<p><strong>Background: </strong>The environment and the design of auditing regulation can vary significantly between countries, which can affect the form, content and quality of the audit report. The purpose of the International Standards on Auditing, ISA, is to facilitate the work for auditors on an international basis. Sweden today follows the RS 600 which is based on ISA 600, which contains standards for when an auditor use work performed by other auditor. In October 2007, came a revised and redrafted version of ISA 600 that will be enforced in Sweden in the audit of the financial year beginning on 1 January 2011. To what degree the new requirements will affect the group audit is clearly dependent on how the reporting, evaluation and instructions between the group auditor and other auditor has been carried out previously.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>The aim with this paper is to explain the reporting between the group auditor and other auditor in an international corporate group. The aim is also to study the factors that can influence the final outcome of this report and why they affect the outcome. Furthermore, the paper will discuss the report process changes that could take place between the group auditor and other auditor after the introduction of ISA 600.</p><p><strong>Definitions: </strong>This paper has a geographic delimitation to Sweden. The paper is delimited to only consider auditing of corporate groups whose parent is located in Sweden and subsidiaries are located abroad. This means that respondents are bounded to the group auditors.</p><p><strong>Completion and results: </strong>Factors affecting reporting between auditors in an international corporate group turned out primarily to be language and communication differences, differences in accounting standards and determination of the materiality level. The risks are considered minimized through documentation reviews and both internal- and external quality controls. An understanding of social and cultural differences is a key factor to be able to have successful cross cultural collaborations. Education, experience and practise are the solutions to understand this issue. This paper demonstrates that cross-cultural training is not given at the accounting firms, which are proposed to be a beneficial investment. The instructions and contact with other auditors are expected to be put earlier after the introduction of ISA 600, also that the report itself will be more detailed.</p>

<p>Bakgrund: Uppmärksamheten kring miljö och miljöproblem har ökat i samhället och i företagen. Miljöredovisning har blivit allt mer viktigt eftersom ett företags miljömässiga aktiviteter påverkar företagets finansiella ställning. Det finns idag ett stort behov av riktlinjer eftersom andra än godkända och auktoriserade revisorer granskar företagens miljöredovisningar. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att, ur ett redovisningsperspektiv, med utgångspunkt från bestämmelser och standarder systematisera en begreppsapparat för att ge miljöredovisning innehåll och innebörd för individer som arbetar med redovisnin, som till exempel revisorer och ekonomichefer/företagsledare. </p><p>Avgränsning: Jag har valt att avgränsa mig till börsbolag i Sverige och har en företagsekonomisk synvinkel varför jag bortser från samhällsekonomiska effekter. Jag har i uppsatsen valt ett redovisningperspektiv. Genomförande: Jag har studerat litteratur om ämnet miljöredovisning. Jag har genomfört en enkätundersökning med miljö- och ekonomichefer på, främst, svenska börsbolag. Därutöver har jag genomfört en skrivbordsundersökning av företagens miljö- och årsredovisningar. </p><p>Resultat: Begreppen miljöutgift och miljökostnad samt miljöskuld är redovisningsmässiga och bör kopplas till resultaträkningen respektive balansräkningen. Begreppen miljöinvestering och miljöintäkt hör samman med investeringskalkyler och utgör istället planeringsmässiga begrepp.</p>

