Det finns klienter som har vissa förväntningar på revisionen men det är inte alltid dessa förväntningar stämmer överens med revisorns. Den här skillnaden kallas för förväntningsgap. Revisorns granskning ska genomföras enligt väsentlighet och risk samtidigt som revisorn ska vara oberoende i förhållande till klienten. Syftet med denna studie är att få insikt i hur förväntningsgapet mellan revisorer och deras klienter uppfattas av auktoriserade revisorer och varför fenomenet uppkommer. Vidare syftar även studien till att förklara om revisorns oberoende ställning påverkas av förväntningsgapet. I studien används en kvalitativ metod där författarna genomför fyra stycken intervjuer med auktoriserade revisorer från två olika revisionsbyråer. Resultatet visar på att det går att identifiera olika typer av förväntningsgap och att det finns fler än en anledning till att gapen uppkommer. Den främsta anledningen till varför fenomenet uppkommer är bristen på kommunikation mellan revisor och klient. Det här gäller åt båda håll. Det framgår dessutom att de framtagna förväntningsgapen inte har någon direkt påverkan på revisorns oberoende. Ett indirekt samband skulle dock kunna existera mellan vänskapshotet och förväntningsgapet. / There are clients who have different expectations of the audit, but it is not always as theseexpectations are consistent with the auditor’s. This difference is called expectation gap. Theauditor’s review shall be conducted according to materiality and risk while the auditor should be independent of the client. The purpose of this study is to gain insight into how the expectation gap between auditors and their clients is perceived by authorized auditors and why thephenomenon arises. Furthermore, the study also aims at explaining whether the auditor’sindependent position is affected by the expectation gap. The study uses a qualitative method in which the authors conduct four interviews with authorized auditors from two different audit firms. The result shows that it is possible to identify diverse types of expectations gap and that there is more than one reason for the gaps to arise. The main reason why the phenomenon arises is the lack of communication between the accountant and the client. This applies in both directions. It is also apparent that the expected expectations have no direct impact on theauditor’s independence. However, an indirect relationship could exist between the threat of friendship and the expectation gap.

Purpose - This study explores how Covid-19 may affect audit quality and provide early insights if the pandemic has already affected audit quality in Sweden. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews with eight Swedish authorized auditors within Big Four to explore possible impacts on three key aspects for audit quality. These include Going-concern assessments, Auditor-client relationship, and Auditor-independence. Findings - Even though the Covid-19 pandemic is not over, it has had fewer effects on audit quality than experts and researchers predicted. Even though the pandemic has changed the communication and the relationship between the auditor and client, the findings state no significant effect on audit quality within the auditor-client relationship. The same goes for auditor-independence. However, the findings of this study indicate that making accurate going-concern assessments has and will be more complex and thus threaten audit quality. Practical contribution – We anticipate that auditors need to provide a greater focus on GC assessments as stakeholders require greater disclosure. Further, auditors and clients should gain on the increased use of digital communication by using it as a complement to physical meetings in the future. Originality/Value - This study is, to the best of our knowledge, one of the first studies that explore the potential impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on audit quality with empirical evidence. Since this study is conducted in the middle of the pandemic (Spring 2021), the results can be seen as indications for future researchers that beyond the pandemic seek to explain how the Covid-19 pandemic affected audit quality as it is crucial for the audit community to follow the consequences of the pandemic.

Purpose: The purpose is to describe how the audit profession perceives that the re-regulated education requirement in order to become an authorized auditor will affect the number of authorized auditors. Further, the aim is to compare how smaller and larger audit firms perceive the re-regulation will affect how they educate employees for the auditor exam. The purpose is to answer the research questions below.  Methodology: The study has a qualitative research method with an abductive approach. Empirical material is collected through semi-structured interviews with representatives from the audit profession that were able to describe their view of the profession and the re-regulated requirements.  Conclusion: The profession is sceptical that the re-regulation would increase the number of authorized auditors, they perceive a single individual will be attracted. To increase the number of authorized auditors, the profession must market itself better and introduce bonuses to keep people in the profession. Smaller firms will probably become dependent on FAR or networking with larger firms. Larger firms do not perceive that they need to do any significant changes in their current education plans. Smaller and larger firms agreed the profession needs more IT experts, and thus, data analytics should include in the auditor exam.

