Digitization has changed the auditing profession in different ways. Audits can now be carried out digitally and audit firms have switched from the analogue to the digital way of working. This is because the audit process has been digitized and many work steps that have previously been time-consuming to carry out manually today can be carried out efficiently digitally. This study aims to investigate how digitalisation has changed the auditor's working methods and function. What will be examined is which working methods have changed, which skills it requires from the auditor and how the auditor's function is affected. The study is characterized by a qualitative research approach where six semi-structured interviews were conducted with three different audit firms. These interviews together with the study's theoretical frame of reference lay the foundation for the study's results. It has been established by previous research that working methods in the audit process have changed in step with digitalisation. Therefore, the authors have further researched this through data to confirm the previous research. The results show that the audit process has changed and facilitated the auditor's tasks. With the help of the digital tools and systems, the auditor can now carry out his work digitally and easily search for the financial items needed, as well as through cloud technology manage data and communicate with the client. These changes free up time for the auditor to create added value for the client through advisory services.

This dissertation comprises three studies, a literature review and two experimental studies, that center on the effects of psychological distance on judgment and decision-making in accounting. Construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance (Liberman and Trope 1998; Trope and Liberman 2003), a framework recently developed in the field of social psychology, constitutes the theoretical foundation for each study. The first study reviews extant literature on CLT and illustrates the theory's potential for investigating previously unexplained phenomena within the accounting domain. Selected publications that apply CLT in contexts that are of particular interest to accounting researchers are emphasized and a series of broad, CLT-based research questions pertaining to various accounting domains are offered. The second study applies CLT to the audit context by investigating whether the performance of common auditing tasks that require varying degrees of abstract thinking affect decision-makers' overall mindset and hence their subsequent judgment. Results from the second study have important implications for audit practice as auditors work in environments that require frequent shifts in focus due to multiple client or project demands. The third study applies CLT to the enterprise risk management context by examining how spatial distance from a risk assessment object and risk category (i.e., the type of risk) affects decision-makers' assessment of the probability that the risk will materialize. The third study thus informs the corporate governance literature by identifying psychological distance as a potential source for judgment bias during the risk assessment process. Overall, the results reported in this dissertation suggest that psychological distance systematically affects individuals' judgment subject to the caveat that the judgment of concern falls within the domain of the decision-maker's routine cognition. By presenting empirical evidence from both the audit and the risk management domain, the studies contribute to our understanding of the heuristics and biases in judgment and decision-making in professional settings that are of interest to accounting research.

As the workplace has evolved over the past few years, several studies have documented perceived differences in personalities, values, and preferences between generations in the workplace, including in public accounting. In this study, I examine whether exposure to a negative preconceived belief about a staff auditor's generation (generational stereotype) influences the affective state of staff auditors and ultimately causes them to reduce the extent to which they communicate with a client manager to gather the necessary information to perform an audit adequately. I also investigate whether attribute affirmation from a work buddy helps elicit positive affect to mitigate the effects that exposure to negative generational stereotypes may have on audit evidence collection. I conducted a 2 x 2 experiment using graduate auditing students as a proxy for staff auditors. I find that general affect (i.e., mood) rather than interpersonal affect (i.e., likability), drives the negative effect of exposure to generational stereotypes on willingness to collect more audit evidence. I also find that high levels of negative mood can negatively impact participants' self-efficacy. I, however, failed to find evidence of a moderated mediation. The presence of an attribute affirmation results in an insignificant increase in positive affect. When staff auditors are exposed to a negative generational stereotype, attribute affirmation does not evoke enough positive affect to help auditors overcome the generational stereotype threat.

