In recent years, the commercialization of the audit market has become more and more apparent, which is an inevitable trend. After the Enron scandal broke out, researches about commercialization and audit professions, audit quality have arisen. Most of these studies are focus on western audit firms. The purpose of this study is to look at the impact of commercialization of the Chinese audit industry from the auditor perspective. This paper is based on 109 responses to a survey distributed to Chinese auditors, including Big 4 firms and non-Big 4 firms. This study use market orientation, customer orientation and process orientation as indicators of commercialization. Auditor independence and auditor competence as two main cornerstones of audit quality. The data were analyzed by multiple statistics test. Our finding indicates that all three indicators of commercialization of audit market have a positive relation with auditor independence and competence. We are thus concluding that commercialization of the audit market has a positive relation to audit quality. Also, we find that auditors in Big 4 and non-Big 4 audit farm are not much difference. This may be because the Big 4 in the Chinese market do not have the same dominance as in the Western market.

Revisorns uppgift att säkerställa att den finansiella informationen stämmer med verkligheten har ifrågasatts i samband med företagsskandaler. En åtgärd för att bekämpa detta och bidra med en god revisionskvalitet var införandet av obligatorisk byrårotation. Obligatorisk byrårotation har blivit omdiskuterat. Framförallt har det blivit omdiskuterat på grund av de två olika lägren i frågan, de som är för regleringen och de som är emot densamma. Den aktör som kan anses ha en stor insikt i frågan om hur denna åtgärden påverkar revisionskvaliteten är revisorn. Då det saknas studier som beaktar revisorns perspektiv väcks studiens syfte. Syftet med studien är att från revisorns perspektiv undersöka om den obligatoriska byrårotationen bidrar till förbättrad revisionskvalitet, samt skapa en större förståelse för hur obligatorisk byrårotation påverkar revisionskvaliteten. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har följande forskningsfrågor utvecklats; “Anser revisorer att obligatorisk byrårotation påverkar revisorns kompetens? I så fall, på vilket sätt?” och “Anser revisorer att obligatorisk byrårotation påverkar revisorns oberoende? I så fall, på vilket sätt?”. Studien har genomförts ur revisorernas perspektiv med djupintervjuer av revisorer. För att belysa revisorns perspektiv på regelverk och revisionskvalitet har tidigare forskning inom ämnet informerat hur empirin samlats in och analyserats. I studiens resultat identifierades fyra faktorer till revisionskvalitet, vilka var; synligt oberoende, faktiskt oberoende, regelverkskompetens samt erfarenhetskompetens. Studiens slutsats föreslår att obligatorisk byrårotation endast påverkar revisorns synliga oberoende och inte det faktiska oberoendet, medan det inte framgår huruvida den sammantagna kompetensen påverkas. / The auditors main assignment is to ensure that the financial information presented by corporations align with the reality. This assignment has been heavily criticized in connection with corporate scandals.  A measure to this and to ensure good audit quality was the introduction of mandatory audit firm rotation. Mandatory audit firm rotation has been greatly discussed, mainly because of the two differences of opinions. The current sides are those who are advocate for regulation and those who are objectors. One actor who deems to have great knowledge in the matter are auditors. Since there seems to be lacking studies regarding the auditors perspective, the following purpose evolved. The purpose of this study is to analyze the auditors perspective on the introduction of mandatory audit firm rotation and its impact on audit quality. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to also create a greater understanding of the implications that mandatory audit firm rotation has on audit quality. To achieve the purpose of this study the following research questions has been developed; “Do auditors consider mandatory audit firm rotation to affect the auditor’s competence? If so, in what way?” and “Do auditors consider mandatory audit firm rotation to affect the auditor's independence? If so, in what way?”. The study has had a focus on the auditor’s and their perspective by interviewing auditors. By illustrating the auditor’s perspective with regulations and audit quality, previous research has been taken into account to inform how the empirical data has been collected and analyzed. The results of the study identified four factors which together form audit quality; independence in appearance, independence in fact, competence from frameworks and competence from experience. The conclusion of the study suggests that mandatory audit firm rotation only affect the auditor's independence in appearance and not the independence in fact. However, it is not clear whether or not the overall competence is affected by mandatory audit firm rotation.

