Slopandet av revisionsplikten har lett till att små bolag står mellan valet att anlita revisor eller inte. Studiens syfte har varit att utforska hur den upplevda nyttan med revision påverkar valet att anlita revisor eller inte för etablerade och nyetablerade bolag. Undersökningen genomfördes genom en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod vars syfte var att få en djupgående förståelse för vilka faktorer som påverkar valet att anlita eller inte anlita en revisor i etablerade samt nyetablerade bolag.  Genom intervjuer har studien undersökt vilka faktorer ägarna i både etablerade och nyetablerade anser påverkar valet att anlita revisor. Studiens teoretiska referensram är baserad på agentteorin, legitimitetsteorin, institutionellateorin samt intressentteorin. Referensramen ligger sedan till grund för insamlingen av empiri och genomförande av analysen. Den upplevda revisionsnyttan kunde analyseras genom att vi identifierade olika faktorer som anses påverka valet av att anlita revisor. Enligt studien kan vi inte påvisa någon åtskillnad angående revisionens upplevda nytta mellan etablerade och nyetablerade bolag. Studien visar indikationer på att faktorer som kunskapstillförsel, förbättring, försäkring, tradition, trygghet och legitimitet förklarar vad ägarna anser vara nyttan med revision. Vidare är dessa faktorer bidragande orsaker till att etablerade och nyetablerade bolag väljer att anlita en revisor. / The removal of the auditor requirement has led to the fact that a small company stands between hiring an auditor or not. The purpose of the study was to explore how the perceived usefulness of auditing affects the choice of hiring an auditor or not, for established and new established companies. The survey was conducted through a qualitative research method whose purpose was to gain an in-depth understanding of the factors that influence the above mentioned choice regarding established and new established companies. Through interviews, the study examined the factors the owners in both established and new established companies consider to affect the choice to hire auditor. The theoretical framework is based on agent theory, legitimacy theory, institutional theory and stakeholder theory. The framework is the basis for the collection of empirical data and the analysis. The perceived usefulness of hiring an auditor could be analyzed in that we identified various factors considered to influence the choice of hiring an auditor. According to the study, we can not show any distinction regarding auditing perceived benefit between established and newly established companies. The study shows indications that factors such as the supply of knowledge, improvement, insurance, tradition, security and legitimacy explains what the owners consider to be the benefits of auditing. Furthermore, these factors are contributing causes in why established and newly established companies choose to hire an auditor.

Different scandals around the globe during the past, in specific during the last decade, have intrigued the stakeholders to question the roles of both auditors and management. But most of the fingers since then have been raised on the role of auditors, because it is the auditors who are entrusted with the responsibility to detect any errors or frauds in the financial reports of the client-firm. Apart from this, the long-term auditor client relationship has been the center of attention in most of the discussions and debates as well. Numerous studies have been conducted by the academic researchers, financial and professional analysts, regulatory authorities and governing bodies, and in some cases by the auditors and the firms as well regarding the effects of long-term auditor-client relationship on audit quality, equity risk premium, financial reports quality, audit pricing etc. These studies provide us with different results, both with the positive and negative associations and effects of long-term auditor-client relationship on the basis of different factors and contexts. For long, auditing has been discussed in different studies and research areas but mostly in association with publicly listed companies. Less attention has been paid to the relationship of auditors and clients as far as clients in SMEs are concerned. In any country around the globe, SMEs are of major contribution in terms of backing the economy, giving it both the boost and the stability, as they collectively form the major chunk of the economy. If we specify our study to the SMEs in Sweden, then 99% of the enterprises in Sweden represent the SME sector; in addition they employ around 60% of the manpower. Based on these facts, and due to less attention given to auditor-client relationship in terms of SMEs, instead of; we have directed our concerns towards the study of effects of auditor-client relationship on audit quality in SMEs in this particular research study. In this study, we have opted for qualitative research with semi-structured interviews to be used as the tool for data collection. Interviews were conducted with two different groups of interviewees, one group representing the auditors and the other group representing the client-firms (SMEs). A total of seven interviews were conducted in order to strengthen and validate the results for our research question. Due to the limitations of this study, mostly in terms of cost and time, samples were selected from Umeå, Sweden. The data interview structure, data analysis and discussion, and conclusions were all made based on existing theories summarized in the theoretical review of this study. The results of this study suggests that (1) long-term audit tenure is beneficial for the audit quality if certain risk factors like risk of auditor independence and risk of developing complacency are controlled; and (2) factors such as NAS, industry specialization, knowledge and experience of the auditor, internal control in the client-firm, professional ethics, proper audit plan, providence of unbiased information by the client, and appointment of the auditor by the client-firm itself enhances the audit quality.

