Regulations, digitalisation, and other megatrends influence many parts of society, not least the audit profession, and it is essential for the profession as well as the role of the auditor, to adapt to the changes and new requirements. It is inevitable for audit firms not to be exposed to digitalisation, and the Big Four (audit firms) are changing their identities. They are investing large amounts in data analytics and artificial intelligence. This study aims to analyse the auditor's perception of their role. This study builds on previous knowledge regarding e.g., digitalisation and auditing; however, previous research tends to have earlier periods in focus, and research on digitalisation and auditing is still limited and does not usually have the auditor's perception in focus. Therefore, this study contributes to the prevailing research by studying the effects of social changes on the auditor's perception of their role. A qualitative approach was used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with auditors from PwC with at least ten years of experience in the profession. The results indicate, among other things, that social changes such as regulations, digitalisation and market expectations drive change within the profession. It further points to the fact that social changes affect the auditor's work, leading to a shift in the auditor's perception of their role towards it becoming standardised.

Digitaliseringen betraktas som en transformerande kraft i samhället med en betydande inverkan på revisionsbranschen. Revisionsarbetet utvecklas alltmer till att ske digitalt. Tidigare forskning har framhållit att revisorernas kompetensbehov har förändrats på grund av den tekniska utvecklingen. Revisionen har fungerat som en kontrollerande insats som säkerställer att den finansiella informationen är tillförlitlig. Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen på hur digitaliseringen har förändrat revisorns arbetssätt. För att besvara syftet har studien använt en kvalitativ metod där åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med auktoriserade revisorer utfördes, från både mindre och större revisionsbyråer. Den teoretiska referensramen och empirin följer en struktur av revisionsprocess, digitalisering och kompetensbehov. Resultaten visar att digitaliseringen har haft en positiv inverkan på branschen och att effektivitet är en av dess främsta fördelar. Respondenterna upplever att digitaliseringen har förbättrat revisionsprocessen då arbetsutförandet har effektiviserats genom den ökade användningen av digitala verktyg. Vidare visar studien att det finns positiva konsekvenser av digitaliseringen inom revision. I enlighet med detta hävdar revisorerna i denna studie att digitala verktyg enbart bör betraktas som hjälpmedel vid revision. Respondenterna efterfrågar även att International Standards on Auditing, ISA, uppdateras för att bättre anpassas till den digitala utvecklingen, utan att hämma företagets förmåga att implementera nya tekniker. Slutsatsen av studien visar på möjligheter till att en ökad användning av digitalisering i revisionsprocessen kan leda till förbättrad revisionskvalité. / The process of digital transformations is regarded as game-changing power in the community, affecting the audit sector considerably. Digitalization is rapidly transforming the nature of audit work. Prior studies have emphasized that technological advancements have altered the competencies required of auditors. The primary function of the audit is to guarantee the credibility of financial data. The audit sector is one among others that is continually evolving in response to digitalization. The aim of the study is to enhance the comprehension of how the process of digitalization has transformed the approach of auditors towards their work. To achieve this aim, a qualitative method was used, in which eight certified auditors were interviewed through semi-structured means, from both smaller and larger audit organizations. The theoretical framework and empirical data follow a structure of audit process, digitalization, and competence needs. The analysis is grounded on the participants’ responses and relevant theory. The results indicate that the digitalization has yielded favorable outcomes for the industry, with enhanced efficiency being a significant benefit, and the respondents opine that the audit process has been enhanced by the adoption of digital technologies, leading to a more streamlined work execution.  Nonetheless, the study indicates that digitalization in auditing has both advantageous and disadvantageous outcomes. The auditors opine that drawbacks of digitalization can be remedied by implementing conventional audit techniques. Therefore, the auditors participating in this study contend that digital instruments must only be deemed as auxiliary aids to auditing. The participants additionally urge for the modernization of International Standards on Auditing, ISA, to effectively accommodate digital advancements, while not hampering the organization's capacity to implement new technologies. The conclusion of the study reveals that a higher utilization of digitalization during the audit process, can lead to improved audit quality.

