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Revision är en systematisk process som innefattar en systematisk insamling av bevis för attslutligen lämna ett yttrande om ett klientföretags redovisning. Syftet med revision är attundersöka och utvärdera relevans och validitet i klientföretagets finansiella antaganden (Eilifsen et al, 2014, s. 12). Revision anses vara viktigt för klientföretaget och dess aktieägare,likaväl som för intressenter och andra utomstående parter (Eilifsen et al., 2014, s. 5). Revisorer och deras arbete är i sin helhet styrda av flertalet lagar och förordningar, där överträdelser eller åsidosatta skyldigheter kan leda till en sanktion. I denna studie har vi valt att fokusera på tillsynsärenden och revisorer som fått en sanktion utfärdad mot sig. I Sverige finns det en specifik myndighet som ansvarar för tillsynen av revisorer och som därmed även utreder disciplinära ärenden. Den myndigheten heter Revisorsinspektionen och ansvarar främst för tillsyn av revisorer och revisionsbolag men även för examination samt auktorisation av revisorer (Revisorsinspektionen, u.å. d). Revisorsinspektionens tillsynsmyndighet är myndighetens största verksamhetsområde. Förekommande ärendebeslut vid disciplinära ärenden hos Revisorsinspektionen är varning, erinran samt upphävande, vilka är de ärendebeslut som vi i denna studie benämner som sanktioner. Även ärendebeslut så som ingen åtgärd, avskrivning samt beslut i annat ärende är förekommande hos myndighetens tillsynsverksamhet men leder inte till någon sanktion.Denna studie syftar till att bidra med kunskap avseende disciplinära åtgärder mot revisorer med fokus på klientföretagen. Studien syftar även till att identifiera eventuella kännetecken hos de klientföretag som väljer att anlita en sanktionerad revisor och ifall dessa kännetecken skiljer sig från eventuella kännetecken hos företag som anlitar icke-sanktionerade revisorer. Studien bygger på studier av två olika tidsperioder som syftar till att kunna jämföra och dra slutsatser om dessa kännetecken förändras över tid. Denna studie har sin grund i tidigare forskning som utförts inom revision men även företagsekonomi. Denna studie har även ett tydligt fokus på valet av revisor där revisorn fått en disciplinär åtgärd – därmed sanktionerade revisorer ur ett klientföretagarperspektiv. Detta är något som differentierar denna studie från tidigare studier och därmed är ett givande teoretiskt bidrag. Den tidigare forskning som funnits i samband med litteratursökning, har ett större fokus på valet av revisor i form av auditor choice. Däremot återfinns inga tidigare studier med ett fokus på sanktionerade revisorer i relation till auditor choice. Vilket gör denna studie till den första studien som sammankopplar dessa områden i samma studie. Utifrån denna studie har vi kunnat dra slutsatsen att både kön på VD och styrelse har en inverkan på valet av sanktionerad revisor. En ytterligare slutsats som kunnat dras av denna studie är att tiden sedan utfärdad sanktion har en påverkan på de avgörande kännetecknen hos klientföretagen vid val av sanktionerad revisor.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att skapa en fördjupad förståelse för revisorsrotationens inverkan på revisionskvalitet utifrån ett klientperspektiv.  Metod: Studien bygger på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. För datainsamling genomfördes nio semistrukturerade intervjuer med ledamöter från styrelser och revisionsutskott i börsnoterade bolag.     Resultat och slutsats: Studien visar att revisionsklienterna upplever att revisorsrotation har en positiv inverkan på revisionskvaliteten. Vidare visar studien att revisorernas kompetens och revisorernas oberoende är de centrala delarna av revisionskvaliteten.      Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien ger en insyn i hur implementeringen av de obligatoriska rotationsreglerna påverkar revisionskvaliteten i praktiken. Till skillnad från tidigare forskning har den här studien fokuserat på hur revisorernas egna klienter upplever att revisionskvaliteten påverkas av revisorsrotation.     Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett förslag till fortsatt forskning är att gå djupare in på antalet rotationer som de svenska börsnoterade bolagen varit med om. Här kan framtida forskning studera antalet rotationer av bolagens påskrivande revisor, antal rotationer av revisionsteamet samt antalet rotationer av revisionsbyrå. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding of the impact of auditor   rotation on audit quality from a client perspective.       Method: The study is based on a qualitative research methodology. För data collection, nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of boards and audit committees of listed companies.     Results and conclusions: The study shows that audit clients perceive auditor rotation as having a positive positive impact on audit quality. Furthermore, the study shows that auditor competence and auditor independence are the key elements of audit quality.   Contribution of the thesis: The study provides an insight into how the implementation of the mandatory rotation rules affects audit quality in practice. In contrast to previous research, this study focuses on how auditors’ own clients perceive audit quality to be affected by auditor rotation.  Suggestion for future research: One suggestion for further research is to go deeper into the number of rotations that Swedish listed companies have experienced. Future research could study the number of rotations of the company’s signing auditor, the number of rotations of the audit team and the number of rotations of audit firms.

