<p>The content of the audit report is often discussed. The aim of this paper is to explain the content in the audit reports and define similarities and differences among audit reports in Swedish listed companies. The analysis is based on data collected from 757 audit reports in Swedish listed companies between 2006 and 2008, it is 98.57 percent of the total population. </p><p>The study show that several reports deviate from the Swedish audit standards both in terms of form and content. Only a few reports contain extra information, not required by the Swedish Generally Accepted Audit Standards (GAAS). The audit report mainly deviate from the audit standard in terms length, audit firm used, audited company size and branch. We have found a number of variables that influence deviations from the audit standard; these are length of the report, extra information, language, presence of sub-headings, currency, audit firm, number of auditors, number of employees, net turnover, profit/loss, list on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and branch of the audited company.<strong> </strong></p><p>We believe deviations due to mistakes could easily be overcome by a greater awareness from the auditors’. In order to alert auditors about problematic parts the Swedish Institute of Authorized Public Accountants (FAR) need to pay more attention to the audit reports form and content issues.</p><p><strong>Key words: </strong>Audit report,<strong> </strong>Audit standard, Content of audit report, Form of audit report, Listed companies.</p> / <p>Revisionsberättelsens innehåll är omdiskuterat. Syftet med denna uppsats är att förklara innehållet i revisionsberättelser i Svenska börsnoterade bolag samt att definiera likheter och skillnader dem emellan. Analysen består av data insamlat från 757 revisionsberättelser i svenska börsnoterade bolag mellan 2006 och 2008, vilket motsvarar 98.57 procent av den totala populationen.</p><p>Studien visar att flera revisionsberättelser avviker från den Svenska revisionsstandarden (RS) både i förhållande till formalia och innehåll. Endast ett fåtal innehöll extra information som inte är obligatoriskt i förhållande till RS. Revisionsberättelserna skiljer sig främst åt i fråga om dokumentets längd, revisionsfirma, bolagsstorlek och bransch tillhörighet.    Vi har hittat flera variabler som påverkar avvikelser från RS, dessa är längd, förekomsten av extra information, språk, förekomst av underrubriker, valuta i årsredovisningen, revisionsfirma, antal revisorer, antal anställda, omsättning, vinst/förlust, lista på Stockholms börsen och bransch tillhörighet.</p><p>Vi tror att avvikelser beroende på misstag lätt kan korrigeras genom ökad medvetenhet av revisorerna. För att uppmärksamma revisorerna på problematiska delar borde bransch organisationen för revisorer (FAR) tydligare fokusera på revisionsberättelsens formalia och innehåll.</p><p><strong>Nyckelord:</strong> Revisionsberättelse, Revisionsberättelsens innehåll, Revisionsberättelsens formalia, Börsnoterade bolag.</p> / VG

The content of the audit report is often discussed. The aim of this paper is to explain the content in the audit reports and define similarities and differences among audit reports in Swedish listed companies. The analysis is based on data collected from 757 audit reports in Swedish listed companies between 2006 and 2008, it is 98.57 percent of the total population.  The study show that several reports deviate from the Swedish audit standards both in terms of form and content. Only a few reports contain extra information, not required by the Swedish Generally Accepted Audit Standards (GAAS). The audit report mainly deviate from the audit standard in terms length, audit firm used, audited company size and branch. We have found a number of variables that influence deviations from the audit standard; these are length of the report, extra information, language, presence of sub-headings, currency, audit firm, number of auditors, number of employees, net turnover, profit/loss, list on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and branch of the audited company. We believe deviations due to mistakes could easily be overcome by a greater awareness from the auditors’. In order to alert auditors about problematic parts the Swedish Institute of Authorized Public Accountants (FAR) need to pay more attention to the audit reports form and content issues. Key words: Audit report, Audit standard, Content of audit report, Form of audit report, Listed companies. / Revisionsberättelsens innehåll är omdiskuterat. Syftet med denna uppsats är att förklara innehållet i revisionsberättelser i Svenska börsnoterade bolag samt att definiera likheter och skillnader dem emellan. Analysen består av data insamlat från 757 revisionsberättelser i svenska börsnoterade bolag mellan 2006 och 2008, vilket motsvarar 98.57 procent av den totala populationen. Studien visar att flera revisionsberättelser avviker från den Svenska revisionsstandarden (RS) både i förhållande till formalia och innehåll. Endast ett fåtal innehöll extra information som inte är obligatoriskt i förhållande till RS. Revisionsberättelserna skiljer sig främst åt i fråga om dokumentets längd, revisionsfirma, bolagsstorlek och bransch tillhörighet.    Vi har hittat flera variabler som påverkar avvikelser från RS, dessa är längd, förekomsten av extra information, språk, förekomst av underrubriker, valuta i årsredovisningen, revisionsfirma, antal revisorer, antal anställda, omsättning, vinst/förlust, lista på Stockholms börsen och bransch tillhörighet. Vi tror att avvikelser beroende på misstag lätt kan korrigeras genom ökad medvetenhet av revisorerna. För att uppmärksamma revisorerna på problematiska delar borde bransch organisationen för revisorer (FAR) tydligare fokusera på revisionsberättelsens formalia och innehåll. Nyckelord: Revisionsberättelse, Revisionsberättelsens innehåll, Revisionsberättelsens formalia, Börsnoterade bolag. / VG

