Abstract Background:  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic a series of regulations and recommendations were imposed. This resulted in firms transitioning their co-located teams into virtual teams in an effort to slow down and prevent the spread of COVID-19. This research focuses on the individual team member’s experience of the transition. The transition is a digital transformation and organizational change and its effects on the individual team member is being studied.  Purpose:  The purpose of this research study is to explore how individual team members experience the transition from a co-located team into a virtual team. Trust, communication and social interactions are previously known challenges for virtual teams. Therefore, we strive to explore how these aspects have been affected by the transition and how the individual team member has experienced it.  Method:  This study follows a qualitative research design and the method of choice is semi-structured interviews that have been carried out in a virtual environment due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Eleven interviewees have contributed to the empirical study. The main findings are presented in chapter 4 and analyzed against existing literature in chapter 5, to finally be concluded in chapter 6.  Conclusion:  Trust has previously been listed as a major challenge for virtual teams. However, our empirical findings have not identified trust as a major challenge and therefore contradict this. Communication has changed and the biggest two contributors to this is that the communication is digital and that body language becomes less effective in a virtual setting as compared to face-to-face communication. However, communication has not been a major issue during the transition but rather a complication. Social interactions were identified as the aspect affecting the team members the hardest since they had become non-existent except for in the virtual environment in many cases. A high level of digital maturity and the teams previously being co-located is seen to have made the transitions easier in terms of trust and communication. Furthermore, team members struggle to find their work life balance and often work more hours.

Bakgrund och inledning: Digitaliseringen har förändrat samhället i stort och påverkat både individuella människors och företags vardag. Inom redovisningsbranschen har digitaliseringen haft en betydande inverkan, med övergången från traditionella pappersbaserade system till digitala verktyg och processer. Denna utveckling har inneburit både möjligheter och utmaningar för företag och redovisningskonsulter, där vissa arbetsuppgifter har effektiviserats, förändrats eller till och med försvunnit. Samtidigt har det uppstått en diskussion kring hur digitaliseringen påverkat yrkesrollen för redovisningskonsulter, med vissa studier som menar att yrkesrollen kommer att skifta till en mer rådgivande och strategisk roll. Tidigare forskning har främst fokuserat på de större redovisnings- och revisionsbyråerna, så kallade ”The Big Four” vilket innefattar följande förtag PwC, EY, KPMG och Deloitte, och hur de har anpassat sig till den digitala utvecklingen. Det finns däremot en kunskapslucka när det gäller mindre redovisningsbyråer och hur deras arbete påverkats av digitaliseringen i jämförelse med större byråer. Syfte: Detta är en jämförande studie mellan små och stora redovisningsbyråer. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka digitaliseringens praktiska effekter på redovisningsprocessen för konsulter på mindre och större byråer samt deras förståelse, känslor och inställning till förändringarna. Uppsatsen fokuserar på hur digitaliseringen har transformerat redovisningskonsulternas arbetsprocess i branschen. Studien analyserar konsulternas redovisningsprocess samt identifierar delar där digitaliseringen haft inverkan. Jämförelse av skillnaderna mellan små och stora byråer gällande praktiska konsekvenser och konsulternas uppfattning av digitaliseringens effekter görs i studien. Målet är att ge en djupare förståelse av digitaliseringens inverkan på redovisningskonsulters praktik. och erbjuda värdefull kunskap för både blivande och verksamma konsulter. Metod: En kvalitativ metod genomfördes för att samla in det empiriska materialet och för att få en djupgående bild över redovisningskonsulternas praktik och hur den har inverkats av digitaliseringen. Tio verksamma redovisningskonsulter intervjuades genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats: Digitaliseringen har haft inflytande på redovisningskonsulternas praktiska förståelse och deras redovisningsprocess genom att de har behövt anpassa sig till nya verktyg och metoder. Större byråer har högre digitaliseringsgrad och anpassar sig snabbare till ny teknik. Små byråer har en mer varierad inställning till digitala lösningar, vilket är beroende på kundkretsens preferenser. Digitaliseringen har ökat effektiviteten och förbättrat kommunikationen, men också medfört utmaningar som att lära ut digitala lösningar till äldre kunder och anpassa sig till nya system och teknologier. Trots utmaningar är konsulternas inställning över lag positiv, då digitaliseringen förbättrar effektiviteten och möjliggör mer värdeskapande arbetsuppgifter. / Background and Introduction: Digitalization has changed society at large and affected the everyday lives of both individual people and businesses. Within the accounting industry, digitalization has had a significant impact, with the transition from traditional paper-based systems to digital tools and processes. This development has presented both opportunities and challenges for companies and accounting consultants, where some tasks have been streamlined, changed, or even disappeared. At the same time, there has been a discussion about how digitalization has affected the professional role of accounting consultants, with some studies suggesting that the role will shift towards a more advisory and strategic function. Previous research has mainly focused on the larger accounting and auditing firms, known as "The Big Four" which includes the following companies PwC, EY, KPMG, Deloitte, and how they have adapted to the digital development. However, there is a knowledge gap concerning smaller accounting firms and how their work is affected by digitalization in comparison between the larger firms. Purpose: This is a comparative study between small and large accounting firms. The purpose of this study is to investigate the practical effects of digitalization on the accounting process for consultants at smaller and larger firms and their understanding, emotions, and attitudes toward the changes. The study focuses on how digitalization has transformed the working process of accounting consultants in the industry. The study analyzes the consultants' accounting process and identifies parts where digitalization has had an impact. It also compares differences between small and large firms regarding practical consequences and consultants' perceptions of the effects of digitalization. The aim is to provide a deeper understanding of the impact of digitalization on accounting consultants' practice. Method: A qualitative method was conducted to collect empirical material and obtain an indepth understanding of accounting consultants' practice and how it has been affected by digitalization. 10 active accounting consultants were interviewed through semi-structured interviews.  Conclusion: Digitalization has impacted accounting consultants' practical understanding and their accounting process by requiring them to adapt to new tools and methods. Larger firms have a higher degree of digitalization and adapt more quickly to new technology. Smaller firms have a more varied approach to digital solutions, often depending on their clients' preferences. Digitalization has increased efficiency and improved communication but has also brought challenges such as teaching digital solutions to older clients and adapting to new systems and technologies. Despite the challenges, consultants' attitudes are generally positive, as digitalization improves efficiency and allows for more value-creating tasks.