Background: With the removal of audit requirement for companies in Sweden from the first of november 2010, a lot of companies has chosen not to keep the audit requirement. So far 57 percent of the small companies has chosen to keep the audit, in spite of that they don´t need to which led us to the problem statement: Which are the factors that affect a small limited company to choose to keep the audit, in spite that now there is a possibility to choose not to use audit anymore? Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to examine why small limited companies choose to keep the audit, in spite that now there is a possibility to choose not to use audit? Method: This research founds itself in a qualitative study with a deductive research approach. We have been studying secondary data in books and articles and preformed 29 phone interviews with small ltd company owners in Sweden. The selection consisted of 14 companies with credit debts and 15 companies without credit debts. In both categories the companies were selected at random. Results: The study has shown that there are a variety of reasons why small business owners in Sweden choose to keep the audit. It turned out that most small limited companies use audit primarily for its own sake and interest, but also to avoid a tax audit. It was also found that the creditors had a great impact on small companies’ decisions on audit. / Bakgrund: När revisionsplikten avskaffades för små aktiebolag i Sverige den första november 2010 har många företag valt att avskaffa revisionen. Hittills har 57 procent av småföretag valt att behålla revisionen, trots att de inte behöver det. Detta ledde oss till problemformuleringen: Vilka faktorer som påverkar små aktiebolags val att ha kvar revision, trots att möjligheten finns att välja bort den? Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilka faktorer som är avgörande för små aktiebolag i valet att ha kvar revision, trots att revisionsplikten för dessa avskaffats. Metod: Undersökningen grundar sig på en kvalitativ studie och en deduktiv forskningsansats. Vi har studerat sekundärdata via böcker och artiklar samt utförts 29 telefonintervjuer med små aktiebolags ägare inom Sverige. Urvalet bestod av 14 aktiebolag med kreditskulder och 15 aktiebolag utan kreditskulder där de båda slumpmässigt valts ut. Resultat: Studien har visat att det finns en mängd orsaker till varför småföretagare i Sverige väljer att behålla revisionen. Det visade sig att de flesta små aktiebolagen använder revisionen framförallt för sin egen skull och intresse men också för att undvika skatterevision. Det visade sig även att kreditgivarna hade en stor inverkan på små aktiebolagens beslut om revision.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are seen as backbone for economic growth because they are regarded as catalyst for entrepreneurial skills, innovation and employment. Since in Sweden approximately 99.89% of enterprises are SMEs, they take an important role in country’s economic development.        Most of the countries especially EU nations have abolished the statutory audit provision for (SMEs). The new Swedish legislation of statutory audit exemption came into effect on 1st November, 2010. In accordance with this new legislation, (SMEs) within two out of three following criteria; turnovers 3 million Swedish Kronor, balance sheet total 1.5 million Swedish Kronor and 3 total numbers of employees are exempted from statutory audit requirement. Despite the fact that audit exempted SMEs are voluntarily conducting financial statements audited.                       As per above matters, this study finds the expected benefits of audit exempted SMEs in Sweden when they go for voluntary audited financial statements. In order to attain our research findings, this study chooses to conduct qualitative research method by semi- structured interviews with respondents from SMEs. Besides that, bankers’ opinion on audited financial statements and voluntary audits are discussed in order to complement our main research finding.  When it comes to collect empirical data, we use convenient data sampling from Sweden, particularly in Umeå due to the cost and time limitations.            According to our empirical results, the expected benefits for audit exempted SMEs in Sweden voluntarily conducting their financial statements audit are as follow: Security with the audited financial information Right amount of tax paid to tax authorities Easy to get bank loan                 Better relation with creditors, investors and suppliers   In accordance with empirical results of bankers, we can confirm that bank will grant loan easily to clients who have their financial accounts audited. As a contribution of new knowledge we find that in Sweden, banks used credit scoring lending technique when it comes to grant bank loan. The interest rate determination is also relied on credit rating of companies. Companies who have good credit rating will be granted loan with lower interest rate. As for small companies who would like to get external financing from banks, the requirement criteria could describe as; audited financial statements, collaterals, business plan, owners’ grantee for loan repayment and good credit history.

