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

Bakgrund: Revisorn har till uppgift att kvalitetssäkra sitt klientföretags redovisning, vilket ger en ökad pålitlighet för allmänheten. Att revisorn har en relation till sitt klientföretag som präglas av förtroende har visat sig vara viktigt för att få ut nödvändig information och kunna utföra revisionen på ett korrekt sätt, men samtidigt har revisorn krav på sig om att vara helt oberoende mot företaget de reviderar. De står inför påtryckningar från allmänheten om mer öppenhet och information om företaget, vilket kan ställas i relation till dess tystnadsplikt. Utifrån dessa dilemman har vi genomfört vår studie, där vi undersöka kommunikationen och relationen mellan revisorn och klientföretaget. Syfte: Att bidra till kunskap om den kommunikation som sker mellan revisor och företagsledning och deras uppfattningar kring det. Metod: För att genomföra vår studie har vi använt en deduktiv ansats där vi utgått från befintlig teori som sedan legat till grund för vår empiriska studie. Vi har genomfört intervjuer med revisorer och representanter från företagsledningar, och materialet härifrån har vi sedan analyserat för att få fram vårt resultat. Resultat: Det som både revisorer och representanter för företagsledningarna anser vara mest centralt för att bygga förtroende, är revisorns oberoende, tystnadsplikt och kompetens. Studien har också visat att revisionsberättelsen, som är revisorns kommunikation ut till allmänheten, till stor del förlorar sin nytta om den till största del består av standardtext, vilket gör att revisorn inte alltid uppfyller allmänhetens förväntningar. I relationen mellan revisor och företagsledning, upplevs ingen misstro mellan parterna, vilket blir en positiv effekt av det uppbyggda förtroendet. / Background: The auditor is responsible for quality assurance of his client company's accounts, which gives increased public confidence. That the auditor has a relationship with his client which is based on trust has proven to be important in order to obtain the necessary information and to be able to perform the audit properly, but at the same time the auditor is required to be completely independent of the company they are auditing. They are faced with pressure from the public regarding more transparency and information about the company, which may be in conflict to its confidentiality. Based on these dilemmas, we have conducted our study, examining the communication and relationship between the auditor and the client company. Purpose: To contribute knowledge about the communication between auditor and the top management team and their perceptions about it. Method: In order to complete our study, we have used a deductive approach, based on existing theory which has been the foundation of our empirical study. Conclusions: What both auditors and representatives of the top management teams consider to be most central to building trust are the independence of the auditor, confidentiality and competence. The study has also shown that the audit report, which is the auditor's communication to the public, largely loses its usefulness if it consists mostly of standard text, which means that the auditor does not always meet the public's expectations. In the relationship between the auditor and management, no mistrust is experienced between the parties, which will be a positive effect of the build-up of confidence.