本研究以問卷調查方式，探討審計市場參與者（財務報表編製者、使用者及審計人員）對審計品質認知的差異，對於審計品質的衡量分為審計過程與審計結果，審計過程主要包括合約規劃階段、外勤工作與管理監督三階段及主要與查帳小組人員相關的因素，而審計結果的屬性則為事務所的規模、訴訟、聲譽及與事務所整體相關的因素。經由平均數分析、因素分析與變異數分析後，實證結果如下： 　　一、全部受試者認為最重要之審計品質屬性與最不重要之審計品質各有八個，並且審計人員較注重與審計過程相關之審計品質屬性，同時對於「了解客戶的行業」、「不對簽證客戶提供管理諮詢服務」及「採用統計技術」等項目的重要性，審計人員較其他參與者而言較不重視。 　　二、三組受試者對七個審計品質因素的認知上達成共識，故可以此做為提昇審計品質的明確方向。對於其他六個因素，受試者在認知上有顯著差異，其他參與者較審計人員認為「查帳人員具會計師資格」與「會計師事務所的外在形象」兩因素對審計品質更重要，表示審計人員應多注意這些因素。而審計人員則較其他參與者重視審計過程的因素，表示其他參與者在衡量審計品質時，除了注意審計品質的替代指標外，仍應考慮有關審計過程的品質屬性。

Fin 2001, début 2002, les États-Unis ont été frappés par un nombre élevé de scandales financiers. Plusieurs affaires ont été révélées par les médias, singulièrement le cas Enron. La reformulation de la profession d'audit en matière d'indépendance des auditeurs et des comités d'audit après le scandale Enron a cherché à garantir la crédibilité des états financiers. L'objectif de ce travail est de tester l'effet de la nouvelle formulation de la profession d'audit, notamment en matière d'indépendance des auditeurs et des comités d'audit, précisément sur la question de la crédibilité des états financiers. Trois objectifs opérationnels ont été traités dans le cadre de cette étude. Premièrement, nous avons analysé les effets de l’affaire Enron sur la réaction des marchés financiers, le choix des commissaires aux comptes et l’affermissement du conservatisme des auditeurs, dans le contexte français. Deuxièmement, nous avons étudié l’impact de l’institution du Haut Conseil du Commissariat aux Comptes sur l’indépendance des auditeurs. Finalement, nous avons étudié l’influence du Comité d’audit sur la crédibilité des états financiers après le rapport Bouton de 2002. Les résultats empiriques s’attachent à montrer que la présence d’un co-commissaire aux comptes Non-Big a minimisé l’effet négatif de la réaction du marché financier français lors de l’annonce du scandale Enron. Par contre, le scandale Enron n’a pas influencé significativement la perception des investisseurs institutionnels étrangers envers les services des grands cabinets d’audit. Ces derniers n’ont pas justifié la production d’une bonne qualité d’audit par rapport aux Non-Big. Pour rétablir la confiance sur les marchés financiers, le législateur français est intervenu via la création d’un organisme de supervision publique de la profession comptable intitulé le H3C. Les résultats empiriques montrent que la création du H3C a renforcé l’indépendance des auditeurs. Par contre, l’annonce du lancement des activités disciplinaires de ce nouvel organisme après 2005 n’a pas d’effet significatif sur l’indépendance des auditeurs. Par contre l’apparition du rapport Bouton en 2002, et la nouvelle dimension accordée au contrôle interne, montre que ce dernier dépendant des caractéristiques des comités d’audit notamment l’expertise et l’indépendance de leurs membres. / At the end of 2001, the scandal series was announced in the US context. Several scandals, especially the Eron failure, were revealed in the first stage by the media. The main purpose of this research is to study the impact of the new reform, in audit after Enron scandal, on auditor independence, audit comity and financial statement credibility. Three operational objectives have been treated in this study. First, we have analyzed the effects of Enron scandal on financial market reaction, auditor choice and auditor conservatism