culture, action and personnel control. The ethical codes are implemented in the daily work and become a part of the organizational culture, integrated into systems and processes and guide the recruitment process. Audit firms thereby ensure the auditor independence by using ethical codes as a part of the control systems.

Non-audit services provided by audit firms have been a popular scientific topic within the fields of audit and accounting research over the past decades. Numerous researchers have attempted to provide a theoretical contribution by examining different ways of measuring the concepts of audit quality and financial reporting quality. The resulting consequences are mixed results and a lack of consensus among researchers from both research fields. The two, in other situations, rather distinctive research fields of audit quality and financial reporting quality, have, in several cases, been confounded without analytical reflection regarding their differences. In parallel to the scientific progress, regulatory bodies have noticed the increasing trend of non-audit services and how they constitute larger portions of the audit firm’s annual revenues. Their responses have been legal restrictions, both in the US and Europe, in order to cease the trend. The purpose of this thesis is to make a pronounced investigation regarding the relationship between non-audit services and financial reporting quality in Swedish private firms. Furthermore, it will also be of interest to examine if this proposed relationship is moderated by the presence of the four global market-leading audit firms or not. The study is based on a deductive approach and a quantitative research strategy, to collect and analyze data from annual reports. To fulfill the purpose of the study, the data is analyzed by conducting binary and multinomial logistic regression tests. The results suggest that there is an association between certain types of non-audit services and financial reporting quality. Specifically, services that are unrelated to tax have proven to be statistically significant positively correlated with financial reporting quality. No evidence was found supporting a moderating effect by the characteristics of audit firms, suggesting that the choice of an audit firm is irrelevant for attaining high financial reporting quality when purchasing non-audit services. The study’s theoretical contribution is the novelty arising from the combination of studying non-audit services’ impact on financial reporting quality within a Swedish setting on private firms. The study also provides empirical contribution by using a proxy for financial reporting quality rarely used in previous research. The findings are of practical importance since they suggest that firms potentially benefit in their financial reporting by purchasing these kinds of services, which contradicts past actions made by regulatory bodies.

Att lyckas behålla anställda har blivit en alltmer vanlig fråga för arbetsgivare i och med en förändrad arbetsmarknad med hög konkurrens, och en för hög omsättning av personal kan få stora konsekvenser för ett företag. En bransch som länge präglats av hög personalomsättning är revisionsbranschen, och trots att tidigare studier har gjorts för att hitta anledningar till detta är det fortfarande ett omtalat problem, och revisionsbyråerna arbetar ständigt med att få sina anställda att stanna kvar på företagen, inte minst Big Four företagen. Employer branding, och främst intern employer branding, har visat sig ha en påverkan på personalomsättning eftersom det kan leda till att anställda väljer att stanna kvar på företagen. Revisionsföretagen har fortfarande problem med hög personalomsättningen och ännu har inte intern employer branding undersökts i revisionsbranschen. Syftet med studien är att skapa förståelse för vad Big Four företagen kan förbättra i sitt arbete med intern employer branding för att minska personalomsättningen. Studien är en fenomenologisk flerfallstudie av kvalitativ karaktär där empirin har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med nuvarande och tidigare anställda från de fyra största revisionsföretagen, Big Four. Den abduktiva ansatsen har möjliggjort en djupare förståelse av fenomenet då empirin och teorin under studiens gång har utvecklats och bearbetats för att nå fram till tydliga resultat. Studiens resultat redogör för vad som kan förbättras inom Big Four företagens interna employer branding arbete för att minska personalomsättningen. Dessa förbättringar är bland annat; skapa ett unik employer brand, ta hänsyn till individuell utveckling och att arbetsuppgifter ska vara intressanta över tid. Flera exempel på förbättringsmöjligheter är mer detaljerad feedback, att anställda ska bli mer bekanta med företagspolicys och att anställda ska få ökad förståelse för hur de bidrar till företagens organisatoriska mål. / Success in retaining employees has become an increasingly common issue for employers as a result of a changing labor market with high competition, and too high a turnover of employees can have major consequences for a company. An industry that has long been characterized by high employee turnover is the audit industry, and although previous studies have been done to find reasons for this it is still a stated problem, and the accounting firms are constantly working to get their employees to stay at the companies, not least the Big Four companies. Employer branding, and in particular internal employer branding, has been shown to have an impact on employee turnover, as it can lead to employees choosing to stay with the companies. The audit firms still have problems with high employee turnover and internal employer branding has not yet been investigated in the audit industry. The study aims to create an understanding of what the Big Four companies can improve in their work with internal employer branding to reduce employee turnover. The study is a phenomenological multi-case study of a qualitative nature where the empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews with employees and former employees of the four largest audit firms, the Big Four. The abductive approach has allowed a deeper understanding of the phenomenon as the theory and the empirical data has been developed and processed throughout the study to achieve clear results. The result of the study describe what can be improved within the Big Four companies' work with internal employer branding to reduce employee turnover. These improvements include; create a unique employer brand, take individual development into account and make work tasks interesting over time. Further examples of opportunities for improvement are more detailed feedback, that employees should become more familiar with company policies and that employees should gain a greater understanding of how they contribute to corporate organizational goals.

