Redovisningskonsulternas roll på marknaden för redovisning och revision har förändrats sedan revisionsplikten avskaffades i november 2010. Från att ha varit ett komplement till revisorn, med största fokus på att sköta ett företags ekonomiska handhavanden, till att bli ensam extern ekonomisk handläggare och rådgivare har gjort att även förväntningarna på redovisningskonsulternas prestation har förändrats.  Den tidigare genomförda forskningen på fenomenet förväntningsgap inom redovisning och revision har haft störst fokus på revisionen och revisorerna och hur allmänheten förväntar sig att den ska vara. Denna studie vill bidra till en ökad förståelse över det förväntningsgap som förekommer mellan redovisningskonsulter och egenföretagare som idag är väldigt lite forskat om.  Syftet med studien är att utforska relationen och förväntningsgapet mellan redovisningskonsulter och redovisningskonsulters kunder. Genom att utgå från både redovisningskonsulters och kunders perspektiv avser studien identifiera faktorer som påverkar relationen och därmed bidra till en ökad förståelse av fenomenet förväntningsgap. Den teoretiska referensram som studien bygger på utgår ifrån att ge läsaren en förförståelse om fenomenet förväntningsgap, följt av de teorier som uppsatsen bygger på, nämligen professions-, agent-, intressent- och legitimitetsteorierna. Vidare i kapitlet förs diskussioner om förväntningsgapet, hur samhället ser på redovisningskonsulter och avslutas med uppsatsens analysmodell.   För att besvara studiens syfte och frågeställning genomfördes intervjuer med redovisningskonsulter och egenföretagare och genom analys och tolkning av intervjuerna framträdde ett mönster. Dessa mönster kategoriserades i olika attribut som sedan utmynnade i faktorerna legitimitet, kunskap, erfarenhet, ointresse och personkemi.  Slutsatsen av föreliggande studie är att faktorerna erfarenhet och ointresse är de faktorer där förväntningsgapet blir tydligast, samtidigt är det personkemin och legitimiteten som får kunderna att stanna kvar hos sin redovisningskonsult. / The accountants and auditors market situation has changed since the audit requirement was abolished in November 2010. From being a complement to the auditor, with main focus on managing a company's financial dealings, to become the exclusive external financial officers and advisers, the expectations on the accountant’s performance has changed as well. Earlier conducted research on the phenomena audit expectation gap have had its main focus on the auditor and the auditing and how the public expect it to be. With this study, we want to contribute to a better understanding of the expectation gap that appears in the relation between the accountants and entrepreneurs that we have found very little research about. The purpose of the study is to explore the relation and the expectation gap between accountants and accountants customers. By study both sides of the relation the study will identify factors that’s effect the relation and contribute to an increased understanding of the phenomena of the expectation gap. The theoretical framework of this study will give the reader a pre-understanding on the definition of the expectation gap, followed by theories such as profession-, agency-, stakeholder- and legitimacy theory. Furthermore discussions of the expectation gap and a description of the accountants preconditions will follow.  To answer the study's purpose and research question, interviews was conducted with accountants and entrepreneurs, and through analysis and interpretation of the interviews a pattern was emerged. These patterns were categorized into different attributes which then resulted in the factors of legitimacy, knowledge, experience, disinterest and personal chemistry. The conclusion of this study is that factors of experience and lack of interest are the factors where the expectation gap becomes evident, while it is the personal chemistry and the legitimacy that makes the entrepreneur to stay with its accountant.