Auditing is common in many organizations and a legal requirement for all limited liability companies in Sweden (ABL 9:1). In directives from the government it is clearly stated that small firms will be exempted from the statutory audit requirement. In light of this forthcoming change in regulations, this thesis is used to analyze which factors are associated with a demand for auditing. Analysis in this thesis is based on a national survey including 900 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Around 2/3 of respondent’s (CEO or CFO) state that the firm will choose to have audited accounts even in the absence of such a legal requirement. Based on responses from 421 firms, logistic regression results indicated that firms purchasing advisory services from an audit firm will choose to have their accounts audited to a higher extent than those firms not receiving advisory services. This finding, not identified in prior studies, is linked to advisory services being of higher quality when the audit firm also performs audit work. The demand for auditing is further positively associated with firm size, use of a Big 4 audit firm and firms located in the county of Småland. From these findings it follows that the traditional view of auditing as merely a control mechanism needs to be complemented by consideration of aspects of the internal value of auditing. The approaches of SME’s when engaging an audit firm for different types of advisory services is examined in this study based upon survey data. It is shown that the majority of advisory services provided are related to core competencies of an auditor such as tax, accounting and law. Logistic regression results show a positive association between firms purchasing advisory services and the length of the relationship with the provider as well as with the respondent’s perception of the audit quality. The latter association further confirms the close connection between audit and advisory services. It should be noted that when an audit firm recommends advisory services their use is significantly higher. There is also support for the demand for advisory services being positively related to firms that are corporate subsidiaries and located in Småland and Norrland, but negatively associated with the respondent’s level of education. It follows that factors related to demand for advisory services on an aggregate level could be categorized as being dependent on firm characteristics, audit firm characteristics and the relationship between the parties. Provision of non-audit services (NAS), such as different types of advisory services, to audit clients and the potential consequences for auditor independence and audit quality have been discussed in public debates and research as well as being subject of regulation. OLS regression results show that reporting quality is higher when the audit firm provides advisory services as well as preparing accounts. These findings hold for both discretionary accruals and a respondent’s perception of reporting quality. The provision of NAS improves the reporting quality due to better knowledge of the client and its operations. From the perspective of reporting quality this finding implies that there is no necessity to further restrict the possibility for an audit firm to provide advisory services as well as preparing accounts for audit clients.

The faith in financial reporting quality and the corresponding auditing process has suffered a lot within the last decade, due to significant accounting scandals (e.g. Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, etc.). As an answer to these accounting scandals, the law-makers in Germany and the European Union, respectively, have strengthened audit regulations in order to improve the quality of the conducted audits. The aim of this cumulative dissertation is to provide empirical evidence on the effects of intended and already implemented regulative audit requirements in Germany. ln order to consider the wide range of different audit requirements, the dissertation is based on four different study manuscripts, highlighting various perspectives with regard to the appointment, duration, and remuneration of a statutory auditor in the German audit environment. Besides the empirical evidence for separate auditing issues, this dissertation is also aimed to provide a solid theoretical background and critical suggestions for future research.

