Background Trust is an important factor in many contexts, especially in inter firm relationships. Here, trust is essential in order to maintain the tenure of inter-organizational relationships. Auditors are in need of trust when it comes to accomplishing their audit tasks. Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate how experienced and newly appointed auditors create and maintain trustful relationships with their clients. The research will focus on how auditors with different levels of experience approach their clients when building trust. By taking the limited mandate period of the auditor into consideration, the study will adopt a further aspect which has not been researched upon before. This will provide auditors as well as other professionals with insight of how to establish and maintain trustful relationships. Method The research will be conducted from an interpretivist standpoint, as the human interest will be in focus. The research method of this study has a qualitative approach, where eight interviews were conducted with auditors who were from the all of the Big 4. The auditor possesses different levels of experience. The empirical findings will be analyzed based on the stages of trust development by Lewicki and Bunker. Conclusion Availability, knowledge, experience and being able to identify the client’s needs were factors that were considered to be important when building trust. Prior relationship building was a deviant strategy used the experienced auditors. The limited term of office was not considered to affect the level of dedication to build trustful relationship with the client, the findings suggested that it rather was a motivation for the auditor to implement trust building strategies in an early stage of the relationship.

Utbyte av information mellan revisor och kund sker i allt större grad genom digitala verktyg och med hjälp av digitala kommunikationsmetoder. Det innebär att revisionsprocessen blir mer automatiserad vilket resulterar i en minskning av fysiska möten mellan revisor och kund. I sin tur kan det leda till att relationen mellan parterna påverkas. Tidigare forskning har till stor del fokuserat på revisorns perspektiv när digitaliseringens påverkan på revisor-kundrelationen har studerats. Genom att även inkludera kundperspektivet i denna studie kan eventuella skillnader i uppfattningar mellan revisorer och kunder upptäckas. Vidare är digitaliseringen en ständig process där nya och mer utvecklade verktyg introduceras hela tiden. Således blir tidigare forskning snabbare irrelevant i jämförelse med en mindre föränderlig bransch.  Syftet med studien är att förklara hur digitaliseringen har påverkat relationen mellan revisor och kund ur ett revisors- och kundperspektiv. För att besvara syftet bygger studien på en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi där totalt åtta respondenter deltagit genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studiens resultat visar att fel kommunikationsmetod vid fel tillfälle kan leda till fler missförstånd och oklarheter, vilket i sin tur kan leda till minskat förtroende och en sämre relation. Således finns tecken på att när mer kommunikation mellan revisorn och kunden sker mer på distans, kan relationen mellan dem bli svårare att bygga upp. En konsekvens av att en bra relation inte finns kan bli att revisorn blir mer utbytbar vilket innebär ökad revisorsrotation. Samtidigt visar även resultatet att digitala verktyg och kommunikationsvägar kan leda till en mer relevant kommunikation vilket kan stärka förtroendet samt förbättra relationen. Revisorn kan genom att använda digitala hjälpmedel på rätt sätt skapa mervärde för kunden och därmed bygga en bättre relation. / Communication and exchange of information between auditor and client occur increasingly through digital tools and communication platforms. This means that the audit process becomes more automated which result in fewer physical meetings between auditor and client which could affect the relationship between the parties. Previous studies have mostly focused on how digitalisation might affect the relationship between auditor and client from an auditor-perspective. By also including the client-perspective in this study, we will be able to notice possible differences in perceptions between auditors and clients. Furthermore, digitalisation is an ongoing process where new and more developed tools available for auditors appear constantly. This means that previous studies will become irrelevant faster compared to a less changing industry.  The purpose of this study is to explain how digitalisation affects the relationship between auditor and client from an auditor- and client-perspective. In order to answer this purpose a qualitative approach have been adapted where a total of eight respondents have taken part through semi-structured interviews.  Findings show that more misunderstandings and uncertainties can occur if the wrong communicationmethod is used at the wrong time, which may damage the trust between the auditor and client and therefore also damage their relationship. Therefore, there are signs that when the communication is taken place on a distance to a greater extent, the relationship could become harder to develop. One consequence of a bad relationship could be that the auditor becomes more commutable which result in greater auditor-rotation. However, the findings also show that digital tools and ways of communicating can result in more relevant communication which could lead to a strengthened trust and better relationship. The auditor could therefore, by using the digital aids available in a way that creates value for the client, build a better relationship with them.

Abstract  Background & Problem: Risk assessment is a central part of the audit process. Previous audit failures have increased the importance further. Several suggested determinants of risk assessments have been explored within literature. However, literature has not up until now explored what reflection environmental uncertainty has on the risk assessment process. Due to the ongoing pandemic, COVID-19, the opportunity to explore the reflection of uncertainty has been made feasible.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how societal challenges reflect on auditors’ risk assessments of entities. The thesis is conducted using COVID-19 as an event signifying societal challenge.  Methodology: This thesis uses an exploratory and abductive research approach. With a qualitative strategy, empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with authorized auditors as participants.  Findings: Our findings conclude that the four aspects being firm, environment, individual, and audit client together form the risk assessment. In contrast to literature, the audit client aspect was argued as more important. Further, environmental uncertainty is reflected in risk assessments through these four aspects and can affect each aspect individually in various ways.  Future research: Since this study explores reflections of a crisis, while it is still present, we would find it interesting to examine its aftermath. In line with previous literature and our empirical findings, we foremost would suggest future researchers to explore the impact of a societal challenge on audit quality and whether differences are present concerning audit firm size.