in the French context. Second, we have investigated the impact of the new reform on the auditor independence. Finally, we have examined the effect of audit committee on financial statement credibility after the adoption of the Bouton Report in 2002.The empirical results have shown that the presence of the Non-Big4 members in the legal audit process have minimized the negative effect of the reaction of the SBF 250. However, the perception of the foreign institutional investors has not changed significantly for the Big4 audit services. This auditor group (Big4) does not justify the production of the audit quality compared to other auditors in France. To restore confidence in the financial market, the French legislative authority has created the H3C. The empirical results have revealed that the establishment of the H3C has ameliorated the auditor independence. Hence, the announcement of the launch of H3C disciplinary activity after 2005 has not had a significant effect on auditor independence. In contrast, the appearance of the Bouton Report in 2002 and the reform related to the internal control depend on the audit committee characteristics (expertise and independence audit committee members).

Syfte: Syftet med vårt examensarbete är att försöka identifiera och analysera hur revisorer definierar revisionskvalité och hur de förvissar sig om att de genomför revision med hög kvalité Metod: För att nå fram till ett resultat har en abduktiv ansats med en kvantitativ metod använts för denna explorativa studie Teoretiskt perspektiv: Studien utgår ifrån befintlig teori och vetenskapliga studier men även resultatet av våra pilotintervjuer som använts för att urskilja faktorer som kan förklara vårt syfte. Teorier som använts är professionsteori, institutionell teori och byråkulturell teori Empiri: Det empiriska materialet grundar sig på en enkätundersökning som vänder sig till Sveriges revisorer i FARs medlemsregister. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats av statistiska tester Resultat: Analysen påvisade att de faktorer som har den största positiva påverkan på revisionskvalité är expertis tillsammans med revisorns kompetens / Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to identify and analyze how auditors define audit quality and how they are ascertain that they perform audit with high quality Methodology: In order to reach a result, an abductive approach with a quantitative method have been used in this exploratory study Theoretical perspective: The study is based on existing theories and scientific studies, but also the results of our pilot interviews are used to identify factors that may explain our purpose. Theories that have been used are professional theory, institutional theory and agency cultural theory Empirical foundation: The empirical material is based on a questionnaire addressed to the Swedish auditors in FARs membership list. The empirical data have been analyzed by statistical tests Conclusion: The analysis showed that the factors that are having the greatest positive impact on audit quality are expertise together with the auditor's proficiency