Background: Despite the fact that organizations have been working to promote gender equality for several decades, the working environment in Sweden is not yet equal. However, problems often arise during the integration of gender equality in organizations, and too often organizations' gender equality work fails in practice. One way to deal with this is to set goals for gender equality, strategies for achieving these and then convey the strategies through policies. Statistics show that the auditing industry is an industry that is far from being equal, where men dominate at higher levels. At the same time, researchers argue that there are structures and methods in the auditing industry that are not gender neutral. Earlier research also shows that in organizations internal processes it turns out that it surprisingly often occur gender divisions and segregation between the sexes. The authors found a gap in previous research about how the gender equality strategies are reflected in the internal processes of audit firms and how gender equality is perceived by the employees and therefore considered it essential to study this more closely. Purpose: The essay aims to provide an insight into how audit firms work to achieve gender equality, if there are better or worse ways to handle inequality in the auditing industry, and how the perception of gender equality in the companies differs among employees Method: In this multiple-case study, a qualitative research method with a deductive approach is used. The empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and then linked to the theory and analyzed with a comparative approach Conclusion: There are both advantages and disadvantages with the audit firms' gender equality strategies. The audit firm that handles the problem most effectively examines and analyzes the entire organization's structures and processes to find what causes inequality, thus promoting equality in the company. The authors also observe a difference in how the employees perceive the inequality in the workplace, which was that position and length of employment seemed to have an impact on how big a problem they experienced in the inequality at partner level in the auditing industry. Those with a higher position and a longer employment period show greater awareness and insight into the problem of an unequal distribution of gender at the partner level.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur revisionsbyråer har anpassat sig i förändradeomständigheter orsakade av påtvingat distansarbete och att ge en inblick i hur de upprätthåller legitimitet i revisionsarbetet. En kvalitativ studie har genomförts medsemistrukturerade intervjuer med revisorer samt en dokumentstudie med interna dokument som vi har fått från respondenterna. Dokumenten innehåller beskrivningar av revisorers omställning inom teknologi och kommunikation. Resultaten visar att revisorer och revisionsbyråer har kunnat fullgöra deras arbetsuppgifter även om de har saknat fysiskinteraktion med medarbetare och klienter. Revisorers och revisionsbyråers förmåga att upprätthålla legitimitet har i flera situationer däremot försvårats vad gäller befintliga förväntningar. De har trots detta ställt om tillräckligt bra för att kunna upprätthålla deras legitimitet. / The purpose of this study is to examine how audit firms have adjusted in changed circumstances caused by forced telework and to provide an insight into how they maintain legitimacy in the audit work. A qualitative study has been conducted with semi-structured interviews with auditors as well as a document study with internal documents that we have received from the participants. The documents contain descriptions of the auditors adjustment in technology and communication. The results show that auditors and audit firms have been able to fulfill their duties, even though they have lacked physical interaction with colleagues and clients. Auditors and audit firms ability to maintain legitimacy has in several situations deteriorated regarding existing expectations. They have nevertheless adjusted well enough to be able to maintain their legitimacy. This essay is written in Swedish