Artificiell intelligens (AI) har fått allt större uppmärksamhet inom revisionsbranschen, där den har introducerats för att öka effektiviteten och förbättra kvaliteten på revisorns arbetsuppgifter. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar revisorns acceptans och anpassning till AI-teknologin och hur den förändrar arbetsuppgifter. Studien har kombinerat teorier som Diffusion of Innovations och Technology Acceptance Model för att skapa en ram för att förstå revisorns anpassning och acceptans i förhållande till AI-teknologin. För att samla in empiriska data har tolv revisorer intervjuats från olika revisionsbyråer och deras synpunkter har analyserats med avseende till AI-teknologin och dess inverkan på sitt arbete. Resultaten av studien visar att en mängd faktorer påverkar revisorns anpassning och acceptans, varav majoriteten framträder i ett positivt sammanhang. Det framkom även att arbetsuppgifterna generellt sett effektiviseras och förbättras genom införandet av AI-teknologin, vilket visar på en övergripande positiv inställning från revisorn. Däremot bekräftades det finnas vissa hinder, såsom kompatibilitet, komplexitet och upplevd användarvänlighet av teknologin. Studien visar även på, trots en begränsad användning av AI-teknologi inom yrkesrollen, att revisorn inser dess potential att kunna förbättra sina arbetsuppgifter snarare än att ersätta dem. För att maximera anpassning och acceptans av AI-teknologi finner studien att revisionsbyråer bör fokusera på utbildning, stöd och utveckla skräddarsydda lösningar som passar revisorns unika behov och erfarenheter. / Artificial intelligence (AI) has been receiving increasing attention within the audit industry, where it has been introduced to enhance efficiency and improve the quality of auditors' tasks. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing auditors' adaptation and acceptance to AI technology and how it transforms their work tasks. The study combines theories such as Diffusion of Innovations and Technology Acceptance Model to create a framework for understanding auditors' adaptation and acceptance in relation to AI technology. To collect empirical data, twelve auditors from different auditing firms were interviewed, and their perspectives were analyzed regarding AI technology and its impact on their work. The results of the study indicate that a range of factors influence auditors' adaptation and acceptance, the majority of which manifest in a positive context. It was also revealed that work tasks are generally streamlined and improved through the implementation of AI technology, indicating an overall positive attitude from auditors. However, certain barriers were confirmed to exist, such as compatibility, complexity, and perceived ease-of-use of the technology. The study also demonstrates that despite a limited use of AI technology within their professional roles, auditors recognize its potential to enhance their work tasks rather than to replace them. To maximize the adaptation and acceptance of AI technology, the study suggests that auditing firms should focus on education, support, and develop tailored solutions that cater to auditors' unique needs and experiences.

This dissertation examines the litigation and legal liability exposure of auditors related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Three separate studies were conducted to examine how auditor's litigation exposure is evaluated by potential litigants (lawyers), and how auditor liability is evaluated by jurors, following the bankruptcy of a client. The first study examines whether the auditor's SOX Section 404 reporting decisions influence lawyers' assessments of their litigation exposure. The second study investigates whether voluntary disclosures of significant deficiencies in internal controls within the SOX Section 404 report, and the subjectivity of the internal control judgments made by the auditor, influence jurors' perceptions of auditor liability for negligence. The third study examines how the requirements of SOX Section 302 related to audit committee independence and audit committee expertise influence jurors' perceptions of auditor independence and auditor liability for negligence. Overall, these three studies provide insights on how different provisions of SOX, specifically the Section 404 report and audit committee requirements, influence the likelihood that auditors will be sued and the likelihood that they will be held liable by a jury.

När konkurrensen i olika branscher ökar blir goda kundrelationer allt viktigare, inte minst i revisionsbranschen som på senaste årtionden har präglats av stark konkurrens och mättnad. Revisionen i sig har börjat betraktas som alltmer oviktig och många klienter efterfrågar även tjänster som skapar mervärde. En bristande revisor-klientrelation har visats sig vara en nyckelfaktor till varför klienter väljer att byta revisor. Detta innebär att det är viktigt för revisorn att veta vad klienterna förväntar sig i relationen. Genom att känna till klienternas förväntningar ökar chanserna att kunna bemöta dessa. I vilken grad revisorn lever upp till klientens förväntningar påverkar även klientens uppfattning av tjänstekvaliteten.  Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för hur revisorer och klienter upplever skillnaden i förväntningarna på relationen. Genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med både revisorer och deras klienter har det påvisats att revisorerna generellt har en god uppfattning om vad klienter förväntar sig i relationen. Klienternas förväntningar varierar beroende på storleken på klientens bolag. Studien påvisar en tendens att ju större klientens bolag är, desto bättre uppfattning har klienterna kring revisorns roll och även motsvarande förväntningar. Trots att revisorerna verkar ha en god uppfattning om vad klienterna förväntar sig är det inte alltid de lever upp till dessa. Större bolag med egen redovisningskompetens förväntar sig inte särskilt mycket av revisorn, men prioriteras samtidigt högt av revisorerna på grund av deras storlek. Mindre bolag som förväntar sig mycket råd och stöttning av sin revisor kan bortprioriteras vid tidsbrist. / As competition in various industries increases, good customer relationships become increasingly important, not least in the auditing industry, which in recent decades has been characterized by strong competition and saturation. The audit itself has begun to be considered increasingly unimportant and many clients also demand services that create added value. A lack of an auditor-client relationship has proven to be a key factor in why clients choose to change auditors. This means that it is important for the auditor to know what the clients expect in the relationship. Knowing clients' expectations increases the chances of being able to meet them. The extent to which the auditor lives up to the client's expectations also affects the client's perception of the quality of service.The purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of how auditors and clients experience the difference in expectations of the relationship. Through ten semi-structured interviews with both auditors and their clients, it has been shown that the auditors generally have a good idea of ​​what clients expect in the relationship. Clients' expectations vary depending on the size of the client's company. The study shows a tendency that the larger the client's company, the better the clients' perception of the auditor's role and the corresponding expectations. Although the auditors seem to have a good idea of ​​what the clients expect, they do not always live up to these. Larger companies with their own accounting expertise do not expect much from the auditor but are also given high priority by the auditors due to their size. Smaller companies that expect a lot of advice and support from their auditor can be de-prioritized in the event of a lack of time.