En auktoriserad revisor har ett stort ansvar gentemot samhället och intressenter, ett ansvar att agera utifrån gällande lagar, regler och standarder. En revisor ska enligt 19-20§§ revisorslagen (SFS 2001:883) iaktta god revisorssed, utföra sitt arbete med opartiskhet och självständighet, samt vara objektiv i sin granskning. Dessa paragrafer ur revisionslagen är endast en bråkdel av vad som förväntas av en revisor. Med det ansvaret kommer också behovet av att samhället kan lita på att kraven efterföljs. I Sverige har vi revisorsinspektionen som utreder misstänkta fall där revisorer brutit mot någon eller några av dessa lagar, regler, förordningar och riktlinjer.  För att en utredning ska leda till en disciplinär åtgärd behöver ett revisionsmisstag ha begåtts. Misstagen som en revisor begår kan vara av olika allvarlig grad och revisorsinpektionens disciplinära åtgärder ska också spegla detta. Exempelvis fanns det år 2021 3025 kvalificerade revisorer i Sverige. Detta år ledde revisorsinpektionens utredningar till 45 stycket disciplinära åtgärder. Det finns tidigare studier som granskat disciplinärenden hos revisorsinpektionen men då inte fokuserat så mycket på personen bakom misstaget. Vidare saknar vi också en djupare analys av de mest förekommande revisionsmisstagen i Sverige. Syftet med denna studie blir därför att ta reda på om det finns samband mellan revisorns könstillhörighet, revisionsbyrå revisorn arbetar på och sannolikheten för att revisorn fått en disciplinär åtgärd av revisorsinspektionen. Syftet är vidare att ta reda på samband mellan revisorns könstillhörighet, revisionsbyrå, erfarenhet och sannolikheten att revisorn begår någon av de mest vanligt förekommande revisionsmisstagen. Dessutom studeras vilka de vanligaste typerna av misstag är hos de sanktionerade revisorerna.   En kvantitativ metod används vars hypoteser baseras på teori och tidigare forskning inom området. En logistisk regressionsmodell är utarbetad för att besvara hypoteserna. Urvalet baseras på information angående auktoriserade revisorer och dess eventuella disciplinärenden mellan år 2005-2022. Även en kvalitativ metod används för att besvara vilka de vanligaste revisionmisstagen är. Här används ärenden som lett till disciplinär åtgärd mellan år 2017-2022.  Resultatet av studien visar att sannolikheten för att få en disciplinär åtgärd är lägre om revisorn arbetar på en större byrå eller om denne är kvinna. De vanligaste förekomna revisionsmisstagen är “brister i granskning”, “formella fel”, “felaktigt yttrande gällande omställningsstöd” och saker som revisorn “underlåtit att göra”. För misstagen “brister i granskning” och “underlåtit att” finns inget samband mellan revisorns könstillhörighet, arbetsgivare eller erfarenhet. Vad gäller formella fel har revisorer med medellång erfarenhet en lägre sannolikhet att begå detta fel än en revisor med kort erfarenhet. För “felaktigt yttrande” gäller att revisorer med medellång erfarenhet med större sannolikhet begår detta fel än revisorer med lång erfarenhet. Orsakerna till de vanligaste revisionsmisstagen kan vara många men i denna studie blir slutsatsen att orsakerna bland annat handlar om revisorns bedömningar, hög arbetsbelastning, kompetens och tvivelaktigt oberoende.

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 AICPA recently released new authoritative audit guidance related to group audits of nonpublic organizations which requires group engagement teams to be involved in the work of a component auditor, including certain minimum baseline requirements and the option for more extensive involvement at the group auditor's discretion. Accordingly, group audits create a scenario where auditors are under the direct oversight of a component audit supervisor, yet their work product is monitored and used by the group engagement team when expressing an opinion on the group financial statements. To my knowledge, prior accounting research has not explored the complexity of auditor decision making in a group audit scenario. Drawing on theory from motivated reasoning, this study investigates how the level of group engagement team involvement in component audit work may influence auditor decision making when a component audit supervisor has expressed preferences for more or less professional skepticism during the component audit process. Prior research in non-group audit settings finds the preferences of audit supervisors can influence the skepticism exhibited by their subordinates. However, in a group audit setting I find that the effects of component supervisor preferences interact with the level of group engagement team involvement in component auditors' work to influence component auditors' budgeted audit hours and planned substantive audit procedures. Results showed that during an accounts receivable audit planning task, auditors who faced an optimistic component supervisor recommended the use of more audit hours and suggested confirming a greater percentage of the accounts receivable balance when a group engagement team chose to be more actively involved in the component audit process than when the group engagement team chose only to review component audit work. However, there were no differences in budgeted audit hours or planned audit procedures when auditors faced a skeptical component supervisor, regardless of the level of group engagement team involvement. Thus, increased involvement of the group engagement team mitigated the influence of an optimistic component supervisor on auditor decision making, but did not significantly influence component auditor judgments when auditors faced a more conservative component supervisor. Path analyses indicated this phenomenon was caused by auditors' sense of pressure to reach appropriate audit conclusions induced by the increased involvement of the group engagement team. These results suggest that the effects of supervisor preferences are complex within a group audit environment, such that the nature of instructions received from a group engagement team may mitigate the effects of supervisor preferences on component auditor decision making. This research has implications for audit practice as it relates to the implementation of the new group audit standard as well as for regulators who establish future auditing guidance. / Ph. D.