Mindre företag är viktiga för den samhällsekonomiska utvecklingen och för skapandet av nyaarbetstillfällen. Lån har visat sig vara en viktig finansieringskälla för dessa företag, men pågrund av informationsasymmetri och högre operationella kostnader har tillgången tillkonkurrenskraftig lånefinansiering framhållits vara problematisk. Den externa redovisningenkan användas för att minska informationsasymmetri och reducera detta problem.Redovisningskvalitet, upplevd revisionskvalitet och revisionens utfall utgör delar av denexterna redovisningen, vilka i tidigare studier visat sig påverka företags kostnad för lånatkapital. Svenska privata mindre företag är en grupp av företag som tidigare inte behandlats idetta avseende och syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur dessa företags kostnad förlånat kapital påverkas av redovisningskvalitet, upplevd revisionskvalitet och revisionensutfall. Med hjälp av årsredovisningar från ett stickprov om 395 slumpvis utvalda företag ochen regressionsanalys besvaras studiens problemformulering. Hur påverkar den externaredovisningen svenska privata mindre företags kostnad för lånat kapital? Resultatet av dennastudie visar att redovisningskvalitet och revisionens utfall är delar av den externaredovisningen som påverkar svenska privata mindre företags kostnad för lånat kapital, medannågon påverkan inte kunde påvisas gällande den upplevda revisionskvaliteten. Svenskaprivata mindre företag med låg redovisningskvalitet har lägre kostnad för lånat kapital och enoren revisionsberättelse innebär högre kostnad. Detta ger såväl praktiska som teoretiskaimplikationer. Exempelvis tyder resultatet på att företag i viss mån kan vidta manipulerandeåtgärder som sänker redovisningskvaliteten och genom detta förfarande sänka kostnaden förlånat kapital. För långivare kan resultatet fungera som en varningssignal och belysa vikten avatt inte betrakta siffrorna i årsredovisningen som en obestridlig sanning. Teoretisk ges ettbidrag från den svenska kontexten. Resultatet i detta bidrag skiljer sig delvis från resultat itidigare studier, genomförda i andra kontexter. / Small firms are important for economic growth and the creation of new job opportunities.Loans are an important source of financing for these firms, but due to information asymmetryand relatively higher operational costs, small firms’ access to debt capital at a competitiveprice have been shown to be problematic. Firms’ financial reports can be used to lowerinformation asymmetry between the firm and its creditors and therefore reduce this problem.Prior studies have found that accounting quality, perceived audit quality and audit outcomeare parts of the financial report which can affect firms’ cost of debt. Swedish private smallfirms has not been studied in this field of research and the purpose of this study is therefore toexamine how these firms’ cost of debt is affected by accounting quality, perceived auditquality and audit outcome. With a sample of 395 randomly selected firms a regressionanalysis is used to answer the study’s research question. How does the financial report affectSwedish private small firms’ cost of debt? The result show that accounting quality and auditoutcome are parts of the financial report that can affect firms’ cost of debt, while nosignificant difference in cost of debt could be found due to differences in perceived auditquality. Swedish private small firms with low accounting quality have lower cost of debt andthose that receive a modified auditor report have higher costs. This result has both practicaland theoretical implications. The result suggests that firms, to some extent, can lower theircost of debt by lowering their accounting quality through manipulating their financial reports.To creditors, the result can be viewed as a warning signal to not blindly trust in the accuracyof the numbers that are presented. Theoretically this study contributes with a result from theSwedish context, a result that in some ways differ from those of studies done in othercontexts.

Cette thèse se compose de trois chapitres distincts. Le premier chapitre étudie la tentative d'harmonisation de la réglementation financière et de la divulgation de l'information financière par l'Union Européenne. Ces réglementations financières sont appliquées à travers un ensemble de directives avec un objectif commun. Nous étudions l'impact de ces changements sur l'asymétrie d'information. Nous considérons également le rôle des caractéristiques du pays et des entreprises. Nos résultats montrent que l'asymétrie d'information a diminué après le changement de régime réglementaire de l'UE. Nous démontrons que les pays dont la règlementation antérieure est d'un niveau de qualité élevé avec un système juridique efficient ont connu une réduction d'asymétrie d'information plus importante. Selon les résultats, l'impact des réglementations sur l'asymétrie d'information est plus important pour les entreprises qui avaient un meilleur environnement avant le changement de régime. Le deuxième chapitre étudie l'efficacité de l'utilisation de la juste valeur en comptabilité pour fournir des