Corporate managers often pursue voluntary non-GAAP reporting when mandatory reporting is limited, although regulators are concerned with how this reporting is utilized. While the level of flexibility external auditors exhibit during discussions over subjective GAAP reporting choices can influence management's GAAP reporting decisions, it is important to determine if this behavior affects subsequent non-GAAP reporting decisions. Additionally, recent calls for increased audit committee questioning of non-GAAP disclosures may also cause audit committees to influence non-GAAP reporting. In this dissertation, I conduct an experiment to examine how auditor flexibility and audit committee questioning influence non-GAAP preparation and earnings release disclosure choices of senior executives. I predict less flexible auditor behavior will enhance managers' psychological feeling of constraint, while audit committee questioning focused on non-GAAP measures can increase managers' self-assessment of reporting decisions, both of which will translate into more conservative non-GAAP reporting. However, given prior research indicating that corporate governance mechanisms can combine in complex ways, I predict a greater impact of audit committee questioning absent auditor constraint. Results indicate managers make less conservative non-GAAP preparation decisions and disclose more non-GAAP measures in the absence of constraint from inflexible auditors. However, absent this constraint, managers make more conservative non-GAAP preparation choices and present non-GAAP measures less prominently in earnings press releases when the audit committee questions non-GAAP disclosures. These results are driven by a thorough self-assessment of reporting decisions by managers expecting audit committee questioning. This study provides evidence on how external auditors and audit committees influence various voluntary reporting decisions. / Doctor of Philosophy / Corporate managers can report their company's financial information to investors and other stakeholders in various ways. Some financial information is required to be reported in accordance with a set of formal accounting standards called United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Beyond this mandatory reporting, other financial information is disclosed voluntarily when company management believes this extra information is beneficial to investors. These voluntary disclosures— called non-GAAP measures— do not follow a set of accounting standards and can be disclosed with more discretion by company management than GAAP measures. The variation in how non-GAAP measures are prepared and disclosed concerns regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Mandatory GAAP financial reporting is overseen by external auditors from public accounting firms, but auditors typically have very little formal oversight over non-GAAP reporting. Although company management ultimately decides how to disclose GAAP information, external auditors influence these reporting decisions by recommending choices during discussions over subjective GAAP issues. Sometimes auditors exhibit inflexible behavior during these discussions by being unwilling to consider management's reporting choices. This inflexibility limits or constrains the GAAP reporting choices of managers. However, prior research has not studied how this constraint impacts how managers make non-GAAP reporting choices. Further, GAAP reporting choices can also be influenced by the audit committee, which is a subgroup of members of the board of directors that is in charge of overseeing financial reporting and disclosure. Recent calls from regulators have asked for increased audit committee questioning of non-GAAP disclosures, which may also cause audit committees to influence non-GAAP reporting. Non-GAAP measures are often presented in earnings press releases, which are public announcements by a company that disclose information regarding results of operations or financial condition for a given period. Managers can make strategic decisions regarding the preparation of non-GAAP measures and the presentation of this information in earnings releases, both of which can influence investors' decision-making. In this dissertation, I conduct an experiment utilizing senior executives to examine how auditor flexibility and audit committee questioning influence these two types of non-GAAP reporting decisions: how to prepare non-GAAP measures and how to disclose them in earnings press releases. I predict less flexible auditor behavior will enhance managers' psychological feeling of constraint, while audit committee questioning focused on non-GAAP measures will increase managers' self-assessment of reporting decisions, both of which will translate into more conservative non-GAAP reporting. However, prior research indicates that corporate governance mechanisms, which are factors intended to help direct and monitor company management (such as auditors and audit committees), can combine in complex ways. Therefore, I predict a greater impact of audit committee questioning absent auditor constraint. The results indicate managers make less conservative non-GAAP preparation decisions (i.e. are more likely to calculate non-GAAP earnings figures that deviate from their GAAP counterparts) and disclose more non-GAAP measures in the absence of constraint from inflexible auditors. However, absent this constraint, managers make more conservative non-GAAP preparation choices and present non-GAAP measures less prominently in earnings press releases when the audit committee questions non-GAAP disclosures. These results are driven by a thorough self-assessment of reporting decisions by managers expecting audit committee questioning. This study provides evidence on how external auditors and audit committees influence various voluntary reporting decisions. Given the ubiquity of non-GAAP reporting in recent years, this dissertation can provide valuable insights to regulators, investors, and other stakeholders on factors that influence managerial decision-making related to non-GAAP disclosures.