During the recent year of 2023 Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been a major talking point and subject matter where the question is how AI implementation in certain areas can affect the current society. Whilst many jobs and industries already have experienced major changes and digital advancements, auditing have not changed as much in the recent time. Auditing is seen as an important role in society ensuring that companies and other entities follows laws and regulations when conducting business. With the possible implementation of AI in auditing the question is how it will affect the legitimacy of the audit and the audit process. The purpose of this study aims to explore from the auditor’s viewpoint how AI might affect auditing in the near time and future. To get a better understanding and identify the areas and factors in auditing that might be changed and affected the most. The study used a qualitative method and interviewed auditors working at different audit firms in Sweden. Where the auditors where asked questions of which their own thoughts and viewpoints surfaced. When conducting this study, on one hand it became clear that AI in auditing is seen as positive thing, where the participants acknowledged the analytical capabilities of AI and how it can make the auditing process more effective and precise at the same time. Leading to the possible change in audit classifications and the replacements of certain work tasks in the future. Auditors of the study also exhibited a certain level of distrust towards AI currently, even though they see it as a possible addition to the field in the near future.  The result of this study derived from the interviews is the findings of four themes where AI implementation affects auditing and its legitimacy. These themes are Scoping, Laws and Regulation, Competencies and Distrust. The findings of this study can contribute to better understand the factors and areas affected if AI implementation in auditing is conducted and how the legitimacy of the audit is affected.

The primary goal of this study is firstly to analyse the Fraud Prevention Policy and Strategy, the Policy on Protection of Whistle-Blowers, and the Policy Document on Forensic Audit Process of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in order to establish the reason for the ongoing spate of fraudulent and corrupt activities among employees within the DTI Head Office, regardless of the relevant policies put in place. Secondly, another goal is also to establish other reasons that could be linked to the reoccurrence of fraudulent and corrupt activities within the DTI. During the research survey questionnaires were administered to employees of the DTI. Furthermore, online interviews were conducted with a purposively selected sample within two divisions of the DTI. In addition, a literature study was conducted to acquire relevant information and perspectives from available national and international literature. Various objectives were fulfilled in this study as follows:  It was established whether the reporting of internal or external fraud and corruption and the relevant policies put in place contribute in any manner to the prevention of fraudulent and corrupt activities at the Department of Trade and Industry's national office.  It was determined if there is a policy document on measuring these policies after they have been implemented.  It was determined how the Department of Trade and Industry's national head office addresses fraud and corruption. Other possible reasons for the Department of Trade and Industry employees' lack of reporting fraud and corruption in their departments, other than the fear of being victimised, were identified.  The views and opinions on the internal reporting of fraud and corruption were determined.  The degree of awareness of the investigative procedures related to fraud and corruption among the Department of Trade and Industry management and their employees were determined.  It was established if employees have faith in the Department of Trade and Industry's investigative procedures to fraud and corruption.  The extent of knowledge on the importance of reporting fraudulent and corrupt activities in the DTI were established.  Feedback to help minimise fraud and corruption within the Department of Trade and Industry and improve future strategies was provided. This study contributes to the knowledge base with regard to fraud and corruption within the Department of Trade and Industry. / Criminology and Security Science / M. Tech (Policing)

Audit is a bilateral task where the auditors are required to socially interact with their clients during the audit process. The auditor and client may encounter different expectations that could lead to challenges in their social interaction. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the challenges in the social interaction between the auditor and client during the audit process. Prior literature has applied versions of agency that are implicitly based on classic contract law and virtually ignored clients as a research object. The original value of this study lies in the adoption of the dramaturgical analysis into the context of audit. This study employs a qualitative research method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven real auditor-client dyads in Scania, Sweden. The findings suggest that clients are fixated on the price tag of an audit and do not consider the person delivering the audit service. This puts the auditor and client at risk as the findings suggest that the social interaction is important whereby a similarity attraction in sociodemographic space facilities the social interaction. Asset evaluations can create challenges in the social interaction which are solved with residual control stemming from ownership as well as social status. The seven auditor-client dyads in this study deals with their own unique challenges that resulted in seven prototypes. This study fills in a gap in the literature by interviewing and analyzing the auditors’ respective client expectations on one another. To fulfil each other’s diverse expectations, both must embody different roles.