本研究延伸Becker et al. ( 1998 )六大會計師事務所審計效率高於非六大的研究，探討會計師事務所在面對管理階層不同之盈餘管理動機時，也就是當會計師與管理階層兩者間的盈餘報導動機衝突或一致時，會計師事務所的監督功能是否對稱。本研究認為高審計品質的會計師事務所在決定盈餘報導時，會比低審計品質的會計師事務所更加保守，因為高品質之會計師事務所面對審計失敗伴隨而來的訴訟成本遠較其他會計師事務所來的高，使得會計師事務所對於客戶採用增加所得的會計政策會保持較高的專業懷疑態度，抑制客戶虛增盈餘，因此，當管理者產生增加所得的盈餘報導動機時，衝突就會發生；反之，當客戶採用減少所得的會計政策，基於會計上的穩健原則，會計師事務所干涉程度則較低，使客戶較易進行減少所得的盈餘管理，故會計師事務所的監督功能不具對稱性。 而本研究結果顯示，當客戶有增加所得的盈餘管理動機時，代表高審計品質的五大與產業專家會計師事務所的客戶所報導的裁量性應計顯著低於非五大與非產業專家之會計師事務所，表示在會計師事務所與管理階層的盈餘報導動機有衝突時，五大與產業專家會計師事務所的審計品質較佳，較能抑制客戶利用裁量性應計進行增加所得的盈餘管理；反之，當客戶有減少所得的盈餘管理動機時，五大與產業專家會計師事務所的客戶所報導的裁量性應計也顯著低於非五大與非產業專家之會計師事務所，表示在會計師事務所與管理階層的盈餘報導動機相一致時，五大與產業專家會計師事務所的審計品質反而較低，容許客戶利用裁量性應計進行減少所得的盈餘管理。此實證結果支持本研究之假說，當會計師事務所與管理階層的盈餘報導動機發生衝突(一致)時，五大與產業專家會計師事務所的審計品質高(低)於非五大與非產業專家會計師事務所，監督功能不具對稱性。 / The research of Becker et al ( 1998 ) found that the big 6 CPA firms’ audit efficiency was higher than the non-big 6 CPA firms’ audit efficiency. This research extends Becker’s research and discusses whether the surveillance function of CPA firms is symmetrical or not when CPA firms face different earnings management motives of the management. In other words, when the earnings management motives between CPAs and management are conflict or consistent, whether will result in different audit quality level or not. We thought that the CPA firms with high audit quality are more conservative than those with low audit quality when deciding the reported earnings. Because the lawsuit cost of the CPA firms with high audit quality is much greater than the lawsuit cost of other CPA firms when facing the audit defeat. Thus the high audit quality CPA firms maintain the higher specialized suspicion on their customers who use the accounting policy to increase their earnings and restrain their earnings management. Therefore, when the management has the motive to increase reported earnings, the conflict will occur; on the contrary, when the management has the motive to decrease reported earnings, the CPA firms will tolerate their customers making earnings management to decrease the reported earnings base on the conservatism of accounting, so the surveillance function of CPA firms will decline and become not symmetry. According to our research, we find that when the management has the motive to increase reported earnings, the reported discretionary accruals of the management audited by the big 5 and industrial expert CPA firms are much lower than those audited by the non-big 5 and non- industrial expert CPA firms. It means when the motive of earnings reporting between the CPA firms and management is conflict, the audit quality of the big 5 and industrial expert CPA firms is much better, and they can restrain their customer using the discretionary accruals to increase their earnings. On the other hand, when the management has the motive to decrease reported earnings, the reported discretionary accruals of the management audited by the big 5 and industrial expert CPA firms are also much lower than those audited by the non-big 5 and non- industrial expert CPA firms. It means when the motive of earnings reporting between the CPA firms and management is consistent, the audit quality of the big 5 and industrial expert CPA firms is much lower instead, and they tolerate their customer using the discretionary accruals to decrease their earnings. This result of statistics test supports our hypotheses. When the earnings reporting motive between the CPA firms and the management is conflict ( consistent ), the audit quality of big 5 and industrial expert CPA firms is higher ( lower ) than other CPA firms’ audit quality. The surveillance function does not have the symmetry.