Independence Standards Board har identifierat revisorernas nära relation med klienten som ett av fem hot mot revisorns oberoende. Dock är en ingående kännedom om klienten nödvändig för att revisorn ska förstå klienten tillräckligt bra och för att kunna planera och genomföra en effektiv revision. Oavsett hur relationen mellan klienten och revisorn ser ut, uppstår situationer då parternas rapporteringsmål är väsentligt olika vilket kan försätta parterna i en situation där de tvingas förhandla med varandra. Dessa förhandlingar är en ständigt pågående process och har en stor genomslagskraft i revisionen. Vid förhandlingar blir relationen mellanrevisorn och klienten ett bekymmer eftersom revisorn riskerar att identifiera sig med sin klient och därmed bli mer benägen att kompromissa om klienternas redovisnings- och rapporteringsval. Revisorer som identifierar sig närmare sin profession är dock mindre benägna att kompromissa och ge efter för klientens önskemål. Då det saknas forskning gällande hur revisorers val av förhandlingsstrategi påverkas av revisorns identifikation med klienten eller professionen är syftet med studien att undersöka om identifikation med klienten respektive identifikation med professionen ger upphov till olika förhandlingsstrategier samt om erfarenhet av revision påverkar valet av strategi. Vidare är syftet att studera vilka av de givna förhandlingsstrategierna svenska revisorer använder när det råder meningsskiljaktigheter med klienterna. För att besvara studiens syfte skickades enkäter ut till totalt 3772 svenska kvalificerade revisorer varav 233 besvarade vår enkät. Enkäten innehöll frågor om professionen, klienten, förhandlingsstrategier samt bakgrundinformation om respondenten. Dessa utgjorde tillsammans basen för studiens analys och slutsats. Resultatet pekar på att revisorer generellt sett är neutrala till identifikation med klienten och professionen. Vidare kan vi se att den stridande strategin är den strategi som främst användsav revisorer och att den medgivande strategin används minst. Utifrån resultatet påvisas attrevisorer som identifierar sig med klienten är mer benägna att använda en medgivande och kompromissande strategi, samtidigt som identifikation med professionen innebär att revisorerna väljer att anta strategin utöka agendan för frågor. Utifrån resultatet kan vi dra slutsatsen att det finns en svag påverkan på valet av förhandlingsstrategi när revisorerna identifierar sig med antingen klienten eller professionen, samt att erfarenheten inte alls påverkar vilken förhandlingsstrategi revisorer använder sig av. Den låga svarsfrekvensen på 6,2 procent innebär dock att resultaten måste tolkas med försiktighet. / Independence Standards Board has identified the close relationship between auditors’ and their clients’ as one of five threats to auditor independence. However, knowledge about the client is necessary for the auditor in order to understand the client well enough and in order toperform an effective audit. Regardless of how the relationship between the client and the auditor looks, the parties will encounter situations when their reporting objectives are significantly different, which may force them to negotiate with each other. These negotiations are an ongoing process and have a great impact in auditing. The relationship between the auditor and the client is a concernduring negotiations because the auditor may identify with their client and therefore be more likely to compromise on clients' accounting choices. Auditors who identify themselves closer to their profession however, are less likely to compromise and adapt to their client's wishes since there is no research on how auditors' choice of negotiation strategy is affected by theauditor's identification with the client or the profession, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether identification with the client and identification with the profession gives rise to different negotiation strategies and if the experience of auditing influences the choice of strategy. The study also aims to examine which of the given negotiation strategies Swedish auditors use when there is disagreement with the clients. To answer the study's aim a total of 3772 questionnaires were sent out to qualified auditors inSweden and we received 233 responses. The questionnaires contained questions about theprofession, the client, negotiating strategies, and background information of the auditor. These questions formed the base of the study's analysis and conclusion. The results indicate that auditors are generally neutral to identification with the client and the profession. Further, we can see that the contending strategy was the strategy mostly used by auditors and that the conceding strategy was the strategy that was used the least. Based on the results it shows that the auditors who identify with the client is more likely to use a conceding and compromising approach, while identification with the profession meant that the auditors chose to adopt the strategy to expand the agenda of issues. Auditors experience proved not to be an explanation for the use of any of the specific strategies. Based on the results, we can conclude that there is a weak influence on the choice of negotiation strategy when the auditors identify with either the client or the profession, and that experience did not affect the negotiation strategy the auditors used. The low response rate of 6.2 percent means that the results must be interpreted with cautiousness.

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

Revisorernas oberoende har under de senaste två decennierna varit ett mycket kontroversiellt ämne till följd av de skandaler som inträffade i USA i början av millenniet. Den välkända Enronskandalen väckte mycket uppmärksamhet vilket resulterade i att många intressenter har blivit skeptiska mot revisorns oberoende och tappade förtroendet för revisorerna. Det är nämligen mycket viktigt för revisionsbranschen att inge förtroende för sitt arbete, om allmänheten ska kunna förlita sig på den information som framgår av revisionsberättelsen. I syfte att säkerställa revisorns oberoende gentemot sina klienter infördes analysmodellen i Sverige den första januari 2002. Modellen bygger på att en revisor, inför varje granskningsuppdrag, ska pröva om det föreligger sådana omständigheter som kan rubba dennes oberoende. Under samma år antogs även EU-rekommendationen 2002/590/EG i syfte att behandla frågor avseende oberoende problematiken inom EU. Rekommendationen 2002/590/EG föreslår revisorsrotation, d.v.s. att påskrivande revisorer ska bytas ut efter två genomförda mandatperioder på sammanlagt sju år. Syftet med uppsatsen är att bilda en djupgående uppfattning om revisorn oberoende och huruvida rotationsregler kan främja oberoendet samt under vilka förutsättningar de kan tillämpas. För att besvara studiens forskningsfrågor tillämpades kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem revisorer från region syd i Sverige. Resultaten visar att en revisor ska agera med objektivitet, självständighet och opartiskhet i syfte att bevara sin oberoende ställning. Studien påvisar att rotationsregler tillämpas främst i de klientföretagen av allmänt intresse. / The independence of auditors has been a very controversial topic for the past two decades because of the scandals that occurred in the United States at the beginning of the millennium. The Enron scandal attracted a lot of attention, which resulted in many stakeholders becoming skeptical of the auditor's independence and losing confidence in them. It is important for the auditing industry to instill confidence in their work, so that the public can rely on the information that appears in the audit report. In order to ensure the auditor's independence, the so-called “analysmodellen” was introduced in Sweden on the first of January 2002. The model is based on an auditor, prior to each audit assignment, examining whether there are circumstances that could upset his independence. During the same year, Commission Recommendation 2002/590/EC was also adopted to address issues relating to the issue of independence within the EU. The recommendation proposes auditor rotation, i.e. endorsing auditors to be replaced after two completed terms of office of a total of seven years. The purpose of this thesis is to form an in-depth view of the auditor's independence, whether rotation rules can promote independence and the conditions under which it can be applied. To answer the research questions, qualitative semi-structured interviews were applied with five auditors in the Southern Region of Sweden. The results show that an auditor must act objectively and impartially in order to maintain his independence. The rotation rules are mainly applied in the companies of public interest.