The faith in financial reporting quality and the corresponding auditing process has suffered a lot within the last decade, due to significant accounting scandals (e.g. Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, etc.). As an answer to these accounting scandals, the law-makers in Germany and the European Union, respectively, have strengthened audit regulations in order to improve the quality of the conducted audits. The aim of this cumulative dissertation is to provide empirical evidence on the effects of intended and already implemented regulative audit requirements in Germany. ln order to consider the wide range of different audit requirements, the dissertation is based on four different study manuscripts, highlighting various perspectives with regard to the appointment, duration, and remuneration of a statutory auditor in the German audit environment. Besides the empirical evidence for separate auditing issues, this dissertation is also aimed to provide a solid theoretical background and critical suggestions for future research.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de contribuer à la compréhension des conflits de rôles vécus par les auditrices légales. Ces conflits de rôles et leurs modes de gestion sont analysés dans un contexte professionnel et relationnel spécifique : celui des interactions avec le client. Cette thèse se présente sous la forme d’une étude de terrain qualitative combinant trois méthodes de recueil des données : observations non participantes, entretiens semi-directifs et récit de vie. L’échantillon d’étude est composé d’auditrices exerçant dans les grands cabinets anglo-saxons dits Big 4 ainsi qu’auprès de professionnelles ayant fait le choix de l’exercice en libéral, d’auditeurs et de client(e)s. Nous identifions six rôles endossés par les auditrices en situation d’interactions avec le client, dont le rôle d’objet sexuel, absent de la littérature comptable. Les interactions peuvent ré-activer des conflits de rôles déjà vécus de l’intérieur des firmes, en générer de nouveaux, inhiber ou supprimer certains conflits de rôles. Nous mettons en évidence deux conflits inter-rôles qui relèvent d’une co-construction de sens entre l’auditrice et le client. Ils induisent deux modes de gestion des conflits de rôles différents et non mutuellement exclusifs. Le premier est composé de cinq tactiques interactionnelles adaptatives qui font l’objet d’une typologie. Le second relève de questionnements de fond et d’une réinterprétation quant au rôle de professionnelle prescrit par les firmes d’audit. Il envisage la conciliation de registres d’interactions à la fois masculin et féminin avec le client. Enfin, des différences en termes de conflits de rôles et de leur gestion sont identifiées entre les auditrices exerçant en Big 4 et celles exerçant en libéral au sein de petites ou moyennes structures. / This thesis aims to help better understand role conflicts experienced by female statutory auditors. These role conflicts and the way they are managed are analysed in a specific professional and relational context: that of interactions with the client. This thesis is presented in the form of a qualitative field study combining three methods of collecting data: non participative observations, semi-directed interviews and life history. Our sample includes female auditors working in Big 4 firms and medium or small sized firms, as well as male and female clients. It reveals six roles taken on by female auditors, including that of sexual object, absent from accounting research. Interactions with clients can reactivate role conflict experienced within the firms, generate new ones, inhibit or even suppress some of them. It identifies two inter-role conflicts arising from a co-construction of meaning between the female auditor and the client. It also reveals two kinds of role conflict management which are not mutually exclusive. The first is composed of six adaptative interactional tactics which reinforce an established order of gender and where women are both victims and agents of their condition. A typology of these adaptative interactional tactics is proposed. The second, which could be qualified as radical, comes from a deep questioning of the professional role defined by audit firms. It consists of a reinterpretation of the professional role of female auditors. It envisages the reconciliation of both masculine and feminine modes of interaction with the client. Differences in termes of conflict roles and role conflict management are identified between female auditors working in Big 4 firms and female auditors working in medium or small sized firms.

The aim of this master thesis is to evaluate the importance of audits of banks with respect to the Czech national economy within years 1993 - 2014. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the value of both external and internal audits as well as of internal control systems and of bank supervision in order to maintain a long-term stability of banks on the Czech financial market. In the light of knowledge gathered from the Czech banking crisis (late nineties of the 20th century) and from the latest widely-spread economic and financial crisis (2008), it has been proved that low-quality audits may consequently contagiously affect a great deal of financial institutions. As for the economies, a collapse of a larger number of banks in the short run may cause higher social costs (mainly due to government budget deficit when bailing out affected banks and to economic downturn). Analyses suggest that these crises have been a result of a confluence of many factors. In particular, a poor a management of banks and its interest in short-term profit-maximizing goals, trades with highly risky financial instruments (especially in the US and in the EU), likewise failures of both auditors and bank supervisors, account for some of the main factors. Moreover, it has been concluded that an institutional background (a weak law system in the Czech Republic) played an important role, too. The quality of audits was also influenced by an everlasting conflict of interest of statutory auditors who have been paid by the audited banks. This probably resulted in an unethical behavior of auditors. Furthermore, auditors were lacking the state-of-the-art knowledge in terms of rapidly developing financial instruments. As a matter of fact, auditors did not address all the risks the banks were facing to the stakeholders. This study indicates that both external and internal audits along with a bank supervision are important, nonetheless, not sufficient conditions assuring a long-term stability on financial markets.