Standard setters recently proposed increasing audit disclosures and reporting. Two experiments examine the effects of auditor-provided disclosures on financial statement users’ perceptions of auditor independence, management credibility, reporting quality, materiality, and investment decisions. In the first experiment, I manipulate auditor agreement with management’s estimates and whether the estimates are incentive-consistent for management. I find that users view auditors as more (less) independent when they agree (disagree) with management, given an unqualified opinion. I also find that users are able to identify management bias using audit disclosures, and that the disclosures are value-relevant. In the second experiment, I provide users with either an explicit or implicit materiality disclosure and elicit users’ materiality judgments either before or after the disclosure. I find that users’ materiality judgments are closer to the auditor’s when elicited after an explicit materiality disclosure. Path analysis demonstrates that users’ materiality judgments affect subsequent investment and audit-related judgments but do not affect important decisions related to auditor liability and investment. The findings provide empirical support for the argument that additional audit disclosures would increase the transparency and value-relevance of the audit report.

I examine the spillover effects of the 2013 revision to the U.K. audit report standard, the International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 700 (UK and Ireland), from firms subject to the regulation (i.e., Premium companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)), to firms not subject to it (i.e., those listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the LSE). The new regulation requires increased disclosures in three areas: audit risks, materiality and the scope of the audit. I hypothesize that application of the new rules to regulated clients will result in changes in audit styles and auditor mindsets that would be transferred to other (non-regulated) clients. If so, such effect of the new regulation on audit outcomes – specifically improvement in audit quality - for regulated clients will spill over to non-regulated clients. Because I expect the auditor to be the conduit for the spillover, I examine the difference in changes in audit quality for two groups: (1) AIM clients in audit offices that audit both Premium and AIM clients and (2) AIM clients in audit offices that audit only AIM clients. The results show that AIM firms in the first group (i.e., AIM clients of audit offices that also have Premium clients) experience lower absolute discretionary accruals, reduced propensity to have small positive earnings, and are more likely to receive a modified opinion under the new regulation. However, there is no change in audit quality for the AIM client firms of audit offices with only non-regulated (AIM) clients. These results are consistent with audit quality benefits spilling over from regulated clients to AIM clients, brought about by auditor-level changes. Further analyses indicate that the audit quality spillovers are more prominent for AIM clients with greater audit complexity, AIM clients of large audit offices, and London audit offices. / Business Administration/Accounting

Tidsperioden mellan räkenskapsårets slut och datumet för påskriven revisionsberättelse benämns audit report lag (ARL). Anledningarna till att ARL uppstår har studerats i stor utsträckning, men de konkreta effekterna som uppstår till följd av ARL är mindre studerade. En tidigare studie om ARL:s samband med ökad risk för aktieprisfall på den kinesiska aktiemarknaden visade på ett positivt samband. På grund av detta samband finns ett intresse att studera om ett liknande samband existerar på den svenska aktiemarknaden. Syftet med studien är att förklara ett eventuellt samband mellan lång ARL och ökad risk för aktieprisfall på den svenska aktiemarknaden. Studien använder sig av en deduktiv ansats och en longitudinell forskningsdesign bestående av kvantitativ data för att försöka förklara ett eventuellt samband mellan lång ARL och en ökad risk för aktieprisfall. Datamaterialet bestod av sekundärdata. Studien finner inget samband mellan lång ARL och ökad risk för aktieprisfall på den svenska aktiemarknaden. Däremot visas svaga indikationer på att kort ARL leder till ökad risk för aktieprisfall på den svenska aktiemarknaden. Studien bidrar med utökad kunskap om sambanden mellan ARL och ökad risk för aktieprisfall. Vidare bidrar studien med kunskap för revisorer, bolagsledningar och investerare om vilka konsekvenser ARL kan ha på börsnoterade bolags aktiekurs. / The time period between the fiscal year end and the audit report date is termed audit report lag (ARL). The determinants of ARL have been frequently studied, however the practical consequences of ARL have not been studied to the same extent. A previous study about ARLs association with stock price crash risk on the Chinese stock market showed a positive association. This association made it interesting to study if a similar association exists on the Swedish stock market. The purpose of this study is to explain a possible association between long ARL and an increased stock price crash risk on the Swedish stock market. This study uses a deductive approach and a longitudinal research design consisting of quantitative data to explain a possible association between long ARL and an increased stock price crash risk. The data set consisted of secondary data. The study finds no association between long ARL and an increased stock price crash risk on the Swedish stock market. However, the study does find weak indications that short ARL leads to an increased stock price crash risk on the Swedish stock market. The study contributes with increased knowledge regarding associations between ARL and an increased stock price crash risk. Furthermore, the study contributes with knowledge for auditors, company management and investors of the consequences ARL can have on listed companies’ stock price.