Auditing has an important role in the corporate governance process and is essential in ensuring confidence in the reliability of financial information. It is important to understand the reasons why, given the costs involved, companies change their auditor and choose a particular level of audit assurance. To date, however, only a limited number of studies on auditor choice issues are available, especially in the UK setting. Further, since the downfall of Andersen, the audit market environment has changed significantly, creating a new audit environment to be researched. In light of these recent developments, the objectives of this thesis are to address both concentration and auditor choice issues. It is divided into two separate but interrelated parts. The first part of this thesis provides evidence on audit market concentration in the UK domestic listed company market from 1998 to 2003. The effect of Andersen’s demise on both audit market concentration and audit fees is examined. Using four different size measures (number of audits, audit fees, clients’ total assets and sales), three measures of concentration are calculated. Results show that the UK audit market has now clearly surpassed the tight oligopoly threshold and, despite auditing significantly fewer clients in 2003 than in 1998, the B5/4 managed to increase their fee dominance. In particular, the decline in B5/4 ‘number of clients’ market share was mainly due to their lower share of the newly-listed companies audit market. On the other hand, the slight increase in B5/4 audit fee market share was due to the net impact of leavers concentrating the B5/4 share and joiners diluting it. Voluntary switches to/from the B5/4 had a relatively small impact on B5/4 market share for both measures. Following Andersen’s acquisition by Deloitte & Touche, market levels of audit fee and audit fee rate (audit fee scaled by total assets) have increased markedly, suggesting that more audit effort is being expended as a way to restore confidence about audit quality after the damage caused by Andersen’s alleged misconduct. The acquisition has also contributed to a further increase in ‘audit fee’ market concentration for the 4-firm concentration ratio (CR4) and in the overall Hirschman-Herfindahl Index measure. Although, Deloitte & Touche gained significant market share in terms of both audit fees and number of audits through its acquisition of Andersen, it is PricewaterhouseCoopers that continues to hold the largest market share. Deloitte & Touche retained 93 former Andersen clients (74%), 21 (17%) moved to another B5/4 auditor and 11 (9%) chose a non-B5/4 firm. While former Andersen clients paid higher audit fees, in aggregate, the increase was, perhaps surprisingly, less than for the market as a whole. At the industry level, the B4 firms dominated all sectors, the highest non-B5/4 market share in any industry being just 8%. In 2003, PricewaterhouseCoopers was the leader in 18 out of 34 sectors. The second part of the thesis is divided into two separate studies – auditor change determinants and new auditor selection determinants. These studies use a sample of non financial auditor change companies to test logistic regression models of the determinants of auditor change and new auditor selection. The determinant variables include auditee, auditor and audit characteristics. This part also examines the sensitivity of results to alternative functional forms of the basic model specification. Two definitions of auditor quality – brand name auditor and specialism, are employed. Internal governance issues such as audit committee independence, the duality of chairman/CEO as well as the size/quality of the incumbent auditor were found to be significant determinants of auditor change. Expected future growth in the company, rather than past growth, and audit fee reduction were positively related to audit change probability. Result also suggests that companies changed auditor to improve the perception of auditor independence. By contrast, in the new auditor selection models, corporate governance variables did not appear to be important in determining a different quality (brand-name) auditor. Only the chairman/CEO duality variable was weakly and negatively significant, suggesting that duality is associated with a change to a lower quality auditor. Growing companies are more likely to change to a brand name auditor, consistent with the inability of smaller firms to provide services across an international market. Contrary to agency theory predictions, the results show that a company experiencing increased leverage is less likely to choose a B5/4 auditor, suggesting that B5/4 auditors are being selective in avoiding risky clients. Higher audit fees are paid to new auditors by companies that changed from non-B5/4 to B5/4, reflecting a B5/4 fee premium. However, the higher NAS fee result is contrary to initial expectations. Typically, far fewer variables were significant in the models with audit quality proxied by industry specialism. For the specialism models based on audit fee market share, there is counter-intuitive evidence that a company with a large number of subsidiaries is less likely to move to a specialist auditor from a non-specialist. New specialist auditors were more likely to be preferred when a company experienced an increase in current accruals or a reduction in leverage. In general, the results for