The diploma thesis is focused on inventories accounting in the company ŽOS Trnava, a. s. Part of the thesis deals with inventories in general, classification, valuation, provisions and disposal of inventories. The thesis describes internal and external audit process, including audit phases. In the practical part of the thesis, the theoretical knowledge is applied to the company. The scope of the diploma thesis is to describe inventories, internal audit and the audit process regarding the inventories, and to apply the theoretical knowledge on the real company.

Topic of this master thesis is forensic investigation and forms of economic crime which can be detected during the investigation. First chapter focuses on forensic investigation and its comparison with statutory audit. In the second chapter is performed analysis of forms of economic crime in the Czech Republic, Southern and Eastern Europe and globally. Knowledge from the previous chapters is applied to the real forensic investigation performed in the Czech Republic, forensic investigation of project OpenCard.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de contribuer à la compréhension des conflits de rôles vécus par les auditrices légales. Ces conflits de rôles et leurs modes de gestion sont analysés dans un contexte professionnel et relationnel spécifique : celui des interactions avec le client. Cette thèse se présente sous la forme d’une étude de terrain qualitative combinant trois méthodes de recueil des données : observations non participantes, entretiens semi-directifs et récit de vie. L’échantillon d’étude est composé d’auditrices exerçant dans les grands cabinets anglo-saxons dits Big 4 ainsi qu’auprès de professionnelles ayant fait le choix de l’exercice en libéral, d’auditeurs et de client(e)s. Nous identifions six rôles endossés par les auditrices en situation d’interactions avec le client, dont le rôle d’objet sexuel, absent de la littérature comptable. Les interactions peuvent ré-activer des conflits de rôles déjà vécus de l’intérieur des firmes, en générer de nouveaux, inhiber ou supprimer certains conflits de rôles. Nous mettons en évidence deux conflits inter-rôles qui relèvent d’une co-construction de sens entre l’auditrice et le client. Ils induisent deux modes de gestion des conflits de rôles différents et non mutuellement exclusifs. Le premier est composé de cinq tactiques interactionnelles adaptatives qui font l’objet d’une typologie. Le second relève de questionnements de fond et d’une réinterprétation quant au rôle de professionnelle prescrit par les firmes d’audit. Il envisage la conciliation de registres d’interactions à la fois masculin et féminin avec le client. Enfin, des différences en termes de conflits de rôles et de leur gestion sont identifiées entre les auditrices exerçant en Big 4 et celles exerçant en libéral au sein de petites ou moyennes structures. / This thesis aims to help better understand role conflicts experienced by female statutory auditors. These role conflicts and the way they are managed are analysed in a specific professional and relational context: that of interactions with the client. This thesis is presented in the form of a qualitative field study combining three methods of collecting data: non participative observations, semi-directed interviews and life history. Our sample includes female auditors working in Big 4 firms and medium or small sized firms, as well as male and female clients. It reveals six roles taken on by female auditors, including that of sexual object, absent from accounting research. Interactions with clients can reactivate role conflict experienced within the firms, generate new ones, inhibit or even suppress some of them. It identifies two inter-role conflicts arising from a co-construction of meaning between the female auditor and the client. It also reveals two kinds of role conflict management which are not mutually exclusive. The first is composed of six adaptative interactional tactics which reinforce an established order of gender and where women are both victims and agents of their condition. A typology of these adaptative interactional tactics is proposed. The second, which could be qualified as radical, comes from a deep questioning of the professional role defined by audit firms. It consists of a reinterpretation of the professional role of female auditors. It envisages the reconciliation of both masculine and feminine modes of interaction with the client. Differences in termes of conflict roles and role conflict management are identified between female auditors working in Big 4 firms and female auditors working in medium or small sized firms.