Revisionsberättelsen är ett viktigt verktygför kommunikationen mellan revisorerna och in­tressenterna. Dagensrevisionsberättelse är väldigt standardiserad och i samtliga delar finns detförslag till exakta formuleringar. Enligt tidigare forskning finns det enintressekonflikt mellan intressenterna och revisorerna. Denna konflikt handlarom att intressenterna vill ut­vidga informationsinnehållet irevisionsberättelsen vilket revisorerna är kritiska till eftersom detta skulleinnebära mer ansvar och mer att stå till svars för. För att lösa denna konflikthar revisionsberättelsen debatterats flitigt och i en debatt diskuteras om mankan göra revisions­berättelsen intressantare genom att betygsätta företag iexempelvis intern kontroll och bolagsstyrning. Debatterna kringrevisionsberättelsen har också utmynnat i en ny revisionsberättelse som skallbörja användas från och med 1 januari 2011. Vårt syfte med denna studie är därför att utifrån revisorernas perspektivanalysera och beskriva revisorernas uppfattning om revis­ionsberättelsen ochdess formalisering samt om där finns en vilja bland revisorerna att utöka sittansvar genom fler uttalanden i revisionsberättelsen. Studien baseras på enempirisk under­sökning i form av sex kvalitativa intervjuer. En av dessaintervjuer är med studenter som är i slutet av sin högskoleutbildning inomrevision. Anledningen till att vi valt studenter som en av våra respondenter äratt vill analysera om deras uppfattningar skiljer sig från de övriga. Vårundersökning visar att revisorerna har synpunkter på hur innehållet ochstrukturen i revisions­berättelsen skall förbättras men samtliga anser attrevisionsberättelsen tillgodoser intressen­ternas behov. Formaliseringen avrevisionsberättelsen uppskattas av samtliga revisorer och de tycker att tydligariktlinjer är viktigt. Alla respondenter är dessutom villiga att ta mer ansvargenom fler uttalanden i revisionsberättelsen. Slutsatsen angående studenternaär att de har samma uppfattning som majoriteten av respondenterna. / The audit report is an important tool for the communication between auditors and stakehold­ers.  Today's audit report is very standardized andin all part there are exact proposals for the formulation.  According to previous research, there is aconflict of interest between stakehold­ers and auditors. The conflict is aboutthe stakeholders want more information in the audit report which the auditorsare critical towards, since it would mean more responsibility. To resolve theconflict the audit report has been debated a lot. One discussion is about howto make the audit report more interesting for the stakeholders. There is aproposal about rating the company on example internal control and corporategovernance. All the debates have also led to a “new audit report” and this auditreport shall be used from January 1st 2011Our purpose of this studyis therefore to analyze and describe the auditors’ opinion about the con­tentand structure of the audit report. We also want to investigate the auditors opinionabout the formalization of the audit report and if they are willing to increasetheir responsibility. The study is based on six qualitative interviews. One ofthese interviews is with students and the reason for this is to compare iftheir perception differ from the others. Our conclusions are that the auditorshave opinions how to improve the content and the structure of the audit report.All the auditors think that the audit report meet the stake­holders needs. Theformali­zation of the audit report is estimate by the auditors and all intervieweesagreed that the guidelines are important. The study also indicates that theauditors are willing to take more responsibility by more statements in theaudit report. The conclusion regarding the stu­dents is that they have the same opinion as the majority of the auditors interviewed.