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.:I. Audit services, non-audit services, and audit firm tenure – three perspectives on audit quality … 1 II. Abnormal audit fees and audit quality in German audit market: initial evidence on association of audit fee premiums and audit fee discounts with earnings management … 13 III. Effects of initial audit fee discounts on audit quality: evidence from Germany … 32 IV. Non-audit services and audit quality: blessing or curse? … 60 V. Relationship of auditor tenure to audit quality: empirical evidence from the German audit market … 89

Bakgrund: I slutet av 2019 upptäcktes coronaviruset vilket föranledde den pandemi vi befinner oss i än idag. Tidigare studier visar på att en kris likt coronapandemin kan innebära förändringar hos revisorers oberoende. Olika företagsskandaler och andra kriser har inneburit att revisionslagar och regler kopplade till revisorers oberoende fått genomgå förändringar. Många tidigare studier belyser en ökad press hos revisorerna i samband med kriser likt coronapandemin. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att utreda hur revisorers oberoende har blivit påverkat av coronapandemin och om pandemin lett till en påverkan på revisorernas förmåga att följa principer och lagar. Metod: Vid datainsamlingen i studien har kvalitativ metod använts. Studien gjordes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med auktoriserade och erfarna revisorer. Urvalet bestod av revisorer med lång erfarenhet vilket innebar att de arbetat med revision både innan och under coronapandemin. Resultat och slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på att revisorers oberoende har varit opåverkat under coronapandemin men att andra faktorer under revisionen har påverkats. Faktorer så som arbetssättet och att fler uppgifter tillkommit. I empirin framkom det att de intervjuade revisorerna ändå har upplevt en ökad press bland annat i bedömningen om företags fortsatta drift. Många företag har haft det tufft i coronapandemin vilket har lett till att revisorer fått medverka i en del obekväma diskussioner med klienter men enligt revisorerna har det ändå inte påverkat deras oberoendeställning. Det framkom också att revisorerna inte såg en ökad risk för vänskapshot när revision sker på distans. Slutligen har revisorerna fått i uppdrag att granska olika stödåtgärder under pandemin. Dessa granskningsåtgärder kan anses gynna revisionens roll som ett legitimitetsstärkande verktyg för företag. / Background: The COVID-19 virus was first observed in late 2019. This virus has set the stage for the pandemic situation we still are living in today. Earlier studies show that a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic may result in changes in auditor independence. Different business scandals as well as other crises has resulted in changes in auditing laws and regulations connected to auditor independence. Several studies also express an increasing pressure for auditors during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine how auditor independence has been affected due to COVID-19 and if the pandemic situation has resulted in an effect on the auditors’ ability to follow auditing laws and regulations. Method: In order to collect data a qualitative method has been used. The study used semi-structured interviews with authorized and well-experienced auditors. The sample consisted of experienced auditors who have worked in the field of auditing both before and during the pandemic. Result and conclusion: The result of the study shows that auditor independence has not been affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study does however show that other factors of the auditing has been affected. Factors such as changes in working methods and additional work tasks to be completed. In the empirical findings it was shown that the interviewed auditors had been experiencing an increased pressure in connection with their assessment of the companies’ going concern. Many companies have been experiencing a tough economic situation during the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to auditors having uncomfortable discussions with clients. However, according to the auditors interviewed the auditor independence have not been affected. Moreover, the empirical findings show that the auditors did not see an increased risk for familiarity threat when the auditing is held virtually. Lastly, the result of the study show that auditors have taken on the responsibility to revise different support measures during the pandemic. These revisions can be seen as a way of promoting the role of auditing as a tool for companies to achieve legitimacy.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att skapa en fördjupad förståelse för revisorsrotationens inverkan på revisionskvalitet utifrån ett klientperspektiv.  Metod: Studien bygger på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. För datainsamling genomfördes nio semistrukturerade intervjuer med ledamöter från styrelser och revisionsutskott i börsnoterade bolag.     Resultat och slutsats: Studien visar att revisionsklienterna upplever att revisorsrotation har en positiv inverkan på revisionskvaliteten. Vidare visar studien att revisorernas kompetens och revisorernas oberoende är de centrala delarna av revisionskvaliteten.      Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien ger en insyn i hur implementeringen av de obligatoriska rotationsreglerna påverkar revisionskvaliteten i praktiken. Till skillnad från tidigare forskning har den här studien fokuserat på hur revisorernas egna klienter upplever att revisionskvaliteten påverkas av revisorsrotation.     Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett förslag till fortsatt forskning är att gå djupare in på antalet rotationer som de svenska börsnoterade bolagen varit med om. Här kan framtida forskning studera antalet rotationer av bolagens påskrivande revisor, antal rotationer av revisionsteamet samt antalet rotationer av revisionsbyrå. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding of the impact of auditor   rotation on audit quality from a client perspective.       Method: The study is based on a qualitative research methodology. För data collection, nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of boards and audit committees of listed companies.     Results and conclusions: The study shows that audit clients perceive auditor rotation as having a positive positive impact on audit quality. Furthermore, the study shows that auditor competence and auditor independence are the key elements of audit quality.   Contribution of the thesis: The study provides an insight into how the implementation of the mandatory rotation rules affects audit quality in practice. In contrast to previous research, this study focuses on how auditors’ own clients perceive audit quality to be affected by auditor rotation.  Suggestion for future research: One suggestion for further research is to go deeper into the number of rotations that Swedish listed companies have experienced. Future research could study the number of rotations of the company’s signing auditor, the number of rotations of the audit team and the number of rotations of audit firms.

