<p>This thesis treats how accountancy companies works to maintain customer relations. This is getting more important in the accounting business because there are several inner and outer factors available that may affect customer relations in this business area. The main question with the thesis is: How works accountancy companies with keeping customers?</p><p>The purpose with the research was to investigate and identify which inner and outer factors that may be important from a company perspective to keep customers. Another purpose was to investigate if there existed any differences between the companies in how they are handling different factors like for example a law change and how it could affect customer relations. The method that has been used is the qualitative method in form of personal interviews with 5 accountants who works with customers on accountancy companies in Umeå. The five interviewed companies are KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and Grant Thornton. The research method belongs to the hermeneutic knowledge where understanding is very important.</p><p>In the conclusion of the study there is evidence that there exist some inner and outer factors that may affect customer relations in an accountancy company. In this thesis the inner and outer affecting factors is: service quality, the company´s brand, to participate in the customers business, that the accountant is proactive, that there exist trust between the accountant and the customer, to create extra value for the customer, that it exists a good communication between the accountant and the customer. The outer factors as a law change also had some effects on the companies but also competitors and price. Factors that was specific important for customer retention was: Commitment, communication, to do a good job, to exceed expectations, that the auditor is available and active and to create more value for the customers.</p> / magisteruppsats

This thesis treats how accountancy companies works to maintain customer relations. This is getting more important in the accounting business because there are several inner and outer factors available that may affect customer relations in this business area. The main question with the thesis is: How works accountancy companies with keeping customers? The purpose with the research was to investigate and identify which inner and outer factors that may be important from a company perspective to keep customers. Another purpose was to investigate if there existed any differences between the companies in how they are handling different factors like for example a law change and how it could affect customer relations. The method that has been used is the qualitative method in form of personal interviews with 5 accountants who works with customers on accountancy companies in Umeå. The five interviewed companies are KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst &amp; Young and Grant Thornton. The research method belongs to the hermeneutic knowledge where understanding is very important. In the conclusion of the study there is evidence that there exist some inner and outer factors that may affect customer relations in an accountancy company. In this thesis the inner and outer affecting factors is: service quality, the company´s brand, to participate in the customers business, that the accountant is proactive, that there exist trust between the accountant and the customer, to create extra value for the customer, that it exists a good communication between the accountant and the customer. The outer factors as a law change also had some effects on the companies but also competitors and price. Factors that was specific important for customer retention was: Commitment, communication, to do a good job, to exceed expectations, that the auditor is available and active and to create more value for the customers. / magisteruppsats

Titel: Hållbarhetsredovisning: En kvantitativ studie om förändringen i företagshållbarhetsredovisningar när frivilligt blir lagstadgat.Författare: Sanna Nilsson och Ellinor WallinBakgrund: För att företag ska öka arbetet kring hållbarhet ytterligare införde regeringen vidårsskiftet 2016/2017 krav på att stora företag ska upprätta en hållbarhetsredovisning. Syftetmed införandet var också att öka transparensen samt förenkla jämförbarheten. De företag somomfattas av de nya hållbarhetsupplysningskraven ska uppfylla mer än ett av gränsvärdenaenligt 6.kap 10§ i Årsredovisningslagen (1995:1554). Företagen är rekommenderade attanvända ett etablerat ramverk där Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) är det mest vedertagnaramverket.Forskningsfråga: hur förändras hållbarhetsredovisningar i antal GRI resultatindikatorer förföretag inom den privata sektorn och som omfattas av hållbarhetsupplysningskraven iÅrsredovisningslag (1995:1554) efter införandet?Syfte: Syftet i den här uppsatsen är att förklara hur företag som omfattas av de nyahållbarhetsupplysningskraven i Årsredovisningslag (1995:1554) förändrar sinahållbarhetsredovisningar när frivilligt blir lagstadgat.Metod: Vi har tillämpat en kvantitativ innehållsanalys där vi har utformat en kodningsmallutifrån GRI´s ramverk. Vi har kodat antalet GRI resultatindikatorer i hållbarhetsredovisningarför räkenskapsåren 2014–2017 som innefattat 20 stycken företag inom den privata sektorn. Videlade upp urvalet i miljömässiga- och neutrala företag. Uppdelningen baserades på antalethållbarhetsredovisade GRI resultatindikatorer inom kategorin miljö under räkenskapsåret2014. Om företaget hållbarhetsredovisade 40,1 procent eller mer inom kategorin miljö, iförhållande till det totala antalet redovisade GRI resultatindikatorer, benämndes företaget somett miljömässigt företag. Understeg antalet redovisade miljöresultatindikatorer 40,1 procentbenämndes företaget som neutralt.Slutsats: Uppsatsens resultat påvisar en liten ökning av antalet GRI resultatindikatorer efterinförandet av upplysningskraven inom hållbarhetsredovisning. Resultatet visade också attmiljömässiga företag hållbarhetsredovisade fler GRI resultatindikatorer än neutrala företaginnan införandet. Efter införandet hade också de miljömässiga företag en större ökning i antalGRI resultatindikatorer än de neutrala företagen. / Title: Sustainability report: A quantitative study of the changes in companies’ sustainabilityreports when voluntary gets regulatedAuthors: Sanna Nilsson and Ellinor WallinBackground: In order for companies to increase their work with sustainability thegovernment introduced, at the end of year 2016/2017, the requirement that large companieshave to establish a sustainability report. The purpose of the introduction was also to increasetransparency and simplify comparability. The companies that are subjects to the newsustainability disclosure requirements must meet more than one of the limit values in Chapter6 of the Annual Accounts Act (1995: 1554). Companies are advised to use an establishedframework where the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the most widely acceptedframework.Purpose: How do sustainability reports change in the number of GRI performance indicatorsfor private sector companies that are subjects to the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements inthe Annual Accounts Act (1995: 1554) after the introduction?Method: We have applied a quantitative content analysis where we have developed a codingtemplate based on GRI´s framework. We have encoded the number of GRI performanceindicators in sustainability reports for the financial years 2014-2017 which included 20private sector companies. We separated the sample into environmental and neutral companiesbased on the number of environmental GRI performance indicators reported during the year2014. If the company reported 40,1 percent or more in the environmental category, comparedto the total number of GRI performance indicators, we classified it as an environmentalcompany. If the number of environmental GRI performance indicators was less than 40,1percent, the company was classified as a neutral company.Conclusion: The results of the survey indicate a small increase in the number of GRIperformance indicators after the introduction of disclosure requirements in sustainabilityreporting. The result also showed that the environmental companies reported more GRIperformance indicators than the neutral companies before the introduction. After theintroduction, the environmental companies also had a larger increase in the number of GRIperformance indicators than the neutral companies.