Audited financial statements are the most substantial source of information concerning bank loan decisions, and investors mainly base their investment decisions on the financial statements in combination with the audit report. The financial crisis brought attention to the existing expectation gap between auditors and stakeholders. An attempt to narrow the gap has been done by IAASB. The new standards require auditors to provide additional information in the audit report. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the extended audit report is perceived by Swedish bank directors. The study has a quantitative research strategy with an experimental design. The experiment includes one control group and seven experimental groups, and the participating Swedish bank directors amounted up to 122. An ANCOVA is performed to test the research questions regarding the bank directors’ perceptions and decisions. The empirical findings and analysis reveal that the disclosure of the assurance level has a positive impact on bank directors’ confidence in the financial statements, perceived quality of the audit report, perceived value of the information the audit report contains, as well as the probability of granting a credit. The results also indicate a significance for key audit matters (KAM) regarding the perceived value of information, meaning that the disclosure of KAM improves bank directors’ perceptions of the informational value the audit report contains. The disclosure of the materiality level does not appear to have a significant impact on the extending of the audit report, implying that a disclosure of the applied materiality level may not be beneficial for bank directors’ perceptions and decisions.

A presente pesquisa objetiva analisar as teorias acerca do processo de auditoria e sua relação com a opinião expressa no relatório de auditoria. A associação estudada se diferencia de outros estudos no arcabouço teórico de auditoria, tanto no cenário nacional, quanto no cenário internacional, ao detectar a opinião esperada frente à qualidade da contabilidade da empresa e à qualidade vinculada à firma de auditoria, em métricas ex ante ao relatório da auditoria. O arcabouço teórico, base para esta pesquisa, é a teoria dos custos contratuais. O estudo detectou e explorou nos principais periódicos internacionais fatores determinantes a qualidade da auditoria ex ante, sendo detectado: (I) a reputação/competência do auditor, (II) a especialização do auditor, (III) o atraso na emissão do relatório de auditoria e (IV) o tamanho da firma de auditoria. O método estatístico identificado para averiguação e detecção do objetivo da pesquisa é a regressão logística binária. Procurando identificar anomalias do modelo, as técnicas de análise de clusters e análise multidimensional foram utilizadas para identificar possíveis relações entre os setores. As análises exploratórias demonstraram a separação dos setores em três clusters categorizados pelo acerto do modelo e, após, foram identificadas semelhanças dentre os setores nos grupos formados. O primeiro, dentre os clusters, possui mais setores e comportamento equivalente ao conjunto de empresas abertas brasileiras. Outro cluster, contendo companhias nos setores de Agro e Pesca, Química, Energia Elétrica, Mineração, Minerais não Metalúrgicos e Petróleo e Gás, possui particularidades à opinião do auditor independente, no comparativo à amostra. Neste grupo da amostra o modelo proposto não possui assertividade aos pareceres com modificação de opinião. O terceiro conjunto de setores é composto de empresas com alta quantidade de pareceres sem modificação de opinião, não havendo correlação à amostra estudada. A relação entre a qualidade da auditoria ex ante e a opinião do auditor independente também foi testada, a fim de se detectar os principais motivos de anomalia no modelo e a separação da amostra em subgrupos. Como resultado, identificou-se uma associação atemporal entre a opinião da auditoria e as métricas de qualidade da contabilidade e de qualidade da auditoria para as empresas abertas do Brasil. / The present research aims to analyze the theories of the audit process and its relation to the expressed opinion in the audit report. The studied association differs from other audit theoretical frameworks, both on the national and international scenarios, as detects the expected audit opinion against the quality of the entity accounting and the quality linked to the audit firm, in metrics ex ante to the audit report. The basis for this research is the theory of contract costs. The study discovered and explored in major international models determinants the quality of ex ante audit, being detected: (I) the reputation / auditor competence, (II) the specialization of the auditor, (III) the delay in the issuance of the audit report and (IV) the size of the audit firm. The statistical method identified for investigation and detection of the goal in the research is the binary logistic regression. Seeking to identify anomalies in the proposed model, the techniques of multidimensional analysis and cluster analysis were used to identify possible relationships between sectors. Exploratory analyzes showed the separation of sectors into three clusters categorized by accuracy of the proposed model and, after that, similarities were identified among the sectors in the formed groups. The first, between the clusters, has more sectors and has equivalent behavior to the group of Brazilian public-listed companies. Another cluster, including companies from different industries like Agro, Fishing, Chemical, Energy, Minerals not Metallurgical and oil and gas, hold particularities in the external audit opinion, in comparison to the sample. On this the group the proposed model does not hold assertiveness regarding reports with modified opinions. The third set of sectors comprises companies in which the audit reports without modified opinions, and has no correlation to the others. The relationship between ex ante audit quality and the auditor opinion was also tested, in order to detect the model unconformity and the segregation of the sample into subgroups. As a result, it was identified that there is association between the auditors\' opinion and the accounting quality metrics and quality regarding the public-listed companies in Brazil.