Intressenter grundar många av sina investeringsbeslut på vad som presenteras i bolags finansiella rapporter. Revisorer har därmed en viktig roll i samhället eftersom deras uppgift är att bestyrka finansiella rapporter och säkerställa att de i all väsentlighet ger en rättvisande bild av bolaget. För att revisorers arbete ska kunna ses som tillförlitligt krävs det att de producerar revision av hög kvalitet, vilket kräver att de är opartiska, har rätt kompetens och följer de riktlinjer och standarder som finns. Ett vanligt sätt att mäta revisionskvalitet är genom antalet fortsatt drift-kommentarer som utfärdats i revisionsberättelsen hos konkursdrabbade bolag. Att bristande revisionskvalitet har en negativ inverkan på samhället visades tydligt efter de uppmärksammade revisionsskandaler som inträffade under början av 2000-talet. Till följd av detta blev revisionskvaliteten starkt ifrågasatt, diskussioner och arbete för att höja revisionskvaliteten påbörjades. Forskning fokuserade mycket på att finna vilka faktorer som påverkar revisionskvaliteten. Dessa visade varierade resultat och det har även efterfrågats forskning med fokus på hur en revisors egenskaper kan påverka revisionskvaliteten. Det ger tydliga indikationer till att mer forskning gällande revisorers egenskaper behövs. Syftet med studien var att genom fortsatt drift-kommentarer uppskatta revisionskvalitet för att se om det skett en förbättring mellan åren 2012–2017. Syftet var också att undersöka hur en revisors kön, erfarenhet, ålder och storleken på staden revisorn arbetar i påverkar revisionskvaliteten. Studien genomfördes med en kvantitativ metod där ett urval på 1871 på bolag gjordes. De bolag som inkluderades i urvalet var svenska aktiebolag som har inlett en konkurs mellan 2012-01-01 och 2018-03-16. Det krävdes att konkursen var inledd inom loppet av tolv månader från det senaste bokslutsåret och att bolaget har haft en årsredovisning med en revisionsberättelse tillgänglig. Resultatet visar att det skett en procentuell förbättring av revisionskvalitet mellan år 2012 och 2017. Dock har det endast skett en signifikant förbättring från år 2012 fram till 2014. Resultatet visar även att det finns ett negativt samband mellan revisionskvalitet och en revisors ålder respektive erfarenhet. Sambandet innebär att yngre och mindre erfarna revisorer håller högre revisionskvalitet jämfört med äldre och mer erfarna revisorer. Studien visar att det inte förekommer något samband mellan en revisors kön och revisionskvalitet. Det identifierades endast ett svagt samband mellan stadsstorleken på staden som revisorn arbetar i och revisionskvalitet. Dock finns indikationer att revisorer som arbetar i storstäder håller högre revisionskvalitet.

The final thesis topic focuses on the issue of internal audits and their contribution to enhancing quality of the provided care. The aim of the final thesis was to find out how the nurses working shifts and head nurses assess internal audits. Next, the aim was to research nurses? opinions on further enhancing quality of the provided care. Another goal of the thesis was to explore internal auditors? professional qualifications and find out their opinion on the issue of internal audits. In the empirical part of the diploma thesis, I have chosen a quantitative and a qualitative research method. The quantitative research was carried out in the form of an anonymous questionnaire for non-medical workers. In the qualitative research I have applied in-depth interviews, carried out with three quality managers and three internal auditors. Furthermore, three internal audits of nursing units and three internal audits of medical documentation have been carried out. The results of the thesis may be practically used as a source of information about quality, continual enhancement of the quality of the provided care and ensuring quality by the means of internal audits.