these models were less strong and were dependent upon the specialist definition adopted. Finally, the thesis provides evidence that the choice of time variant model (ex-ante, contemporaneous or ex-post) made no significant difference to the overall results. The one exception concerns the ‘growth’ variable, where companies are found to change auditor in anticipation of future growth, rather than as a response to past growth. Further, the use of alternative proxy variables does not greatly influence the regression results. One important exception to this general observation concerns the brand name proxy. When brand name was defined as tier12 (to include Grant Thornton and BDO) the significance level was improved in all models. This suggests that, to some degree, Grant Thornton and BDO are viewed as quality service providers closer in quality to B5/4 than to other smaller audit firms.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:40:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Alves de Oliveira.pdf: 2993345 bytes, checksum: a70472c5a73fc49cf49a5e846e46f001 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-18 / The occupation of independent auditor has come to be questioned as to its role to be played in the face of society up against to crises and financial scandals worldwide. However, it is remarkable that the demands from society can be excessive or be beyond the expected for this professional, causing differences in expectations between what is expected an what actually the auditor offers. These inequalities arise from the interpretation of the auditor s report and its users, and what happens with the audited companies. Nowadays, in Brazil, the report presents standards paragraphs, regardless of customer and/or audited industry, including the final opinion, that can be modified or not. Also, it is used an elaborate language and almost incomprehensible to people outside the area, according academic researches as well as those carried out by the IAASB. The auditor presents and represents an important and key role in the capital market, prepossessing the sense of audit value, and the users of Financial Statements have demanded more information from this professional, in order to have, in fact, the foundation underlying its conclusions, in addition to recognize the risks to which certain audited Company is subject. Given this requirement, after several researches, debates, interviews and discussions, it was noticed that the independent auditor s report needs to change in the form of communication, to afford a better transparency, mainly answering the wishes of the users. Auditing standards have been revised and the new report has been implemented in some countries, such as the UK and Netherlands, pioneers regarding new assignments of this professional. In Brazil, the new report will be effective from 2016. Given these implications, the qualitative research looked after, through literature basis and document analysis, to verify whether, facing this new form of communication, it is possible to assist the delimitation of tasks of independent auditor, reinforcing his image, unsettled by accounting fraud, assigned primarily such as the responsibility of this professional. From there, it was necessary to analyze if the key questions of the rules of major jurisdictions can assist in defining the auditor's responsibility, as well as assessments of the two audited company reports from the UK and the Netherlands and, from that, as a general consideration, it is clear that the change in the communication of the independent auditor is a big step and shows that auditors started to pay attention to the claims of the users of Financial Statements / Diante das crises e escândalos financeiros ocorridos no mundo todo, a profissão do auditor independente passou a ser questionada com relação ao seu papel a ser desempenhado perante a sociedade. Entretanto, vale destacar que as exigências por parte da sociedade podem ser exageradas ou estar além do esperado para este profissional, gerando diferenças de expectativas entre o que se espera e o que de fato o auditor oferece. Essas desigualdades advêm da interpretação do relatório (antigamente denominado parecer) do auditor e seus usuários, e o que acontece com as empresas então auditadas. Atualmente no Brasil, o relatório apresenta parágrafos padrões, independentemente do cliente e/ou indústria auditada, inclusive a opinião final, que pode ser modificada ou não. Além disso, é empregado um linguajar rebuscado e quase incompreensível para as pessoas que não pertencem à área, conforme pesquisas acadêmicas e também aquelas realizadas pelo IAASB. O auditor independente apresenta e representa um papel importante e fundamental para o mercado de capitais, influenciando a percepção do valor da auditoria, e os usuários das demonstrações contábeis passaram a exigir mais informações por parte desse profissional, a fim de possuir, de fato, as bases que fundamentam suas conclusões, além de reconhecer os riscos a que está sujeita determinada Companhia auditada. Diante dessa demanda, após muitas pesquisas, debates, entrevistas e discussões, constatou-se que o relatório do auditor independente precisa de alterações na forma de comunicação, de modo a proporcionar maior transparência, atendendo aos anseios dos seus usuários. Normas de auditoria foram revistas e o novo relatório foi implementado em alguns países, tais