Background: The development of society has contributed to increased uncertainty and risks in the financial market, which contributes to the need for the auditing profession. The profession of accountant has gone from being self-regulated to state-regulated. The reasons behind the increased regulation are several business scandals and the concern about the auditor's independence and audit quality increases.  Aim: The aim of the study is to find out what the bodies considering proposed legislation present for opinions on the proposed amendment to the law SOU 2015:49, new rules for auditors and auditing, in order to contribute to new ideas about regulation in auditing. Method: The study is a document study with qualitative elements, which is about regulation with referral SOU 2015:49 as a starting point. The data collection has taken place by contact with Justitiedepartementet, which has given us access to the comment-letters they received at referral SOU 2015:49. The population in this study consists of comment-letters from 39 different bodies considering proposed legislation and the material collected was processed using a qualitative text analysis. Results:The results of the study show that the bodies considering proposed legislation have divided opinions about regulation. The auditors are generally negative to regulation as they believe that it threatens their profession at the same time as stakeholders are positive to regulation at the auditor level. Furthermore, the bodies considering proposed legislation have a negative attitude towards regulation that means increased workload and costs as well as regulation at customer level. Conclusions: The study concludes that the majority of the bodies considering proposed legislation want regulation at an auditor level and one body considering proposed legislation is positive about regulation at the customer level. Despite regulation, the auditor's independence and audit quality are still discussed, which contributes to the fact that there are reasons for a change in the regulation philosophy. Key words: Regulation, Audit, Profession, Audit quality, EU audit package, SOU 2015:49

Bakgrund: Revisionens syfte är att genom en oberoende granskning minska den informationsasymmetri som finns mellan ägare och företagsledning. Nya regler angående bland annat innehållet i revisionsberättelsen trädde ikraft 2016 med syfte att bland annat minska det informationsgap som finns på marknaden. Vår studie har sin utgångspunkt i om mängden informationsasymmetri påverkar revisionskostnaden och om den nya lagändringens syfte uppnåtts.   Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara sambandet mellan informationsasymmetri och revisionskostnad i svenska börsbolag. En jämförelse görs även mellan år 2015 och 2016 för att se om de nya kraven på revisionsberättelsen har någon inverkan på informationsasymmetri och revisionskostnad samt sambandet dem emellan.   Metod: Studien har en deduktiv forskningsansats där agentteorin varit utgångspunkt för att härleda hypoteser. Urvalet i den kvantitativa forskningsmetoden har varit svenska bolag listade på small-, mid- och largecap åren 2015 och 2016.   Resultat: Studiens resultat har visat på att det det finns ett negativt samband mellan informationsasymmetri och revisionskostnad. Det kan också konstateras att den nya revisionsberättelsen inte bidragit med en minskad informationsasymmetri och inte heller en ökad revisionskostnad. / Background: The aim of audit is to independently review and reduce the information asymmetry that exists between the owners and management of the firm. A new law about the content of the audit report was implemented 2016 with the purpose of reducing the information gap on the market. Our study is based on whether or not the amount of information asymmetry affects the audit fee and if the purpose of the new law has been reached. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explain the relationship between information asymmetry and audit fee in Swedish companies listed on the stock exchange market. A comparison between the years of 2015 and 2016 is made to investigate if the new requirements on the audit report have any affection on the information asymmetry, audit fee and the relationship in between. Method: The study has a deductive research approach with the base of agency theory to deduce hypotheses. The sample in the quantitative research methodology consists of Swedish companies listed on small-, mid- and largecap 2015 and 2016. Conclusions: The result of the study concludes that there is a negative relationship between information asymmetry and audit fees. It can also be concluded that the new audit report does not contribute to a reduction of information asymmetry nor an increased audit fee.

Purpose - Previous studies suggest that regulatory changes result in an increased audit effort. Given a competitive market setting and audit price negotiation between the auditor and the auditee, it is unclear if an increased audit effort results in higher audit prices. The purpose of this study is to provide the reader with a deeper understanding concerning pricing of audit services. Moreover, we examine if the EU audit reform package, comprising of Directive 2014/56/EU and Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, has had an impact on audit prices. Method - This study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with public authorized accountants from Big 4-firms in order to gain a deeper insight in audit pricing and the EU audit reform. Results - The results in this study show that audit effort has increased as a result of the EU audit reform. In addition, this study provides some support that the increase in audit effort has resulted in higher audit prices. Conclusion - Our main conclusion in this study is that the EU audit reform has resulted in higher audit prices, despite indications that an increased audit effort does not necessarily result in higher audit prices. The main reason behind this uncertainty is due to factors such as the competitive market setting and price negotiation. / Syfte - Tidigare studier indikerar att regelverksförändringar resulterar i en ökad resursåtgång för revisorer. Givet att det råder konkurrens på revisionsmarknaden och att prisförhandlingar sker mellan revisorer och kunder, innebär det oklarheter om en ökad resursåtgång leder till en högre prissättning av revisionstjänster. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med en djupare förståelse kring prissättning av revisionstjänster. Vidare undersöker viom EU:s revisionspaket, bestående av Direktiv 2014/56/EU och Förordning (EU) Nr 537/2014, har haft en inverkan på prissättningen. Metod - Denna studie utfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med auktoriserade revisorer tillhörande Big 4-byråer, för att få en djupare insikt i prissättning av revisionstjänster samt EU:s revisionspaket. Resultat - Resultatet i denna studie visar att resursåtgången för revisorer har ökat som ett resultat av EU:s revisionspaket. Vidare ger denna studie ett visst stöd att ökningen i resursåtgång har lett till en ökad prissättning av revisionstjänster. Slutsats - Vår huvudsakliga slutsats i denna studie är att EU:s revisionspaket har resulterat i en högre prissättning av revisionstjänster, trots att en ökad resursåtgång inte entydigt leder till ökade revisionspriser. Anledningen till denna tvetydighet beror på osäkerhetsfaktorer såsom den konkurrensmässiga marknadssituationen och prisförhandling.