informations plus pertinentes sur la valeur des banques. Les études pertinence de la valeur ont été menées en quatre étapes. Tout d'abord, nous comparons la pertinence de la valeur des actifs et passifs tels qu'ils sont inscrits dans les bilans. Nous constatons que les actifs et passifs pris à la juste valeur sont plus pertinents pour expliquer la valeur de marché des capitaux propres. En outre, on observe que la crise financière de mi-2008 n'a pas d'impact significatif sur la pertinence des actifs et des passifs pris en FV et, que la qualité de l'audit améliore la pertinence des actifs pris en FV. Dans la deuxième étape, nous nous concentrons sur la mesure de la juste valeur et nous trouvons que les actifs basés sur « marked-to-market » sont plus pertinents que les actifs « marked-to-model » et que la haute qualité de l'audit a un impact positif sur la pertinence des actifs basés sur les niveaux de FV 1 et 2. Dans la troisième étape, nous examinons la pertinence de la valeur incrémentale des justes valeurs, en étudiant la pertinence du contenu de l'information fournie par la différence entre les justes valeurs et les coûts historiques. Pour terminer, nous évaluerons la pertinence des deux modèles que nous proposons en comparant les résultats obtenus au titre de celui de « la juste valeur totale » à ceux obtenus par le modèle « du coût historique ». Dans le troisième chapitre, nous cherchons à savoir dans quelle mesure la juste valeur en comptabilité permet de mesurer l'exposition aux risques prise par les banques. Nous étudions le rôle de la taille des banques et celui de la situation économique du marché financier. Nous démontrons que pour un échantillon global, les ratios d'endettement de coût historique et la GAAP, sont plus liés au risque de la banque que les ratios fondées sur les justes valeurs. Pour les petites banques le ratio de levier financier de la GAAP et du HC expliquent mieux le risque de défaut des banques que le ratio de levier financier de FV, et pour les grandes banques cet ordre s'inverse. Nos résultats fournissent la preuve que, pendant les périodes stables, le ou la GAAP et le ou la HC sont plus pertinentes que le risque par FV. En période de crise cet ordre s'inverse, et les ratios de FV expliquent mieux les attentes du marché concernant le risque de défaut de toutes les banques. / This dissertation consist three distinct essays that study the effectiveness of financial disclosure regulations. The first essay studies the effectiveness of EU regulatory changes aimed to harmonize and enhance EU financial information environment. Unlike literatures that study the adoption of a single regulation, we consider a set of EU regulations that have common objectives. We find that the adoption of these regulation have decreased information asymmetry in financial markets. We also show that the effectiveness of regulatory changes varies across counties. We find that firms that needed the improvement in financial information environment the most benefited the least from implementation of regulations under study. We argue that EU capital market impacts generally attributed to the adoption of IFRS are likely to come from regulatory changes concomitant to IFRS. We then focus on banks and find that EU regulatory changes had a more significant impact on banks than other firms. The second essay studies the effectiveness of fair value accounting in providing more value-relevant information. The value relevance studies have been conducted in four stages. First, we compare the value relevance of assets and liabilities as they are carried in balance sheets and find that assets and liabilities carried at fair value are more value-relevant than those carried at cost. Furthermore, we illustrate that the 2008 financial crisis had no significant impact on the value relevance of FV assets and liabilities. Also high audit quality improves the value relevance of assets carried at FV. Second, we focus on fair value measurement levels and find marked-to-marked fair values to be more value-relevant than marked-to-model fair value assets and high audit quality has a positive impact on value relevance of assets carries at FV levels 1 and 2. Third, we focus on the incremental value relevance of fair values, where we study the value relevance of fair value information over those conveyed by costs data. Finally, we compare the relative value relevance of a full fair value versus full cost accounting. The third essay looks at the risk relevance of fair value accounting. We compare the accounting-based debt ratio with fair values, cost and US GAAP data for explaining market assessments of bank risk. We find that although in overall US GAAP information and cost accounting are more risk relevant than fair values, relative value-relevance of the ratios depends on bank size and general economic condition. During financial crisis and for large banks fair values are more risk-relevant than HC and GAAP. Overall, this dissertation sheds light on the effectiveness of financial regulations regarding information disclosure and the impact of influential factors with an emphasis on banks.