Diskussionerna om ”granskning” av miljö- och hållbarhetsredovisningar har i Sverige funnits sedan mitten av 1990-talet. Specialistrevisorn Lars-Olle Larsson menar att efterfrågan ökar angående bestyrkta hållbarhetsredovisningar. Detta på grund av de ökade kraven från organisationer som Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Förenta Nationerna (FN) och Amnesty International. Med andra ord har uppmärksamheten riktas mot såväl företagens samhällsansvar som den enskilda revisorn och revisorsprofessionen. Det finns en pågående forskningsdebatt som grundar sig på struktur kontra bedömning i revisionsprocessen. Vi har valt att använda denna debatt som utgångspunkt i vår uppsats. Eftersom standarder och riktlinjer är en del av en strukturerad arbetsprocess har vi valt att se närmare på vilken påverkan dessa har på revisorns subjektiva bedömningar. Vårt huvudsyfte är att skapa förståelse för hur revisorer uppfattar att deras bedömningar på olika sätt kan påverkas av de olika regler, riktlinjer och standarder som de följer i deras arbete med granskning av hållbarhetsredovisningar. Vi har valt att tillämpa en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi för att få en djupare förståelse av forskningsämnet. Fokus i arbetet kommer att ligga på revisorns subjektiva bedömningar, då subjektivitet är svårt att kvantifiera lämpar sig en kvalitativ ansats bättre för vårt ändamål. Som datainsamlingsmetod har vi valt att göra intervjuer med respondenter som specialiserat sig inom området hållbarhetsredovisning.  Eftersom våra respondenter har sitt säte i Stockholm fanns ingen möjlighet att utföra personliga "face-to-face" intervjuer, därför har vi utfört telefonintervjuer. Det empiriska materialet tyder på att även om våra respondenter söker en hög grad av struktur i deras arbete med hållbarhetsredovisning så är det för att uppnå en känsla av komfort och inte för att utesluta de egna subjektiva bedömningarna. Struktur underlättar helt klart granskningsarbetet och förbättrar kvaliteten på hållbarhetsredovisningen men det går inte att bortse från att de subjektiva bedömningarna ligger till grund för revisorers arbete. / In Sweden, discussions concerning "audit" of environmental and sustainability reports have existed since the mid-1990s. Specialist Auditor Lars-Olle Larsson believes that demand for certified sustainability reports will increase as the demands of organizations such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), United Nations (UN), and Amnesty International intensify. In other words, attention has been directed at both the social responsibility of the corporations as well as the individual auditor and the auditor profession. There is a current research debate based on structure and judgement. This debate will be the starting point of our paper. As standards and guidelines are part of a structured work process, we have chosen to look closely at their influence on the auditor's subjective judgement. Our main objective is to create an understanding of how auditors perceive that their judgements can be affected in a variety of ways by regulations, guidelines, and standards used in auditing sustainability reports. To gain a deeper understanding of the research topic, we have chosen to apply a qualitative research approach. Our focus will be the auditor's subjective judgements, and as subjectivity is difficult to quantify, a qualitative approach better suits our purpose. Our method of collecting data will be by conducting phone interviews with respondents based in Stockholm who specialize in sustainability. The empirical material suggests that even if our respondents aim for a high degree of structure in their work with sustainability reports, it is to achieve a sense of comfort as opposed to exclude their own subjective judgements. Structure facilitates inspection, and improves the quality of sustainability reports, but the fact that subjective judgement is underlying the auditors' work cannot be ignored.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuota valstybinio finansinio audito esmė ir įgyvendinimo metodai, ištirtos valstybinio finansinio audito ataskaitos ir pateikti siūlymai kaip pagerinti finansinio audito efektyvumą. Pirmoje darbo dalyje teoriniu aspektu nagrinėjama valstybinio finansinio audito samprata, tikslai, uždaviniai, teisinis reglamentavimas, atskleidžiama audito reikšmė ir būtinumas, jo įtaka viešųjų finansų valdymui. Antroje dalyje nagrinėjami valstybinio finansinio audito įgyvendinimo metodai, audito subjektai, aiškinamasi audito ataskaitų reikšmė. Trečioje darbo dalyje pateikta atlikto tyrimo metodika, nagrinėjamos valstybinio finansinio audito ataskaitos ir daromos išvados. / Master‘s thesis analyses the essence of state financial audit and implementation methods, explore the state financial audit reports and provides suggestions how to improve the efficienty of the financial audit. The first part of the thesis analyses the theoretical aspects of public financial audit concept, objectives, targets and legal regulation. The audit disclose the significance and necessity of its impact on public finance management. The second part explains the state financial audit methods of explementation, audit entities, value of audit reports. The third part describes the methodology of the research, analyses the state financial audit reports and conclusions are drawn.

Abstract Purpose: The primary goal of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of how big data affect professional judgment, audit efficiency, and perceived audit quality. It also aims to explore the effect of Big Data Analytics (BDA) on the skills and competence required by auditors to perform an audit in a big data environment. Theoretical perspectives: Theoretical concepts base on previous research and publications by practitioners and regulators on BDA, professional judgment, audit efficiency, and audit quality. Literature was used to derive the research gap and research questions. Methodology: A qualitative method base exploratory approach. A literature review was conducted to uncover areas of interest that require more research. The effect of data analytics on the audit was identified as a potential area for research; a focus on audit quality was chosen, including key factors that contribute to overall audit quality. The research is based on semi-structured interviews with auditors from big four audit firms in Sweden. Empirical foundation: Empirical evidence was generated through an interview with seven auditors at different levels of the professional hierarchy. Empirical data was analyzed using a thematic data analysis approach. Conclusions: The findings of this research show that using BDA in the audit methodology affect the required skills and competence by auditors to carry out audit engagement activities. More IT related skills and knowledge gaining prominent in the audit field. Implementing data analytics will not be efficient in the early stage but will save time as auditors become more familiar with the tools. Data analytics improve audit quality. Auditors use analytics to gain more insight into the client’s business and communicate such insights to clients. It was found that data analytics generate fact-based audit evidence. The visualization ability enables auditors to visualize and analyze audit evidence to guide their professional judgment and decision making. Key words: Big data, Data analytics, Auditors skills and competence, Audit process, Audit efficiency, Audit quality and Professional judgment.