Revisionen har idag blivit en viktig del av det moderna samhällets ekonomiska system och har en avgörande roll för att främja förtroendet för den finansiella rapporteringen, samt för att främja transparens och ansvarstagande i affärsverksamhet. Digitalisering är ett begrepp som beskriver den digitala utvecklingen som har uppkommit av nya tekniken och har förändrat sättet som vi lever våra vardagliga liv men även förändrat världen på en global nivå. Med anledning att revisionsbranschen utsätts för förändringar på grund av digitaliseringen som är ett fenomen, är detta ett forskningsproblem som är värt att studera. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka effekter digitaliseringen har på revisionsyrket i Sverige där revisorsyrket omfattas av revisionsprocessen, revisionskvaliteten och kundrelationer. För att besvara syftet kommer en kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerade intervjuer genomföras med en deduktiv forskningsansats. Det empiri som används i studien samlas in genom nio intervjuer med olika auktoriserade revisorer från olika företag i olika storlekar. Den empiri som samlas in utifrån intervjuerna diskuteras sedan med den teoretiska bakgrunden som förekommer i studien. Studien ger därmed stöd till att digitaliseringen har haft en stor påverkan i revisionskvaliteten och revisionsprocess, däremot när det kommer till relationen mellan revisor och kund har digitaliseringen effektiviserat den till en viss mån men att den aldrig kommer ersätta den personliga kontakten som man har med kunden. I förhållande till storlek av företag varierar digitaliseringens påverkan när det kommer till relationen med kunderna och revisionsprocessen men att revisionskvaliteten inte påverkas. / The audit has today become an important part of the modern society's economic system and plays a crucial role in promoting trust in financial reporting, as well as fostering transparency and accountability in business operations. Digitalization is a concept that describes the digital development brought about by new technologies and has transformed the way we live our everyday lives, as well as reshaped the world on a global scale. Given that the auditing profession is undergoing changes due to digitalization, which is a phenomenon, this is a research problem worth studying. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of digitalization on the auditing profession in Sweden, encompassing the auditing process, audit quality, and client relationships. To address the purpose, a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews will be conducted using a deductive research approach. The empirical data used in the study will be gathered through nine interviews with various certified auditors from different companies of different sizes. The empirical data collected from the interviews will then be discussed in conjunction with the theoretical background present in the study. The study thus provides support for the notion that digitalization has had a significant impact on audit quality and the auditing process. However, when it comes to the relationship between auditor and client, digitalization has streamlined it to some extent, but it will never replace the personal interaction one has with the client. In terms of company size, the impact of digitalization varies regarding client relationships and the auditing process, but it does not affect audit quality.

Revisorer ställs ofta inför olika yrkesetiska dilemman då olika lösningar måste vägas mot varandra. Revisorns yrkesetiska regler anses då vara ett viktigt hjälpmedel. Det anses dock att ett yrkesetiskt problem inte kan lösas genom endast reglering då det är svårt att med hjälp av regler förhindra oetiskt handlande i praktiken. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka huruvida revisorers yrkesetiska resonemang skiljer sig mellan revisorer anställda i mindre- respektive större revisionsbyråer. Studien undersökte även om olika aspekter skiljer sig mellan revisorer i mindre- och större revisionsbyråer samt huruvida dessa påverkar revisorers yrkesetiska resonemang. För att besvara uppsatsens syfte har en empirisk undersökning i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med revisorer från såväl mindre- som större revisionsbyråer genomförts. Studiens resultat påvisar att revisorers yrkesetiska resonemang skiljer sig mellan mindre- och större revisionsbyråer; dock inte på grund av revisionsbyrån storlek. En slutsats som kunnat dras av studiens resultat är att revisionsklientens storlek påverkar revisorers yrkesetiska resonemang. Större revisionsbyråer erhåller oftast större revisionsklienter vilket ställer högre krav på de yrkesetiska reglerna som tillämpas. / Auditors often find themselves in situations where different solutions must be weighed against each other. In such dilemmas, applying the auditors’ rules of work ethics can be helpful. It is considered that a professional ethical problem cannot be solved merely by regulation as it is difficult to solely use preventative measures to control unethical actions. The intention with the study was to investigate whether auditors professional ethical reasoning differs between auditors in smaller- or larger firms. The study has also explored the different circumstances facing auditors in smaller- and larger firms and whether these circumstances affect the reasoning of the auditors’ professional ethics. To address these questions, semi structured empirical interviews with auditors of both smaller- and larger firms have been conducted. The results suggest that auditors’ professional ethics reasoning differs between smaller- and lager firms, however, not solely because of the size of the firm; a conclusion that was drawn during the study was that the size of the audit client affects the professional ethical reasoning among auditors. Larger audit firms often hold larger audit client which increases the demand on the auditor’s professional ethic rules.