South African Government introduced the supply chain management framework in 2003, with a vision of creating a seamless system which will play a pivotal role in service delivery provision to the communities, while achieving the objectives of cost effectiveness, fairness, equity transparency and ethics. The main aim of adopting this framework immediately after reform was to align the Public Sector Supply Chain management to the best practices. Unfortunately since its inception the supply chain management, particularly in the local government, has not enjoyed good publicity, due to the following three main factors, firstly incompetency of the supply chain management practitioners on using the preference points system, writing insufficient motivation when deviating from the SCM policies and irregular extensions of validity periods. The second main factor is the unethical conduct of the supply chain management practitioners in collusion with suppliers to overprice their respective tenders and also to supply inferior material for projects intended for community development. The last main factor is the lack of political leadership to enforce compliance, such as consequence management for those who contravened the supply chain management policies, as some councillors are also found doing business with their municipalities which is against the Municipal System Act 32 of 2000. The aim of this study was to establish an effective supply chain management framework for local municipalities in order to achieve the primary objectives of Section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic which are fairness, equity, transparency, and competitive and cost effectiveness. The study found that supply chain management practitioners have indicated that they have a very good understanding of how the supply chain management framework should be applied and of related legislations, but the literature differs with the views of the practitioners, as corruption, fraud and lack of consequences reports are still raised by the Auditor General South Africa and by other publications over the years. The following are recommendations that should be taken into account for the supply framework to function effectively: - Establish a Supply Chain Management Professional Association (SCMPA) of which the role is to provide annual online assessment for all the supply chain management practitioners; - To use the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading certificate as evaluation minimum criteria of assessing functionality in accordance with the specific project; - Cancel the provision to re-issue or re-advertise the tenders after the supply chain management unit has received quotations from suppliers. - Municipalities should develop an integrated online commodity price listing supply database which should be operational 24 hours. Also to develop a Cellular phone application that will enable all the service providers to access the portal at any time to load their respective prices. - Make provision to include members of the audit committee to be charged for negligence under financial misconduct section 171 of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003. - To provide the Auditor General South Africa and the Public Protector with legislative powers to refer malpractices or contravention with the supply chain policies to the SCMPA and SAPS to recover wasteful and fruitless expenditure as required by Section 102 of Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) of 56 of 2003 after complying with section 173 of the MFMA. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

South African Government introduced the supply chain management framework in 2003, with a vision of creating a seamless system which will play a pivotal role in service delivery provision to the communities, while achieving the objectives of cost effectiveness, fairness, equity transparency and ethics. The main aim of adopting this framework immediately after reform was to align the Public Sector Supply Chain management to the best practices. Unfortunately since its inception the supply chain management, particularly in the local government, has not enjoyed good publicity, due to the following three main factors, firstly incompetency of the supply chain management practitioners on using the preference points system, writing insufficient motivation when deviating from the SCM policies and irregular extensions of validity periods. The second main factor is the unethical conduct of the supply chain management practitioners in collusion with suppliers to overprice their respective tenders and also to supply inferior material for projects intended for community development. The last main factor is the lack of political leadership to enforce compliance, such as consequence management for those who contravened the supply chain management policies, as some councillors are also found doing business with their municipalities which is against the Municipal System Act 32 of 2000. The aim of this study was to establish an effective supply chain management framework for local municipalities in order to achieve the primary objectives of Section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic which are fairness, equity, transparency, and competitive and cost effectiveness. The study found that supply chain management practitioners have indicated that they have a very good understanding of how the supply chain management framework should be applied and of related legislations, but the literature differs with the views of the practitioners, as corruption, fraud and lack of consequences reports are still raised by the Auditor