Dans la perspective d’une évaluation critique des réformes adoptées récemment par la commission européenne et la législation des pays membres, cette recherche analyse les rôles respectifs de l’auditeur et de la réglementation qui régit son activité sur la qualité et le coût de l’audit. S’appuyant sur un échantillon 4218 firmes européennes pour une période allant de 2007 à 2010, notre première étude traite de l’impact de l’auditeur et de la réglementation de l’audit sur la qualité des chiffres comptables. Les résultats montrent que les Big n’offrent aucune garantie particulière sur la qualité de l’information comptable s’ils ne sont pas simultanément spécialistes de l’activité de la firme auditée. Elle montre aussi que la nature et l'ampleur de la gestion des résultats sont influencées par les réglementations nationales de l’audit. Il apparait en effet que l’audit conduit à une information de meilleure qualité lorsque la responsabilité de l’auditeur est délictuelle plutôt que contractuelle, mais aussi lorsque son mandat peut être remis en cause chaque année. Cette étude offre également un éclairage nouveau aux différends qui opposent auditeurs et régulateurs en matière de services annexes en montrant qu’il n’est pas forcément souhaitable d’interdire ou de contraindre trop fortement ces services. Ils conduisent les auditeurs à mieux percevoir l’entreprise, ce qui leur permet d’agir utilement sur l’ampleur des manipulations réelles. Il apparait enfin que les mesures visant à imposer la rotation de l’associé signataire responsable de la mission d’audit ou à imposer un audit joint sont sans effets réels.Retenant un échantillon de 4293 firmes européennes sur la période allant de 2003 à 2011, la deuxième étude traite de l’impact de l’auditeur et de la réglementation de l’audit sur les honoraires d’audit. Les résultats montrent que recourir à des auditeurs réputés (Big ou spécialistes du secteur d’activité de la firme auditée) génère, toutes choses égales par ailleurs, des honoraires d’audit plus élevés. Il apparait aussi que trois des attributs réglementaires étudiés (la responsabilité délictuelle de l’auditeur, la remise en cause annuelle du mandat de l’audit, l’obligation d’un audit conjoint) affectent positivement les honoraires d’audit versés par les firmes européennes. Le rapprochement des résultats des deux études que nous avons menées montre donc que, moyennant le paiement d’honoraires plus élevés, des auditeurs spécialistes sont un gage de qualité des chiffres comptables audités. Ce rapprochement montre aussi que la responsabilité délictuelle de l’auditeur et la possibilité d’une remise en cause annuelle de son mandat garantissent la qualité des chiffres comptables, ces deux contraintes réglementaires étant par ailleurs associées à des honoraires d’audit plus conséquents. / This dissertation includes two studies. The first study analyzes the impact of auditor quality and audit regulation on the quality of accounting information, particularly on tradeoff between accrual-based and activity-based earnings management. In the second study in order to better understand the audit fees incurred by listed European companies we analysis the impact of audit regulation on the level of audit fees.Our representative sample is 4219 firms listed on European capital markets from 15 European countries over the period 2007 to 2010. Based on our sample, in the first study we analyze the respective impacts of both auditor quality and audit regulation on earnings quality. We capture auditor quality through using both audit firm size and audit firm industry specialization. We analyze five attributes of audit regulation including namely duration of audit tenure, restrictions on provision of non-audit services, nature of the auditors’ liability, constraints on audit partners’ rotation and obligation of a joint audit.Our main results are as follows: A) Only income-increasing earnings management, which is resulted in overstated earnings, is affected by auditor quality or audit regulations. B) Audit firm expertise influences negatively on the level of the both accrual-based earnings management and activity-based earnings management. Audits provided by large audit firms (i.e. Big4 auditors), have no impact on both accrual-based and activity-based earnings management. C) Audit firm expertise is not the only factor that affects audit quality and earnings quality. Regulation that governs audit services plays a major role in earnings quality as well. Two regulatory attributes have significant beneficial impact on accrual-based earnings management: the nature of the auditor’s liability and the minimal duration of the audit mandate. D) There is a substitution effect between accrual-based and activity-based earnings management, regarding the two attributes of audit regulation that are effective in curbing discretionary accruals. Because of regulatory constraints, the firms that cannot manage accruals upward apply more real activity management, and consequently their earnings are left affected by management actions.In 14 European countries, the diversity of regulations that govern statutory audits provides us with the opportunity to analyze how audit regulation affects audit fees. Using a sample of 4293 European firms over the period 2003 to 2011, in the second study we analyze the attributes of audit regulation, namely duration of audit tenure, restrictions on provision of non-audit services and nature of the auditors’ liability joint audit. Based on Our main results, in addition to usual determinants of audit fees (auditor reputation, firm size, leverage, audit risk…), the three attributes under study impact audit fees significantly. Fees are lower when regulation allows long audit tenure, or non-audit services, as well as when the auditor’s liability is based on tort law.