Bakgrund: Det nya rotationskravet som infördes i Sverige 2016 väcker tankar om hur företagsledningar upplever revisionsbyråbyten. Tidigare forskning har fokuserat på att undersöka för- och nackdelar med rotationskrav i kvantitativa studier. Däremot har inte forskare undersökt företagsledningens perspektiv på revisionsbyråbyten i Sverige, vilket motiverar vår studie att undersöka hur revisionsbyråbyten upplevs av företagsledningar. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att skapa förståelse för hur representanter från företags-ledningar upplever byte av revisionsbyrå, samt jämföra om upplevelserna skiljer sig mellan företagsledningar i noterade och onoterade bolag. Metod: För att uppnå studiens syfte utfördes 19 semistrukturerade telefonintervjuer. Samtliga intervjupersoner representerade företagsledningen på respektive företag. Nio intervjuer hölls med representanter för noterade bolag och tio intervjuer med representanter för onoterade bolag. Slutsats: Vi kommer fram till att revisionsbyråbyten upplevs som tidskrävande. Anledningen till bytet avgör inte hur bytet upplevs, och de viktigaste faktorerna att tänka på för att ett revisionsbyråbyte ska upplevas positivt är: att välja en revisionsbyrå med rätt kompetens, att ha ett personligt möte och att se till att personkemin stämmer, samt att börja planera bytet i tid. / Background: The new mandatory audit firm rotation rule was introduced in Sweden in 2016, which raises interest in how management experience audit firm changes. Previous research has focused on investigating the pros and cons of mandatory audit firm rotation in quantitative studies. However, researchers have not investigated the management's perspective of audit firm changes in Sweden, which motivates our study to investigate how audit firm changes are experienced by management. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how representatives from the management experience audit firm changes, and to compare if experiences differs for management in listed and unlisted companies. Method: To fulfil the purpose of this study, 19 semi structured telephone interviews were conducted. The people interviewed represented the management at each company. Nine interviews were held with listed companies and ten interviews with unlisted companies. Conclusion: We conclude that audit firm changes are experienced as time consuming by management. The reason behind the audit firm change does not determine how the change is experienced and the most important factors to consider, in order for an audit firm change to be perceived as positive, are: choose an audit firm with the right competence, have a personal meeting to make sure there is personal chemistry between the auditor and yourself, and start planning the audit firm change in time.

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>The purpose of this c-level essay shall try to illustrate how a good leader is formed. We have investigated what influences leadership style, personal characteristics or individual competence have when recruiting a new manager. This study has been carried out with comparative applications because we wanted to study the similarities and differences between the Unemployment Office, the Social Insurance Office and the Social Welfare Administration.</p><p>We have used a qualitative method in interviews both with employers as well as the from the trade union representative’s perspective. Part of our results indicates that the trade union representatives and the employers are not always unanimous and do not request equivalent characteristics and knowledge at recruitment. We have also found certain differences in the recruitment process between the organisations despite the fact that they are all politically governed and have many organisational similarities. We do not claim any empirical generalisations about our results as we have studied only one municipality. Our conclusions establish how certain key factors relate to recruitment of mangers just in this municipality and in these organisations. The results, however, indicates the prominence of some key factors that might be of general importance.</p><p>One of the most important result that we found in this study was that the trade union representatives had more similar opinions with each other than those they had with their respective organisations. Furthermore it became obvious from the study that great significance was given to inter-personal relationships when recruiting a new middle manager. The most significant resemblance between the three organisations was that they requested a management style that inclined towards democratic values.</p>

ABSTRACT The purpose of this c-level essay shall try to illustrate how a good leader is formed. We have investigated what influences leadership style, personal characteristics or individual competence have when recruiting a new manager. This study has been carried out with comparative applications because we wanted to study the similarities and differences between the Unemployment Office, the Social Insurance Office and the Social Welfare Administration. We have used a qualitative method in interviews both with employers as well as the from the trade union representative’s perspective. Part of our results indicates that the trade union representatives and the employers are not always unanimous and do not request equivalent characteristics and knowledge at recruitment. We have also found certain differences in the recruitment process between the organisations despite the fact that they are all politically governed and have many organisational similarities. We do not claim any empirical generalisations about our results as we have studied only one municipality. Our conclusions establish how certain key factors relate to recruitment of mangers just in this municipality and in these organisations. The results, however, indicates the prominence of some key factors that might be of general importance. One of the most important result that we found in this study was that the trade union representatives had more similar opinions with each other than those they had with their respective organisations. Furthermore it became obvious from the study that great significance was given to inter-personal relationships when recruiting a new middle manager. The most significant resemblance between the three organisations was that they requested a management style that inclined towards democratic values.