General South Africa and by other publications over the years. The following are recommendations that should be taken into account for the supply framework to function effectively: - Establish a Supply Chain Management Professional Association (SCMPA) of which the role is to provide annual online assessment for all the supply chain management practitioners; - To use the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading certificate as evaluation minimum criteria of assessing functionality in accordance with the specific project; - Cancel the provision to re-issue or re-advertise the tenders after the supply chain management unit has received quotations from suppliers. - Municipalities should develop an integrated online commodity price listing supply database which should be operational 24 hours. Also to develop a Cellular phone application that will enable all the service providers to access the portal at any time to load their respective prices. - Make provision to include members of the audit committee to be charged for negligence under financial misconduct section 171 of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003. - To provide the Auditor General South Africa and the Public Protector with legislative powers to refer malpractices or contravention with the supply chain policies to the SCMPA and SAPS to recover wasteful and fruitless expenditure as required by Section 102 of Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) of 56 of 2003 after complying with section 173 of the MFMA. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The thesis explores the relationship between Audit Committees and External Auditors’ fees of a sample of FTSE 350 companies in the UK for the period of 2005-2006. This is achieved by providing answers to three main research questions. First, what are the determinants of Audit Committee activity? Second, what is the relationship between Audit Committee activity and external auditors’ fees? Third, what is the relationship between audit and non-audit fees and how does the Audit Committee affect these? Starting out with an Agency Theoretical background, the study found evidence consistent with the views that a higher proportion of Independent Non-Executive Directors on the board enhances Audit Committees’ activity, but the presence of financial expertise on the committee was not found to be statistically significant in explaining its activity. The thesis also documented evidence that shows that Audit Committee activity is inversely related to managerial ownership of shares in companies. In line with the economic theory of auditing, the researcher used fees paid to the external auditor to proxy for the level of economic bonding between auditors and their clients. Higher fees are interpreted to indicate compromised independence. Five alternative measures of economic bonding were used. The researcher found a stable and statistically significant positive relationship between measures of economic bonding and Audit Committee activity. This finding is consistent with the view that Audit Committees buy more services from the auditors in order to enhance auditing and reporting quality. Strong positive relationships between audit and non-audit services and vice versa were found using a single equation fees model but these relationships were not consistent when the researcher controlled for endogeneity between audit and non audit fees using Simultaneous Equation Models (SEM). Audit Committee activity was not statistically important in these relationships. This evidence taken together supports the proposition that economies of scope exist in the joint provision of both audit and non-auditing services to the same client. Finally the thesis also documents evidence that suggests that knowledge spill-over flows from non-audit services to auditing services and that auditor do not use audit as a loss leader.

To gain insight into the impact that investors have on the firm's auditor choice decision, this study investigates the association between changes in investor monitoring and auditor turnovers. Hedge fund activism provides a unique setting to observe how highly motivated investors, willing to incur significant expense to effect changes in target firms, are able to influence a firm's decision to dismiss their external auditor. I find that activist hedge fund targets see an increase in auditor turnovers and dismissals during the years following hedge fund activism relative to both the two years' pre-activism and a propensity matched sample of firms. I document that the increase in auditor turnovers is primarily driven by target firms with a Big 4 auditor, and that hedge fund targets primarily seek a lateral change in auditors. Consistent with institutional concerns that excess compensation impairs auditor independence, I find that activist targets are more likely to dismiss their auditors when the auditor is earning high non-audit service fees and high abnormal audit fees. I then examine how the market interprets the lateral change in auditors. I find that financial statement reliability increases for lateral auditor changes associated with independence concerns. Finally, I examine the conditions under which the hedge funds are able to facilitate an auditor change. I find that hedge funds pursuing less aggressive activist campaigns, and hedge funds seeking less public forms of interventions are more likely to seek an auditor dismissal. This relation between non-confrontational campaigns and auditor dismissals is consistent with prior research suggesting that hedge funds seeking to work with management are better able to enact changes in a target firm.