Background and problem discussion: In recent years, the auditing profession has attracted attention due to a number of scandals. A misunderstanding that stakeholders have in common is that they believe that a clean audit report is a guarantee of a company's survival. The stakeholders argue that the pure audit report must ensure that the company's accounts are correctly executed and do not contain material errors. Earlier research shows that creditors have too high expectations of the auditor's obligations and responsibilities in relation to the auditor's duties according to laws and standards. The high expectations can give rise to serious consequences on the financial market if it wants to be bad, which in turn can contribute to the confidence in the auditing profession deteriorating. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine whether creditors have higher expectations on the requirements that the auditors must meet and whether the audit report is still a topical document as a basis for today's credit decision. Methodology: This study is based on existing literature and partly through both quantitative and qualitative methods in the form of interviews and questionnaires. The survey aims to investigate whether there is an expectation gap. In the interviews with creditors, it is examined whether the audit report has a significant role in lending. Theoretical perspectives:The theoretical frame of reference consists of relevant laws and standards in the audit area. It also consists of literature regarding the expectation gap and the audit report's significance as well as the credit granting process. Empirical foundation: The empirical study consists of a questionnaire survey that was answered by various creditors from the four major banks in Sweden regarding the auditor's role and audit. The empire also consists of interviews with creditors regarding the significance of the audit report inlending process. Analysis and Conclusions: Based on the data obtained in this study, the analysis leads to the following conclusions: there is an expectation gap between creditors and auditors regarding the extent of the auditor ́s work and responsibilities. Furthermore, the study also shows that an audit report does have a significant role, but at the same time it has an ambiguous role in credit decisionmaking.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-09-12T13:23:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 André Gilioli.pdf: 1636807 bytes, checksum: d1bf9b7cc1090c8e3889d5fa1d5140fd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-12T13:23:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 André Gilioli.pdf: 1636807 bytes, checksum: d1bf9b7cc1090c8e3889d5fa1d5140fd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The current events and financial scandals happening in Brazil and in the world, have aroused greater interest in the independent auditor’s work results, which represents an important and fundamental role for the ever-evolving capital market; therefore, knowing how auditors and companies have developed and presented their audit reports is a way to measure this evolution, thus broadening the horizons of stakeholders even more. Knowing that, the goal of this study is to categorize and identify what are the types of audit reports and to verify which companies are the ones that most sign the reports published by the companies listed on the BM&FBovespa between 2011 and 2015. To reach the goals of this research, a population composed by each and every publicly traded company, with shares in the Stock Exchange in São Paulo, was selected. We used bibliographic research techniques, data collection, descriptive analysis and documental analysis technique, which allowed the verification and categorization of 2,386 audit reports. Among them, it was found that the Big Four (PWC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte) tend to issue more reports without remarks when compared to the Non-Big-Four, which total 97 audit firms, which leads to consider that clients Of Big Four companies support accounting conservatism and are less likely to have remarks in their reports / Os recentes acontecimentos e escândalos financeiros, ocorridos no Brasil e no mundo, têm despertado maior interesse em relação ao resultado do trabalho do auditor independente, o que representa um papel importante e fundamental para o mercado de capitais que evolui a cada ano; logo, conhecer como os auditores e as empresas têm desenvolvido e apresentado os seus relatórios de auditoria é uma forma de mensurar essa evolução, ampliando assim ainda mais os horizontes dos stakeholders. Diante do exposto, o objetivo deste estudo é categorizar e identificar quais são os tipos de relatórios de auditoria e verificar quais são as empresas que mais assinam os relatórios publicados pelas companhias listadas na BM&FBovespa, no período entre 2011 a 2015. Para alcançar os objetivos desta pesquisa, foi selecionada uma população composta por todas as companhias abertas, com ações negociadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo. Foi utilizado técnicas de pesquisas bibliográficas, levantamento de dados, análise descritiva e técnica de análise documental, que permitiram a verificação e a categorização de 2.386 relatórios de auditoria. Dentre eles, foi constatado que as Big Four (PWC, EY, KPMG e Deloitte) tendem a emitir mais relatórios sem ressalvas quando comparados com as Non-Big-Four, que totalizam 97 empresas de auditoria, o que leva a considerar que os clientes das empresas Big Four são mais conservadores contabilmente e com menor probabilidade de ressalvas em seus relatórios