Background: The mandatory audit for small companies is up for discussion in Sweden today. The motives behind voluntary auditing in small companies have been investigated in several countries before. One of these motives, outsourcing, is currently unexplored. Outsourcing is very common amongst companies today and is expected to increase even more in the near future. The global market for outsourced financial services is expected to grow to over 525 billion dollars by 2030, according to a report by Grand View Research (2022). But how does the outsourcing of financial functions actually affect small companies' choice of voluntary audit? Purpose of the study: To investigate the motives behind voluntary audits among small companies in Sweden who outsource their financial function, and how the outsourcing offinancial services can contribute to an increased need for audits in small companies. Method: This is a qualitative study conducted with semi-structured interviews with 10 Swedish companies who are not required to be audited and do outsource their financial work. Conclusions: The main motives for voluntary audit in outsourcing companies are the following: The accountant’s expertise and advice. Security for the company owner To fulfill the indirect requirements of external stakeholders. Creditworthiness, to get a good score on UC and Creditsafe. Increased quality of the financial reports: audit gives a quality stamp. The company will soon be required to go through external audit Regarding outsourcing, the respondents testify that the audits do assure them that their external consultant does the financial work properly, but controlling the external consultant is not the main reason for choosing voluntary audit. Our study also shows a new aspect, which is, the company owners' previous experiences with outsourcing seems to influence their view of how outsourcing affects the need for auditing. Overall, the results show that outsourcing alone is not a motive for the choice of audit.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:sh-51916 |
Date | January 2023 |
Creators | Budakoti, Anchal, Österholm, Matilda |
Publisher | Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper |
Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
Language | Swedish |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
Format | application/pdf |
Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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