<p>Credit rating systems are complex processes and involve mainly two parties; a company and a bank. The complexity of a relationship between a company and a bank lies in the fact that a company usually has access to more information about the company than the bank. Hence, an auditor acts as a third party who validates the information involved in credit rating processes. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how auditing is being used in credit rating processes and to identify the role auditing has. In addition, this study recognizes the use of auditing in both Denmark and Sweden, with a goal to compare and explore the differences between the countries.</p><p>In order to collect secondary data, Danish and Swedish banks were interviewed. To be able to explore the rather newly discovered relationship between auditing and credit rating processes, this study was carried out with an exploratory research design. In addition, this study is based on assumptions stated in the Agency Theory, the Positive Accounting Theory and the Stakeholder Model. Because the intention was to use existing theories, a deductive research approach was suitable.</p><p>The empirical findings imply that auditing is being used in banks’ credit rating processes to validate the information and to reduce the risk. The trustworthiness of auditors and the relationship between a company and a bank influence banks’ perceptions regarding the creditworthiness of companies. The role of auditing is rather common in Denmark and Sweden, whereas the amount of accessible information is higher in Sweden than in Denmark. The pattern is that more information diminishes the risk and implies that the role of auditing is less important.</p><p>This study is limited to only taking the bank’s perceptions of auditing into consideration, leaving out other stakeholders. Moreover, the examination is restricted to Danish and Swedish banks. The findings are interesting for banks and small companies to consider, because they explain the importance of auditing other components such as customer relationship. As a conclusion, the findings would be appropriate for Swedish banks to review in order to evaluate possible consequences of the statutory audit.</p>

<p>This study examines how auditors’ attitude towards marketing and their view on the importance of marketing affect how they balance their time spent on marketing and auditing activities. The purpose is to understand how the changing business environment for auditors affects the relationship between the auditing profession and marketing. The study is based on a survey of 712 auditors in Sweden. The findings suggest that auditors with positive attitude towards marketing spend significantly more time on marketing activities compared to those with less positive attitude. Furthermore, auditors who view marketing activities as important, spend significantly more time on marketing activities. The number of years as approved or authorized auditor, age of the auditor, and bureau affiliation was controlled for. The result indicates that the theoretical distance between the auditing profession and marketing does not exist in practice to the same degree as it used to.</p>

<p>Purpose</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is, firstly, to investigate clients’ perspective toward the Big 4’s financial audit service quality. Secondly, the gaps between clients’ perceptions and expectations of audit service quality provided by the Big 4 audit firms will be studied. Finally, factors influencing clients’ expectations of audit service quality will be categorised.</p><p>Method</p><p>A combination of qualitative and quantitative approach is used in the form of a web-based self-completion questionnaire. A qualitative approach is used in one section of the questionnaire which is an open-ended question asking about the</p><p><em>clients’ perception </em>toward audit service quality. A quantitative approach is used in the rest of the 2 sections of the questionnaire; firstly, asking the respondents to score the <em>level of perception and expectation </em>of audit service quality; secondly, asking for <em>types of clients’ industries. </em>The respondents are 25 clients who have direct experience with the Big 4 audit firms located in Thailand.</p><p>Finding </p><p>Clients <em>strongly expect </em>assurance, reliability, and responsiveness while <em>strongly perceive </em>assurance and reliability of the Big4’s audit service quality. However, it is obvious that clients’ perception of all 5 dimensions is less than those of expectation; <em>assurance, reliability </em>and <em>responsiveness </em>are significantly different at .05 level. Moreover, eight factors from given expectation score are re-categorised in order from the most important issue to the least important as follows; Factor 1: Trust & Confidence, Factor 2: Responsiveness & Accuracy, Factor 3: Knowledge and skills in clients’ industry, Caring and Independence, Factor 4: Understanding of Clients, Factor 5: Timing/Scheduling & Right Service, Factor 6: Physical Facilities, Factor 7: Professional appearance & Professional Procedures, and Factor 8: Information & Communication Channels and Materials.</p><p>Conclusion </p><p>In conclusion, the factors that are not satisfied by the clients; assurance, reliability, responsiveness, should be taken account of by the Big 4. Not only the Big 4 operating in Thailand have to be aware of their service quality, the other audit firms both international brands and local brands should also be aware of their service quality in order to satisfy their clients and to avoid damages of the firms and markets from audit failure. Both the audit firms and the clients together can help in audit quality improvement.</p><p>Recommendation </p><p>To improve audit service quality, it is not only the Big4 audit firms’ responsibility but also the good cooperation from the clients could be the crucial support, and the ongoing policies are needed because it takes some time to see the consequences. When the quality level of audit service becomes a win-win situation, both audit firms and clients receive mutual benefits. Moreover, the Big 4 are the big actors in the audit industry in Thailand with promptly financial and human resource, they should support non-Big 4 to improve audit service quality. Because it means the overall image of audit service in Thailand would be improve somehow.</p>