Fin 2001, début 2002, les États-Unis ont été frappés par un nombre élevé de scandales financiers. Plusieurs affaires ont été révélées par les médias, singulièrement le cas Enron. La reformulation de la profession d'audit en matière d'indépendance des auditeurs et des comités d'audit après le scandale Enron a cherché à garantir la crédibilité des états financiers. L'objectif de ce travail est de tester l'effet de la nouvelle formulation de la profession d'audit, notamment en matière d'indépendance des auditeurs et des comités d'audit, précisément sur la question de la crédibilité des états financiers. Trois objectifs opérationnels ont été traités dans le cadre de cette étude. Premièrement, nous avons analysé les effets de l’affaire Enron sur la réaction des marchés financiers, le choix des commissaires aux comptes et l’affermissement du conservatisme des auditeurs, dans le contexte français. Deuxièmement, nous avons étudié l’impact de l’institution du Haut Conseil du Commissariat aux Comptes sur l’indépendance des auditeurs. Finalement, nous avons étudié l’influence du Comité d’audit sur la crédibilité des états financiers après le rapport Bouton de 2002. Les résultats empiriques s’attachent à montrer que la présence d’un co-commissaire aux comptes Non-Big a minimisé l’effet négatif de la réaction du marché financier français lors de l’annonce du scandale Enron. Par contre, le scandale Enron n’a pas influencé significativement la perception des investisseurs institutionnels étrangers envers les services des grands cabinets d’audit. Ces derniers n’ont pas justifié la production d’une bonne qualité d’audit par rapport aux Non-Big. Pour rétablir la confiance sur les marchés financiers, le législateur français est intervenu via la création d’un organisme de supervision publique de la profession comptable intitulé le H3C. Les résultats empiriques montrent que la création du H3C a renforcé l’indépendance des auditeurs. Par contre, l’annonce du lancement des activités disciplinaires de ce nouvel organisme après 2005 n’a pas d’effet significatif sur l’indépendance des auditeurs. Par contre l’apparition du rapport Bouton en 2002, et la nouvelle dimension accordée au contrôle interne, montre que ce dernier dépendant des caractéristiques des comités d’audit notamment l’expertise et l’indépendance de leurs membres. / At the end of 2001, the scandal series was announced in the US context. Several scandals, especially the Eron failure, were revealed in the first stage by the media. The main purpose of this research is to study the impact of the new reform, in audit after Enron scandal, on auditor independence, audit comity and financial statement credibility. Three operational objectives have been treated in this study. First, we have analyzed the effects of Enron scandal on financial market reaction, auditor choice and auditor conservatism in the French context. Second, we have investigated the impact of the new reform on the auditor independence. Finally, we have examined the effect of audit committee on financial statement credibility after the adoption of the Bouton Report in 2002.The empirical results have shown that the presence of the Non-Big4 members in the legal audit process have minimized the negative effect of the reaction of the SBF 250. However, the perception of the foreign institutional investors has not changed significantly for the Big4 audit services. This auditor group (Big4) does not justify the production of the audit quality compared to other auditors in France. To restore confidence in the financial market, the French legislative authority has created the H3C. The empirical results have revealed that the establishment of the H3C has ameliorated the auditor independence. Hence, the announcement of the launch of H3C disciplinary activity after 2005 has not had a significant effect on auditor independence. In contrast, the appearance of the Bouton Report in 2002 and the reform related to the internal control depend on the audit committee characteristics (expertise and independence audit committee members).

O propósito deste estudo é investigar os potenciais determinantes da qualidade das auditorias no Brasil. Seus determinantes foram definidos a partir da abordagem teórica oferecida pelo modelo de Arruñada (1997), expandido na dimensão de competência profissional dos auditores. Adicionalmente, no sentido de se testar, empiricamente, os determinantes da qualidade das auditorias realizadas nas empresas listadas na Bovespa no período de 1998 a 2008, um construto inédito (o Índice de Qualidade das Auditorias IQUA) foi desenvolvido. Os resultados alcançados sugeriram que a qualidade das auditorias é inferior quanto maior o conflito de agência entre controladores e não controladores e quanto maior o tempo de relacionamento contínuo entre o auditor e a entidade auditada. Adicionalmente, as evidências empíricas coletadas indicaram que as firmas de auditoria chamadas de Big-N, bem como os auditores especialistas nos segmentos de indústria de seus clientes, oferecem serviços de maior qualidade. / The aim of this research is to investigate the potential determinants of audit quality in Brazil. Such determinants were defined by using the theoretical perspective of Arruñadas (1997) model, expanded in the dimension of auditors professional competence. Furthermore, in order to empirically test the determinants of audit quality for Brazilian listed companies between 1998 and 2008, an original construct (Audit Quality Index IQUA) has been developed. Results from such tests suggest that audit quality is lower when agency conflicts between controlling and non-controlling shareholders are higher and when auditors tenure is higher. Moreover, evidence obtained from empirical testing indicated that the so-called Big-N audit firms, as well as specialized auditors, offer higher quality audit services to their clients.