The faith in financial reporting quality and the corresponding auditing process has suffered a lot within the last decade, due to significant accounting scandals (e.g. Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, etc.). As an answer to these accounting scandals, the law-makers in Germany and the European Union, respectively, have strengthened audit regulations in order to improve the quality of the conducted audits. The aim of this cumulative dissertation is to provide empirical evidence on the effects of intended and already implemented regulative audit requirements in Germany. ln order to consider the wide range of different audit requirements, the dissertation is based on four different study manuscripts, highlighting various perspectives with regard to the appointment, duration, and remuneration of a statutory auditor in the German audit environment. Besides the empirical evidence for separate auditing issues, this dissertation is also aimed to provide a solid theoretical background and critical suggestions for future research.:I. Audit services, non-audit services, and audit firm tenure – three perspectives on audit quality … 1 II. Abnormal audit fees and audit quality in German audit market: initial evidence on association of audit fee premiums and audit fee discounts with earnings management … 13 III. Effects of initial audit fee discounts on audit quality: evidence from Germany … 32 IV. Non-audit services and audit quality: blessing or curse? … 60 V. Relationship of auditor tenure to audit quality: empirical evidence from the German audit market … 89

Bakgrund: År 2017 lämnade Riksrevisionen en rapport gällande avskaffandet av revisionsplikten för mindre företag i Sverige, vilket trädde i kraft under 2010. Riksrevisionen förklarade i denna rapport att lagändringen skapade obalans i Sveriges ekonomi. Detta då det av rapporten framgår att större brister i företags bokföring ökat efter att revisionsplikten slopades, vilket främst syns i den så kallade högriskindustrin, varav ett förslag vore att återinföra lagstadgad revision för samtliga aktiebolag i Sverige i mån att skapa legitimitet hos dessa företag.  Syftet: Denna rapport är menad att skapa en diskussion hur företag inom högrisk-branscher, i detta fall restaurangindustrin, skapar legitimitet jämtemot sina intressenter om de inte längre krävs granskas av en revisor. Denna diskussion kommer vara mellan företagare samt av författarna utvalda intressenter för att besvara författarnas underfrågor vilket sedan kommer besvara rapportens huvudfråga.  Metod: Det empiriska materialet som ingår i denna rapport har insamlats med en kvalitativ metod genom triangulering med en abduktiv ansats. Denna har bestått av semistrukturerade intervjuer med företag, banker, Skatteverket, revisorer och redovisare. Svaren har jämförts och analyserats med hjälp av författarnas uppställda teoretiska referensram.   Slutsats: Diskussion mellan företagare och intressenter visar att det inte alltid krävs att företag ska låta sig granskas av en revisor för att uppnå legitimitet, även om detta av intervjupersonerna framgår som den mer legitimerande åtgärden. Av vår slutsats framgår att företag genom förflutna, nutida och framtida handlingar kan skapa och bibehålla legitimitet, vilket innefattar handlingar som att följa de regler och principer som delas av industrin och dess intressenter men även handlingar som skapar en bättre image av företaget och dess ledning. Intressenterna ser även inhyrning av redovisnings och revisionstjänster som legitimerande då bokföringen har skapats indirekt genom rådgivning eller i direkt samspel med en redovisningskonsult samt revisor. Denna rapport är menad att skapa förståelse mellan företag och dess intressenter varav denna slutsats ska bidra till att skapa konsensus mellan de berörda parterna. / Background: Riksrevisionen submitted its reports in 2017, regarding the deregulation of statutory audit for smaller companies in Sweden that came into force in 2010. Riksrevisionen explained that the amendment created disturbances in the Swedish economy. The reason, mentioned in its report, is because the deregulation of statutory audit led to a greater number of errors within companies’ financial reports, particularly in the high-risk industries. Riksrevisionen suggested that statutory audit should be reinstated amongst the smaller companies in Sweden, in order to raise legitimacy among these companies.   Purpose: This thesis aims to create a discussion about how companies within the high-risk industries, in this case, the restaurant industry, creates legitimacy towards its stakeholders if they are no longer demanded by law to be reviewed by an auditor. This discussion will be between companies, banks, Skatteverket and auditors. The result of the dialogue will answer the author’s secondary questions, which in turn will answer the main research question of the report.     Method: The empirical material included in this report has been collected with a qualitative methodology, using triangulation with an abductive approach. The empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews with companies, banks, Skatteverket, auditors and accountants. The answers given were later categorized by subject. The results were compared and analysed with the conceptual framework created by the authors.   Conclusion and discussion: The dialogue between companies and their stakeholders shows that companies may receive legitimacy through other means then letting itself be reviewed by an auditor, which remains the outermost legitimising measure. Our conclusion describes that companies can receive or maintain legitimacy depending on their past, present or future actions. These actions include abiding laws and principles which is shared among the industry and its stakeholders but also those creating a better image of the company and its management. The stakeholders also view hiring accounting- and auditing services as legitimising as the financial reports have been created indirectly through advisement or indirect interplay with an accounting consultant or auditor. This report is meant to create understanding between companies and their stakeholders whereas this conclusion will contribute to the creation of consensus between concerned parties.