Bakgrund: Uppmärksamheten kring miljö och miljöproblem har ökat i samhället och i företagen. Miljöredovisning har blivit allt mer viktigt eftersom ett företags miljömässiga aktiviteter påverkar företagets finansiella ställning. Det finns idag ett stort behov av riktlinjer eftersom andra än godkända och auktoriserade revisorer granskar företagens miljöredovisningar. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att, ur ett redovisningsperspektiv, med utgångspunkt från bestämmelser och standarder systematisera en begreppsapparat för att ge miljöredovisning innehåll och innebörd för individer som arbetar med redovisnin, som till exempel revisorer och ekonomichefer/företagsledare. Avgränsning: Jag har valt att avgränsa mig till börsbolag i Sverige och har en företagsekonomisk synvinkel varför jag bortser från samhällsekonomiska effekter. Jag har i uppsatsen valt ett redovisningperspektiv. Genomförande: Jag har studerat litteratur om ämnet miljöredovisning. Jag har genomfört en enkätundersökning med miljö- och ekonomichefer på, främst, svenska börsbolag. Därutöver har jag genomfört en skrivbordsundersökning av företagens miljö- och årsredovisningar. Resultat: Begreppen miljöutgift och miljökostnad samt miljöskuld är redovisningsmässiga och bör kopplas till resultaträkningen respektive balansräkningen. Begreppen miljöinvestering och miljöintäkt hör samman med investeringskalkyler och utgör istället planeringsmässiga begrepp.

Auditing has long existed and it was in 1899 that the first Swedish organization for accountants SRS, Swedish Audit Society, was created and in 1923 that FAR, Association of Chartered Accountants, was formed. It was after the Kreuger crash in the 1930s that authorized auditors had their breakthrough. After the crash the accounting profession has endured fierce criticism when the audit was flawed and it was during this period that authorized auditors became more widespread, the concept was developed independently and the importance of auditor independence became evident. We have in our paper therefore chosen to focus on auditor independence and to make that it requires the independence to relate to something. Therefore we have chosen to focus on the interaction between the auditor and the client. To explain what independence means we have used the analysis model, the expectation gap and communication, and explain what the audit entails and what tasks the auditor has. To do this, we used the qualitative method and interviewed two auditors, an auditor at KPMG and one at ÖPWC. In order to get another perspective we also interviewed two clients, Eskilstuna-Kuriren AB and Eskilstuna Energi och Miljö AB. Auditing means that with a professional critical attitude plan, review, evaluate and comment on management, annual report and accounts. Auditor's role is simply to assure the quality of information. This requires that the auditor is independent and follows confidentiality, and assumes professional ethics and generally accepted auditing. In order to reduce the expectation gap it is important that the information and communication between auditor and the client works well. In this paper we found that the analysis model is an important tool for examining auditor independence for each new assignment and each new year. We also found that our respondents believe that an open dialogue is important and that the auditor will act as a sounding board. Our clients do not feel that there is a gap in expectations because they have a record in the auditing profession and know what an auditor should and must do.