Auditing literature recently identified what has been termed a "social mismatch" between novice auditors and older, more experienced, more knowledgeable client contacts (Bennett and Hatfield 2013). This phenomenon occurs when novice auditors avoid face-to-face interactions with clients and can adversely affect the audit process. In light of the importance of novice auditor-client interactions, I conduct an experiment to identify potential mechanisms to mitigate the social mismatch phenomenon. Specifically, accounting students proxying for novice auditors are randomly assigned to experimental conditions in which they participate in role-play and perspective-taking exercises and complete an audit task commonly performed by novice auditors. Initial findings indicate that role-play interventions, such as those currently used in training at large public accounting firms, may exacerbate novice auditor inhibition tendencies. Furthermore, additional results suggest that actively taking the client's perspective prior to choosing an evidence gathering technique does not improve novice auditor decisions. Finally, auditor inherent characteristics are studied, including levels of emotional intelligence and impression management, and also do not appear to have implications for selection of evidence gathering techniques. Results of this study provide valuable insight into novice auditor-client interactions, as well as the implications of such interactions for audit evidence gathering activities. / Ph. D.

In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission is required to propose and adopt clawback rules. After a financial statement restatement, a clawback is utilized to recover incentive compensation that was previously paid out to a manager based on the misstatement. My study investigates financial reporting executives' (FREs) decision-making after the external auditors have proposed a restatement that will lead to a clawback. I performed a web-based experiment that was electronically distributed to sixty FRE participants (i.e., CFOs, controllers, and treasurers) and manipulated executive compensation structure (i.e., a higher percentage of total compensation based on incentives or a lower percentage of total compensation based on incentives) and auditor industry specialization (i.e., industry-specialist or non-industry specialist) in a clawback environment. I hypothesized that higher incentives or the presence of a non-specialist auditor would cause FREs to be less likely to agree with an auditor's proposed restatement, more likely to involve the external auditor's national office, and more likely to request termination of the external auditors. Further, I posited that the two factors would interact for each of the three dependent variables. As predicted, my results reveal that FREs are less likely to agree with the restatement due to loss aversion when a higher proportion of their pay is incentive-based; however, auditor specialization does act to mitigate the influence of loss aversion by increasing their likelihood to accept the restatement. Additionally, I find that FREs are highly likely to request the involvement of the national office and very unlikely to request termination of the auditors across all conditions. In consideration of the upcoming clawback rules, this is a timely study that makes important contributions. First, I find an unintended negative consequence of clawback regulation, as my results indicate that clawbacks may exacerbate aggressive financial reporting decisions by FREs during a restatement negotiation. Further, I find that specialist auditors can act as effective monitors of FREs' behaviors in a clawback environment. Last, my results provide evidence for firms regarding the influence of executive compensation structures on FREs' decision-making in a clawback setting. / Ph. D.