como Reino Unido e Holanda, pioneiros em relação às novas atribuições desse profissional. No Brasil, o novo relatório passará a vigorar a partir do exercício de 2016. Diante dessas implicações, a pesquisa qualitativa buscou, através de fundamentação bibliográfica e análise documental, examinar se, com essa nova forma de comunicação, é possível auxiliar a delimitação das incumbências do auditor independente, fortalecendo sua imagem, abalada por fraudes contábeis, atribuídas primariamente como responsabilidade desse profissional. Com isso, fez-se necessário analisar se quesitos-chave das normas das principais jurisdições podem auxiliar na delimitação da responsabilidade do auditor, como também as apreciações de relatórios de duas empresas auditadas do Reino Unido e Holanda e, a partir disso, como consideração geral, constata-se que a mudança na forma da comunicação do auditor independente é um grande passo e evidencia que os auditores passaram a atentar às reivindicações de seus usuários

Till följd av det senaste decenniets företagsskandaler och kriser har diskussionen kring revisorns oberoende eskalerat. I och med finanskrisen 2008/09 har det påvisats att ett antal bolag ej erhållit oberoende granskning varför revisorns agerande har ifrågasatts. Eftersom det är av stor vikt att revisorn agerar objektivt och självständigt med avseende på tillförlitligheten till reviderad information diskuteras obligatorisk byrårotation som ett verktyg för att säkerställa revisorns oberoende. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur obligatorisk byrårotation påverkar revisorns oberoende och vilka konsekvenser ett eventuellt införande av en dylik regel skulle innebära. Vidare behandlas byrårotations inverkan på den finansiella stabiliteten. Studien baseras på kvalitativ metod för att möjliggöra en djupgående förståelse för utvalda parters åsikter och synpunkter på en eventuell lagförändring. Intervjuer har genomförts med personer med stor inblick i revisionsbranschen. Studien visar att obligatorisk byrårotation skulle ha positiv inverkan på revisorns oberoende. Det följer av att byrårotation tros förhindra revisionsteamet att bli alltför bekant med revisionsklienten samt att revisorn anses mer oberoende då möjligheten till långvariga byråuppdrag är begränsad. Ett införande av byrårotation skulle medföra förbättrad revisionskvalitet trots påvisad kvalitetsnedgång i början på varje nytt revisionsuppdrag samt ökad revisionskostnad. Revisorns oberoende har betydelse för den finansiella stabiliteten men obligatorisk byrårotation skulle endast marginellt mildra eventuella framtida finansiella kriser.

All industries are affected by digitalisation, therefore are also the auditing industry and the auditor's professional role. The audit function is to create confidence for the business and it is therefore important to understand how the digitization of the area is affected. How the professional role needs to be changed and education needs to be developed to keep up with the development. What are the positive and possibly negative consequences of digitalisation. This has been discussed for a long time and many believe that digitization will have a major impact, which is why further studies are needed in the area. It was because of lack of information within the area that the issue arose and was adopted in this work. / Introduktion Alla branscher påverkas av digitaliseringen, därmed också revisionsbranschen och revisorns yrkesroll. Revisionen funktion är att skapa förtroende för näringslivet och det är därför av vikt att förstå hur digitaliseringen av området påverkas. Hur behöver yrkesrollen förändras och utbildningen utvecklas för att följa med i utvecklingen. Vilka är de positiva och eventuellt negativa konsekvenser av digitaliseringen. Detta har under en längre tid diskuterats och många tror att digitaliseringen kommer att ha en stor påverkan varför ytterligare studier behövs göras inom området. Det var på grund av denna brist som frågeställningen uppkom och antogs i detta arbete. Syfte Syftet med denna studie är att få en djupare förståelse och utforska digitaliseringens påverkan på revisorns yrkesroll Metod Studien använder sig av en kvalitativ forskningsdesign som har utgått från en abduktiv ansats. informationsinsamlingen i empirin har samlats in genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats Studien visar att revisorsyrket påverkas i hög grad av digitaliseringen. Mest centralt är graden av effektivisering, där manuellt arbete har ersatts av automatiserade processer. En ytterligare förändring är att tillgängligheten av större mängder data ger underlag för djupare analyser vilket ger en bättre helhetsbild. Det skapar utrymme för mer värdeskapande arbete mot företaget men även att upptäcka oegentligheter. De nya verktygen kräver en ökad kunskap och möjlighet att ta till sig den nya teknologin, och en ny roll har i och med det skapats, vilket är IT-revisorn. Digitalisering och automatisering frigör tid vilket gör att revisorerna kan utöka erbjudandet med rådgivningstjänster. Digitaliseringen medför även nackdelar; genom automatisering försvinner möjligheten att lära sig grundläggande processer som tidigare varit centralt för revisorn, därmed kan det försvåra förståelsen av helhetsbilden hos företagen. Dessutom kan kundrelationerna påverkas i och med digitaliseringens utveckling då virtuella möten blivit en vanligare del i vardagen.