I have focused on the final accounts audit from the accounting entity view in my graduation thesis. The first part of my thesis is theoretical, and it is formed by fundamental terms explanation in the field of audit. Next part is dealing with the problem analysis, which will be solved in the practice part, and what is the accounting entity position at the time of audit. The last part is the practice part, which is dealing with the accounting entity rights and duties during the audit. The practice part should serve as the manual for the companies, which do not know what the audit amounts to, how to get prepared for and what does it result from in the case of the verification of final accounts by the auditor for them.

Bakgrund: För att granska den kommunala verksamheten är det viktigaste organet den kommunala revisionen, en revisionsfunktion som består av minst fem förtroendevalda revisorer och deras sakkunniga biträde. De förtroendevalda revisorerna ska fungera som ett demokratiskt kontrollinstrument, deras sakkunniga biträde fungerar således som ett professionellt stöd till revisionsgruppen. Trovärdigheten för svensk kommunal revision har ifrågasatts med bland annat de låga kompetenskraven, olika erfarenheter och den överhängande risken för politiska inflytanden. Problemformulering och syfte: Syftet med studien är att kunna öka förståelsen för kommunal revision genom att beskriva hur de arbetar samt samspelar under revisionsprocessen för att uppnå en trovärdighet till den kommunala revisionen samt förklara vilken inverkan bakomliggande faktorer har på detta. Syftet besvaras genom att utreda följande frågor: Hur arbetar samt samspelar de förtroendevalda revisorer och deras biträdande sakkunnig under revisionsprocessen för att uppnå en trovärdighet till den kommunala revisionen? Vilken inverkan har bakomliggande faktorer på den kommunala revisionsprocessen? Metod: För att svara på studiens problemformulering har en kvalitativ metod tillämpats. Insamling av det empiriska materialet gjordes genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer, respondenterna är två förtroendevalda revisorer från tre kommuners revisionsgrupper och deras biträdande sakkunnig. Analys och slutsats: De förtroendevalda samt deras biträdande sakkunnig styrs i hög grad av skriften god revisionssed. Trots det skiljde de sig åt mellan hur de olika kommunerna arbetade och samspelade under den kommunala revisionsprocessen. Gränsen mellan ett bra samspel och att hota oberoendet är subtil därför sker inte allt för mycket kommunikation mellan de två parterna under revisionsprocessen. Budgetramen har en inverkan på den kommunala revisionsprocessen genom att granskningar får skjutas upp alternativt nekas något som kan antas minska trovärdigheten. En högre ålder och längre erfarenheten ökar kompetensen hos det sakkunniga biträdet och arbetet blir mer effektivare men personen kan också uppfattas som mer auktoritär vilket skadar samspelet och således trovärdigheten för processen. / Background: To examine the municipal activities the most important organ is the municipal audit, an audit function consisting of at least five elected auditors and their expert auditor assistant. The elected auditors’ functions as a democratic control instrument, their expert auditor assistant acts as a professional support to the audit team. The credibility of Swedish municipal audit has been questioned for, among other thing, the low competence requirements, various experience, and the imminent risk of political influence. Research issue and purpose: The purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of the municipal auditing by describing how they work as well as interact during the audit process to achieve credibility to the municipal audit and and explain the impact of the underlying factors on this. The purpose is answered by investigating the following questions: How do the elected auditors and their expert auditor assistant work and interact during the audit process to achieve credibility with the municipal audit? What impact do the underlying factors have on the municipal audit process? Method: To answer the purpose of the study, a qualitative method has been applied. The data has been gathered through eight semi- structured interviews, the respondents are two elected auditors from three municipality and their expert auditor assistant. Result and conclusion: The elected representatives and their expert auditor assistant are largely governed by the publication “god revisionssed”. There are differences between how the municipalities worked and interacted during the municipal audit process. The line between good interaction and independent is subtle, and therefore not too much communication take place between the two parties during the audit process. The budget framework has an impact the municipal audit process by allowing audits to be postponed or denied, which can be assumed to reduce credibility. A higher age and longer experience increase the competence of their expert auditor and the work becomes more efficient, but the expert auditor can also be perceived as more authoritarian, which damages the interaction and thus the credibility of the process.