Efter flertalet revisionsskandaler under åren har det blivit populärt att kritisera revisorn och ifrågasätta kvaliteten på den utförda revisionen. Revisorn har ett ansvar att informera om det finns väsentliga osäkerheter kring ett företags förutsättningar för fortsatt drift och att utfärda en fortlevnadsvarning innebär en hel del tuffa beslut och bedömningar. Dock finns det faktorer som kan påverka revisorns agerande så som revisorns närhet till klienten, byråtillhörighet och risken för rättsliga åtgärder. Tidigare studier har även visat på att det finns skillnader i revisionskvaliteten mellan män och kvinnor. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur olika faktorer påverkar revisorns utfärdande av fortlevnadsvarning och därmed se vad det har för påverkan på revisionskvaliteten. Syftet är även att undersöka eventuella skillnader som finns i den svenska kontexten jämfört med tidigare studier i andra länder. För att undersöka sambandet genomfördes en kvantitativ studie där årsredovisningar och revisionsberättelser från svenska konkursdrabbade företag studerades. Studiens resultat visar på att det finns ett samband mellan finansiell stress och revisorns utfärdande av fortlevnadsvarning men dock gick det inte att påvisa något samband för variablerna kön, byråtillhörighet och ålder på företag. Resultatet visar även att revisionskvaliteten och utfärdandet av fortlevnadsvarningar i Sverige skiljer sig från andra länder. / After a numerous audit scandals over the years, it has become popular to criticize the auditor and question the audit quality. The auditor has a responsibility to inform if they have significant doubts about the continuity of a company. The issuing of a going-concern involves a lot of tough decisions and assessments for the auditor. However, there are factors that may affect the auditor’s actions such as the auditor’s closeness to the client, audit firm and the risk of legal action. Previous studies have also shown that there’s a difference in audit quality between men and women. The purpose with this paper is to study how different factors affect the auditor’s issuance of a going-concern and thus see how it affects the audit quality. The purpose is also to study any differences that exist in the Swedish context as compared to previous studies in other countries. To examine the relationship between going-concern and the variables, a quantitative study was conducted in which annual reports and audit reports from Swedish bankrupt companies were studied. The results of the study indicate that there is a relation between financial distress and a going-concern, but it was not possible to detect any relation to variables such as gender, audit firm and the age of the client. The result also shows that the audit quality and the issuance of a going-concern in Sweden differs from other countries.

O propósito central deste estudo é investigar se existe um prazo \"ótimo\" para o rodízio mandatório de firmas de auditoria no Brasil. Primeiramente, buscou-se evidências através da percepção de agentes do mercado para fundamentar o desenvolvimento de um modelo de estudo da qualidade de auditoria em função do tempo de relacionamento auditor-auditado tenure, considerando de forma isolada o efeito da tenure nas vertentes da qualidade, competência e independência, de acordo com o conceito de DeAngelo (1981b). Com base em um modelo quadrático, que consiste em uma simplificação do modelo originalmente proposto, foi realizada uma aplicação empírica com dados de companhias abertas brasileiras, listadas na Bovespa, referente ao período de 1998 a 2016. Os resultados sugerem ser possível estimar o prazo \"ótimo\" para o rodízio mandatório de firmas de auditoria em aproximadamente 5,7 anos. Testes adicionais foram realizados para conferir robustez a este resultado, indicando que o prazo \"ótimo\" seria em torno de 6 e 8,8 anos. Esses resultados indicam, portanto, que o prazo atualmente utilizado pela CVM (5 anos para empresas que não têm comitê de auditoria estatutário e 10 anos para as que têm) é compatível com os prazos estimados para se estabelecer o maior nível de qualidade média de auditoria possível. Tendo em vista que os prazos estimados são superiores a 5 anos, talvez não haja prejuízos, no que se refere à maximização da qualidade média da auditoria, se o prazo atualmente adotado for ligeiramente estendido. / The aim of this work is to investigate whether there is an \"optimal\" period for the mandatory audit firm rotation in Brazil. Firstly, evidence was sought through the perception of market agents to support the development of a model of audit quality as a function of the audit tenure, considering separately the effects of audit tenure on the audit quality components, competence and independence, according to DeAngelo\'s (1981b) concept. Based on a quadratic model, which consists of a simplification of the model originally proposed, an empirical application was made with data from Brazilian companies, listed on Bovespa, for the period from 1998 to 2016. The results suggest that it is possible to estimate an \"optimal\" audit tenure period for the mandatory audit firm rotation in Brazil around 5.7 years. Additional tests were performed to give robustness to the results, indicating that the \"optimal\" period would be around 6 and 8.8 years. These results indicate, therefore, that the term currently used by the CVM (5 years for companies that do not have statutory audit committee and 10 years for those that have) is compatible with the estimated terms to establish the highest possible level of the average audit quality. Given that the estimated timeframe is greater than 5 years, there may be no impairment in maximizing the average audit quality if the current rotation period is slightly extended.