Revision har varit en omtalad diskussion sedan länge där revisorer och redovisningskonsulter har haft skilda åsikter för huruvida det är givande eller inte att ha en revisor i sitt företag. I Sverige hade alla aktiebolag revisorsplikt fram till år 2010 när en lagförändring inträffade. De företag som inte uppnådde minst två av följande kriterier två år i följd fick valet av att bestämma om de ville ha en revisor eller inte. Kriterierna är som följer:  Max 3 anställda i medeltal Balansomslutningen får inte övergå 1,5 miljoner kronor Omsättningen får inte övergå 3 miljoner kronor Endast 20 % av de nystartade små företagen år 2013 valde att anlita en revisor. Av de befintliga företagen utan revisionsplikt valde 54 % att fortsätta använda sig av en revisor. Den stora minskningen av användandet av revisor väcker frågan om det finns faktorer som kännetecknar företag som väljer att fortsätta anlita en revisor. Undersökningen genomfördes baserat på en kvantitativ studie där fem faktorer identifierades; tillväxt på nettoomsättning, tillväxt på antalet anställda, tillväxt på balansomslutning, tidigare oren revisionsberättelse samt bankfinansiering. Faktorerna undersöktes genom granskning av årsredovisningar för åren 2010-2012 för 200 stycken företag utan revisorsplikt som har revisor och som inte har revisor. Efter empiri insamlingen utfördes en statistisk analys i form av ett oparat t-test. Resultatet visade att tillväxten på antalet anställda, tillväxten på balansomslutningen samt bankfinansieringen var faktorer som kännetecknar företag utan revisorsplikt med revisor. De företag utan revisorsplikt med revisor hade i genomsnitt lägre tillväxt på antalet anställda, balansomslutning och bankfinansiering i jämförelse med de företag som inte hade revisor. Kännetecken för valet av att behålla en revisor efter lagförändringen 2010 är därmed tillväxt på antalet anställda, tillväxt på balansomslutning och bankfinansiering. / Auditing has been a highly discussed topic throughout the years and different opinions on whether it is necessary or not to have an auditor for firms have been debated. In Sweden, it was mandatory to have an auditor until the year of 2010 when the law for small firms changed. Nowadays, small companies are defined by: A maximum of 3 employees in average A maximum of 1,5 million SEK in total assets A maximum of 3 million SEK in revenue and they can freely choose whether or not to have an auditor. Since the abolition of mandatory audit duty for small companies caused a decrease in use of an auditor it is of interest to gain knowledge of what kind of characteristics that signifies the firm’s choice to continue to employ an auditor. The study was performed using a quantitative method where five characteristics were identified. These characteristics were the growth on net revenue, the growth on number of employees, the growth on total assets, qualified audit reports, and bank financing. The chosen characteristics were examined by reviewing annual reports for the years 2010-2012. 200 firms were chosen from our population, 100 without audit duty with an auditor, and 100 without audit duty without an auditor. After the data were collected a statistical analysis was performed by making an independent t-test. The results showed that the growth on number of employees, growth on total assets, and bank financing were characteristics that characterizes firms without audit duty with an auditor.  The firms without audit duty with an auditor had in general lower growth on number of employees and total assets compared to the firms without audit duty without an auditor. The characteristics identified in this study for the choice of having an auditor without audit duty after the law change in 2010 is therefore: growth on number of employees, growth on total assets, and bank financing.

Standard setters recently proposed increasing audit disclosures and reporting. Two experiments examine the effects of auditor-provided disclosures on financial statement users’ perceptions of auditor independence, management credibility, reporting quality, materiality, and investment decisions. In the first experiment, I manipulate auditor agreement with management’s estimates and whether the estimates are incentive-consistent for management. I find that users view auditors as more (less) independent when they agree (disagree) with management, given an unqualified opinion. I also find that users are able to identify management bias using audit disclosures, and that the disclosures are value-relevant. In the second experiment, I provide users with either an explicit or implicit materiality disclosure and elicit users’ materiality judgments either before or after the disclosure. I find that users’ materiality judgments are closer to the auditor’s when elicited after an explicit materiality disclosure. Path analysis demonstrates that users’ materiality judgments affect subsequent investment and audit-related judgments but do not affect important decisions related to auditor liability and investment. The findings provide empirical support for the argument that additional audit disclosures would increase the transparency and value-relevance of the audit report.

This dissertation examines how differences between the strategic-systems audit approach and the traditional, transaction-based audit approach affect the content and complexity of client business knowledge in long-term memory, how these mental representations develop with experience, and how the representations affect risk assessment. Knowledge of the client?s business is essential to conducting an effective and efficient audit, but researchers have devoted little attention to how this knowledge is represented in memory and what effect it has on audit judgment. Moreover, proponents of the strategic-systems approach argue that this approach leads to the formation of a more-complex client business model and results in better audit judgments than the transaction-based approach. The study?s results contradict these claims, with the strategic-systems auditors having less-complex models than their TBA counterparts. Also, no experience-related differences were found in the client models, and risk assessments were only weakly affected by content and complexity differences between client models. After a variety of supplemental analyses, it was concluded that there is no evidence from this dissertation to suggest that the SSA methodology does not result in an auditor possessing an enhanced knowledge of the client?s business compared to that possessed by an auditor employing a traditional audit approach.