Sammanfattning Titel: Klientidentifiering - En studie som utreder revisorns identifiering till sin klient Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Johan Hagström och Jonas Ljunggren Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2016 – Mars Syfte: I tidigare forskning gjord av Bauer (2015) ges en förklaring till varför revisorer inte är medvetna om att de identifierar sig med sina klienter, vilket kan vara ett hot mot oberoendet. Studien har genomförts kring ämnet klientidentifiering då det inte finns mycket forskning kring om revisorer är medvetna om att de identifierar sig med sina klienter. Det har inte tidigare genomförts en liknande studie som klargör vilka metoder som revisorer använder sig av för att utföra en revision för att förhindra att objektivitet försämras till följd av identifikation till sin klient. Studiens forskningsfrågor är:  Vet revisorerna när de identifierar sig för mycket med en klient?  Vilka metoder använder sig revisorerna av för att hantera den risk som uppstår vid klientidentifiering? Metod: Studien utgörs av tio kvalitativa intervjuer av så kallade Big four revisorer och utfördes i en semistrukturerad form. Intervjuerna spelades in, transkriberades och det empiriska materialet analyserades under olika teman i empiriavsnittet. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att klientidentifiering förbises av revisorer, vilket tidigare forskningen bekräftar (Bauer, 2015). Bauer (2015) påpekar i sin studie att revisorer inte vet om de identifierar sig med sin klient och hur det då kan uppstå en risk mot oberoendet, vilket är något som den här studien bekräftar, att revisorernas vetskap kring klientidentifiering är låg. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett förslag till fortsatt forskning inom ämnet är att studera klientidentifiering med fokus på mindre och enskilda revisionsbyråer. Är klientidentifiering mer påtaglig på mindre revisionsbyråer? Är revisionsbyråerna mer beroende av sina kunder? Vilka metoder används för att minska riskerna för beroende? Uppsatsens bidrag: Föreliggande studie lämnar viktiga bidrag till redovisningslitteratur, praktiker och lagstiftare genom:  att få revisorers förståelse för och medvetenhet om risker vid klientidentifiering.  att kartlägga eventuella metoder vid sociala konflikter i samband med klientidentifiering. / Abstract Title: Client Identification - A study that investigates the auditor's identification with their clients Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Johan Hagstrom and Jonas Ljunggren Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2016 – March Aim: Earlier research done by Bauer (2015) explains how auditors are unaware that they identify with their clients, which could be a threat to independence. This essay is about client identification and there is not much previous research to find on the subject. There is no similar study that clarifies which methods on accountant use to prevent objectivity impaired as a result of identification. The study's research questions are:  Do the auditors know when they identify too much with a client?  What methods do the auditors use to deal with the risk that occurs from client identification? Method: The study is based on 10 qualitative interviews with auditors who work in the Big four accounting firms. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and the empirical material was analyzed under different themes in the empirical section. Result & Conclusions: The study shows that client identification is ignored by auditors which previous research also states (Bauer, 2015). Bauer (2015) point out in his study that the auditors don´t know if they identify with their clients and how that could lead to a risk to its independence, which is something this study confirms, that the auditor’s knowledge about client identification is low. Suggestions for future research: A proposal for further research of the subject is to do a similar study of client identification, but with a focus on smaller and individual accounting firms. Is client identification more pronounced at smaller accounting firms? Is accounting firms more dependent on their customers? What methods are used to reduce the risk of addiction? Contribution of the thesis: This study makes an important contribution to the accounting literature, practitioners and legislators:  to get the auditor's understanding and awareness of the hazards of client identification.  to identify potential methods of social conflicts related to client identification

My original contribution to theory and practice formulates management consultancy as a social act evolving within interaction with clients whereby identity, as an emerging process, can form and be formed within consultant-client relationships. Drawing on Stacey's work on complex responsive process thinking, I have described a reflexive, social self, highlighting the implications for management consultants of this open-ended responsiveness of identity formation. Within the prevailing management literature there is a sense that consultants design interventions that change organisations, whether through working on leadership development, executive coaching, providing expertise or facilitating organisational change. As part of my original contribution I pick up on the emotional, relational and occasionally messy nature of consulting, which is frequently overlooked in the literature. My research into the emergence of intentions and the formation of identity within consultant-client relationships analyses my work as a researcher-practitioner working within large financial service organisations through a variety of consulting projects. The inquiry examines my professional practice, researched through a social, iterative and temporal method centring on reflexive, narrative inquiries. I illuminate the fundamental conversational nature of consultant-client relationships; challenging the view of consulting as a transaction whereby the consultant provides a service, withdrawing relatively unchanged. I postulate consulting as a series of conversations with interdependent people wherein emerging themes organise new ways of relating and novelty evolves. Drawing on Elias' process sociology I extrapolate the fundamental interdependence of consultant-client relationships; conceptualising management consulting from a complex responsive processes way of relating. I challenge the notion of intention as located in the individual; an independent, disembodied, thought before action predicated on an 'if-then' notion of causality, underpinned by an assumption of human beings as autonomous and rational. I develop the work of Joas arguing that intentions are emerging, social and embodied; a theme organising conversations. In particular I detail how strong emotions and embodiment occur in those arresting moments, where experiences of inclusion and exclusion, can alert the consultant to new ways of relating. My inquiry has highlighted the significance for management consultants of realising the fundamentally social nature of human interaction and the importance of responsiveness in the living present. With reference to Mead's view of conversation as a pattern of gesture/ response I highlight the consultant-client relationship as co-created and therefore not to be ordered by the consultant who can, nevertheless, pick up on and influence new patterns of relating as they evolve.