Den nya revisionsberättelsen framkom efter finanskrisen år 2008 till följd av ett behov att öka transparensen av revisorers bedömningar. Oberoende, kompetens och förtroende påverkar bedömningarna, vilket resulterar i en viss nivå av revisionskvalité. Tidigare var det svårt för intressenter att identifiera företagens riskområden. Därför tillkom särskilt betydelsefulla områden (SBO). Dessutom ställs det ett högre krav på rapportering av fortsatt drift vid väsentlig osäkerhet. Det finns ett förväntningsgap på grund av snedvriden bild, vilket medför att intressenter missuppfattar både revisorers bedömning och förmedling. Dessutom leder ett kommunikationsgap till svårigheter för intressenter att förstå innebörden av begrepp vid revisorers uttalande i revisionsberättelsen. Syftet med den här studien var att beskriva och skapa förståelse för revisorers bedömning enligt revisionsstandarder, samt på vilket sätt bedömning kan påverka förmedlingen av information i den nya revisionsberättelsen för börsnoterade företag. Studien utgick från forskningsfilosofin interpretivism med inriktning på hermeneutik. Tillvägagångssättet var induktiv ansats med kvalitativ forskning. Vid insamling av empiri intervjuades auktoriserade revisorer från de fyra stora revisionsbyråerna. Resultatet av den här studien visade på att kvalitetssäkring säkerställer tillfredsställande revisionskvalité. Riskområden som kommunicerades till styrelsen kan möjligen bli SBO. De här kan vara bransch- och företagsspecifika. För att besluta om uttalande avseende fortsatt drift ska förmedlas, gör revisorer en helhetsbedömning av företagets fortlevnad 12 månader framåt. Dessutom visade studiens resultat på att revisionsberättelsen inte kan minska förväntningsgapet på grund av att revision är mer komplext. Därtill, användningen av svåra facktermer i revisionsberättelsens standardtext, som revisorer inte kan förändra, underlättar inte intressenters förståelse. / The new audit report was developed after the financial crisis of 2008 due to the need to increase transparency of auditors' assessments. Independence, competence and trust affect the assessments, which result in a certain level of audit quality. Formerly, it was complicated for stakeholders to identify entities' areas of risk. Therefore, key audit matters (KAM) were introduced. Moreover, there is a higher requirement addressing going concern when there is a significant uncertainty. There is an expectation gap due to a distorted image, which results in stakeholders misinterpreting both auditors' assessment and conveyance. Furthermore, a communication gap leads to difficulties for stakeholders to understand the meaning of terms in the auditors' opinions in the audit report. The aim of this study was to describe and understand the auditors' assessment according to auditing standards, and in what way assessments may affect conveying information in the new audit report for listed companies. The study was based on the research philosophy of interpretivism with an emphasis on hermeneutics. The method was an inductive approach with qualitative research. When gathering the empirical evidence, authorized auditors from four major audit firms were interviewed. The result of this study showed that quality assurance sufficiently secures the audit quality. Areas of risk, which were taken up with the board of directors, may well possibly be KAM. These can be industry- and entity-specific. In order to determine conveyance of opinion related to going concern, auditors make a general assessment of the entity's ability to continue as a going concern for 12 months. Moreover, the result of this study presented that the audit report cannot reduce the expectation gap due to the audit being more complex. In addition, the use of complicated technical terms in standard text of the audit report, which auditors cannot change, does not ease the stakeholders' comprehension.