Thesis (LLM (Mercantile Law))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The worldwide increase of corporate failures on the scale of Enron and WorldCom has sparked a renewed international trend of corporate governance review. With the external company auditor blamed at least in part for many corporate failures, corporate governance reform also necessitates a review of the statutory regulation of the company auditor. In particular, the lack of auditor independence when auditing clients has been under the legislator’s spotlight. The problems associated with unregulated or poorly regulated auditors are well illustrated by the activities of auditing giant Arthur Andersen. In the US, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has been promulgated in reaction to corporate failures, imposing many new legislative restrictions on the auditor. The UK has a more tempered, selfregulatory approach. South Africa, following international trends with its recently promulgated Auditing Profession Act and Corporate Laws Amendment Act, has also greatly increased the regulation of auditor independence. The question is now whether these new restrictions in the wake of corporate failures have been the right approach with which to prevent future failures and to provide adequate protection to shareholders. Although the general legislative increase in auditor awareness is welcomed, the efficacy of several provisions in South African legislation can be questioned. Widespread reform has taken place in the appointment and remuneration of the auditor, which now has to be independently determined by the audit committee. In particular, South Africa’s new regulation of non-audit services, and the lack of refined regulation on compulsory auditor rotation as well as the cross-employment of auditors by clients, needs a critical discussion. It is submitted that the discretion of a well-regulated audit committee, combined with increased disclosure and transparency, should be enough to regulate most of the key aspects of auditor independence. Care should be taken to not overlegislate in haste to reform. South Africa needs a flexible and customised approach in this regard.

La thèse explore la question de l’efficacité des comités d’audit en France : les comités d’audit jouent-ils effectivement leur rôle ? La problématique de l’efficacité de ces comités dans le processus d’évaluation du gouvernement d’entreprise demeure importante dans le contexte français, où les textes (notamment les recommandations de la 8ème directive) restent très imprécis. Une première partie expose les critères d’efficacité et le fonctionnement général des comités d’audit à partir d’un état de la littérature et d’une étude empirique sur des données secondaires. Nous examinons de façon approfondie les principaux déterminants de la diligence d’un comité d’audit. Ce problème est examiné dans le cadre d’une relation d’agence et d’asymétrie d’information. Ainsi, notre étude dépasse le cadre de la simple existence d’un comité d’audit (purement formel), pour s’intéresser de plus près à la capacité de ces comités à protéger effectivement les intérêts des parties prenantes et ceci en renfonçant la qualité du contrôle interne et celle du processus de l’audit externe. / Corporate governance in France has developed considerably in recent years. The strengthening of governance procedures is illustrated by the creation of audit committees, which today exist in virtually all listed companies. However, the issue of the audit committee’s effectiveness in the corporate governance evaluation process remains significant in the French context, where the texts (particularly the recommendations of the 8th European Directive) continue to lack clarity. This thesis aims to contribute to our understanding of the “black box” of governance procedures by studying the way that the audit committee’s characteristics affect the extent of reporting on internal control and risk management procedures and on audit fees. It emphasizes that the mere existence of an audit committee is not sufficient; it also needs to be effective. To be effective it must have the necessary means (composition, diligence, and resources). This study therefore looks beyond the simple existence of the audit committee (purely formal) and focuses on attributes related to its composition, its diligence, and the diversity of its members in order to more closely examine the audit committee’s ability to protect stakeholder interests. To do this, we analyze 176 non-financial French listed companies during a period when establishing an audit committee was voluntary. The results obtained support previous works advocating that audit committees comply with best practice rules for expertise,independence, and diligence and be comprised of experienced and diverse members. Our results raise several questions on the scope of the transposition into French law of the 8th European Directive.