Purpose The purpose of this thesis is, firstly, to investigate clients’ perspective toward the Big 4’s financial audit service quality. Secondly, the gaps between clients’ perceptions and expectations of audit service quality provided by the Big 4 audit firms will be studied. Finally, factors influencing clients’ expectations of audit service quality will be categorised. Method A combination of qualitative and quantitative approach is used in the form of a web-based self-completion questionnaire. A qualitative approach is used in one section of the questionnaire which is an open-ended question asking about the clients’ perception toward audit service quality. A quantitative approach is used in the rest of the 2 sections of the questionnaire; firstly, asking the respondents to score the level of perception and expectation of audit service quality; secondly, asking for types of clients’ industries. The respondents are 25 clients who have direct experience with the Big 4 audit firms located in Thailand. Finding  Clients strongly expect assurance, reliability, and responsiveness while strongly perceive assurance and reliability of the Big4’s audit service quality. However, it is obvious that clients’ perception of all 5 dimensions is less than those of expectation; assurance, reliability and responsiveness are significantly different at .05 level. Moreover, eight factors from given expectation score are re-categorised in order from the most important issue to the least important as follows; Factor 1: Trust &amp; Confidence, Factor 2: Responsiveness &amp; Accuracy, Factor 3: Knowledge and skills in clients’ industry, Caring and Independence, Factor 4: Understanding of Clients, Factor 5: Timing/Scheduling &amp; Right Service, Factor 6: Physical Facilities, Factor 7: Professional appearance &amp; Professional Procedures, and Factor 8: Information &amp; Communication Channels and Materials. Conclusion  In conclusion, the factors that are not satisfied by the clients; assurance, reliability, responsiveness, should be taken account of by the Big 4. Not only the Big 4 operating in Thailand have to be aware of their service quality, the other audit firms both international brands and local brands should also be aware of their service quality in order to satisfy their clients and to avoid damages of the firms and markets from audit failure. Both the audit firms and the clients together can help in audit quality improvement. Recommendation  To improve audit service quality, it is not only the Big4 audit firms’ responsibility but also the good cooperation from the clients could be the crucial support, and the ongoing policies are needed because it takes some time to see the consequences. When the quality level of audit service becomes a win-win situation, both audit firms and clients receive mutual benefits. Moreover, the Big 4 are the big actors in the audit industry in Thailand with promptly financial and human resource, they should support non-Big 4 to improve audit service quality. Because it means the overall image of audit service in Thailand would be improve somehow.

Credit rating systems are complex processes and involve mainly two parties; a company and a bank. The complexity of a relationship between a company and a bank lies in the fact that a company usually has access to more information about the company than the bank. Hence, an auditor acts as a third party who validates the information involved in credit rating processes. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how auditing is being used in credit rating processes and to identify the role auditing has. In addition, this study recognizes the use of auditing in both Denmark and Sweden, with a goal to compare and explore the differences between the countries. In order to collect secondary data, Danish and Swedish banks were interviewed. To be able to explore the rather newly discovered relationship between auditing and credit rating processes, this study was carried out with an exploratory research design. In addition, this study is based on assumptions stated in the Agency Theory, the Positive Accounting Theory and the Stakeholder Model. Because the intention was to use existing theories, a deductive research approach was suitable. The empirical findings imply that auditing is being used in banks’ credit rating processes to validate the information and to reduce the risk. The trustworthiness of auditors and the relationship between a company and a bank influence banks’ perceptions regarding the creditworthiness of companies. The role of auditing is rather common in Denmark and Sweden, whereas the amount of accessible information is higher in Sweden than in Denmark. The pattern is that more information diminishes the risk and implies that the role of auditing is less important. This study is limited to only taking the bank’s perceptions of auditing into consideration, leaving out other stakeholders. Moreover, the examination is restricted to Danish and Swedish banks. The findings are interesting for banks and small companies to consider, because they explain the importance of auditing other components such as customer relationship. As a conclusion, the findings would be appropriate for Swedish banks to review in order to evaluate possible consequences of the statutory audit.

This study examines how auditors’ attitude towards marketing and their view on the importance of marketing affect how they balance their time spent on marketing and auditing activities. The purpose is to understand how the changing business environment for auditors affects the relationship between the auditing profession and marketing. The study is based on a survey of 712 auditors in Sweden. The findings suggest that auditors with positive attitude towards marketing spend significantly more time on marketing activities compared to those with less positive attitude. Furthermore, auditors who view marketing activities as important, spend significantly more time on marketing activities. The number of years as approved or authorized auditor, age of the auditor, and bureau affiliation was controlled for. The result indicates that the theoretical distance between the auditing profession and marketing does not exist in practice to the same degree as it used to.