Background and Problem: The lack of auditor independence is discussed being oneof the reasons to scandals such as Enron and HQ. A pricing strategy that has beendebated impairing auditor independence is low balling. To win a new client in atender process, audit firms supposedly offer an audit fee below cost and then increasethe fee the following years to recover the initial loss. The auditors? future financialinterest in the company due to the initial loss is by some believed to impair auditorindependence, which makes low balling in Sweden a relevant phenomenon to study.Aim of study: This thesis aims to explain if low balling exists on the Swedish auditmarket and if the size of companies affects the results of low balling.Methodology: To achieve the purpose of this thesis, a statistical study wasconducted.

Introduction:By insight in the company and by monitoring the management, the board has an important function in creating trust in governance of the company. Furthermore, the board reduces the asymmetry of information between the owners and the management, which also is the function of the auditor, by auditing how the board governs the company and the accounting. In case the board does not effectively monitor the management, the auditor has to extend its monitoring, which increases the owners agency costs through the audit fee. The board composition can affect how effectively the board practices the monitoringProblem: How is the audit fee affected by the board composition?Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how the board composition affects the audit fee.Method: The study uses a quantitative method, where the data was collected from the annual reports of 112 limited companies listed on the NASDAQ OMX Large and Mid Cap lists on January 2, 2012.

The question of the mandatory audits be or not be has been investigated thoroughly in recent years. Theresult is that the audit obligation in all likelihood will be voluntary for 96 percent of all of Sweden´slimited companies in the summer of 2010. The new draft law gives the accountant the opportunity towork both as an accountant and consultant. The investigation in this script works with the question"Which services the owner-managed companies, which in future not will be forced to audit, demandfrom an accounting firm in the suspension of the mandatory audit?" This will take the investigation outby a quantitative study through questionnaires distributed to 40 limited companies.

Background: The Swedish Parliament passed a law change in late 2010, suspending the former requirement for all Swedish incorporated companies to have an auditor. The new limit values allow the smallest incorporated companies to dismiss the auditor of the company (or not appoint one in the case of a newly started company). The opinions of abolishing mandatory audit vary, and little research has been done post to the law change. However, a new situation has arisen, meaning the optional choice of voluntary audit, for some companies.Aims and research questions: The aim of the thesis is to examine the reasons behind voluntary audit in Sweden, as well as what value companies, having chosen audit, see in their auditor. The following research questions have been used in order to fulfill the aim of the thesis: ?Why do small private owner-led incorporated companies in Sweden voluntarily choose audit?? and ?What value does the voluntarily chosen auditor add to the companies??Methodology: The research questions were formulated after reviewing relevant literature and scientific articles regarding the topic of voluntary audit, as well as the recent law change in Sweden.

Background & Problem: The Statutory audit was initiated in the beginning of 1983 with the argument that it had a preventative affect against economic crimes. It is discussed whether the statutory audit should be abolished considering it brings major costs for small limited companies, also there are discussions however easing the regulation for these companies. What effect would it impose for the preventative work against economic crimes if the statutory audit is abolished?Purpose: The purpose with this study is to learn how an abolishment of the statutory audit among so called micro businesses will affect authorities? preventive work against the economic crimes.Demarcate: The study is demarcated to comprise only authorities that work with preventing economic crimes with help of the statutory audit and that will be affected of an possible abolishment, such as the Swedish Tax Office (Skatteverket) and the Swedish National Economic Crimes Bureau (Ekobrottsmynigheten).Methodology: The research is based on a qualitative approach with personal interviews with two representatives from each authority. The gathering of data has been done by researching literature and databases.Conclusions: The result shows that the statutory audit is significant for the authorities and their preventive work.

Introduction: There was a reduction in Sweden of the share capital in 2010, in which the share capital was reduced from 100 000 SEK to 50 000 SEK. The reason behind the reduction of the share capital was to enable more people to start limited liability companies in Sweden. Meanwhile in Europe, they questioned the function of the share capital, and as a result of this discussion a number of European countries have abolished the requirement for the share capital in limited liability companies.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what meaning the share capital has to entrepreneurs based on their own businesses, and to see what function the share capital have for the creditors.Problem: What are the meaning of the share capital for today´s entrepreneurs and its creditors?Methodology: The study is based on a qualitative research method in which a cross-sectional study was done with four small limited liability companies and four creditors.Conclusions: The share capital functions and meaning has lost its intended meaning as creditor protection and the help to facilitate the raising of capital. The share capitals intention has to some extent been eroded.

In today's society there is tougher climate both financially and time wise. Accountants working under tight deadlines leading to the compromise between quality and quantity in the audit process and them therefor are being guilty of so-called reduced audit quality, RAQ. Reduced audit quality involves intentional actions designed to somehow reduce the evidence contained in the audit. We examine in this study the impact of time budget pressure (TBP), underreporting of time (URT), ethical organizational culture and charismatic leadership has on the frequency of RAQ.Previous research has already shown that there are clear links between TBP and RAQ, between URT and RAQ and between ethical culture in organizations and audit quality available. Five hypotheses were designed to the study.

The recent development in several countries? legislation and best practice recommendations in relation to corporate governance in general and audit committees in particular have affected Swedish listed corporations in the form of the Swedish Corporate Governance Code and the coming EU-directive. This paper aims to discover what factors affected Swedish listed companies to form audit committees when this was entirely voluntary. We collected data from the annual reports of 121 Swedish listed companies and formed eleven hypotheses as to what factors we believed affected the voluntary formation of audit committees based on Agency Theory, economies of scale and circumstances specific to the Swedish environment. We then analyzed the data through the use of a multivariate logistic regression model.

The problem area was identified due to the fact that research within internal audit is fragmented and insufficient, simultaneously to internal audit becoming more common in the public debate. Crises and scandals in companies such as Enron in the US and Skandia in Sweden have resulted in new regulations regarding how companies should be governed. These regulations have been established in Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) in the US, and in Sweden the Swedish code for corporate governance will be implemented in 2005. The regulations imply that companies must provide sound internal control and to accomplish that, companies should have an auditing and consulting internal audit function. The Swedish code for corporate governance denotes that companies can decide to comply or explain why the code is not complied.

Energy awareness is growing among the Swedish population and a one­?to­?two-family dwelling can save energy. The purpose of this paper is to design a tool that helps these home owners reduce their energy costs.The paper develops a model that gives them an indication of how much energy they can save. For the majority of homeowners, the next step in the quest to reduce theirs is most likely an energy audit. Therefore, information to help home owners to get a good energy audit performed is included in the model.A prototype running the operating system iOS is created and validated against existing models, as well as an energy audit. .

On November 1st 2010 the obligatory audit was removed in Sweden for small companies. What factors influence such companies to have their financial reports audited, and what factors exert the strongest influence. Purpose: The authors would like to investigate factors that affect companies with voluntary audits in Skåne län to continue with the audit. The authors also wish to examine the factors that have the strongest impact on the choice to adopt auditing. Method: A quantitative study has been conducted in which aquestionnaire was sent to companies in Skåne Län Conclusion: The factors that affect smaller companies to continue with audit are as follows: Accounting quality, cost, creditors (loans), suppliers / customers, the tax office and distort competition.

Title: The dynamics of the Audit expectation gapIntroduction: The audit expectations gap is the difference that exists between what auditors and users of accounting information expects an independent auditor to do. Since the definition arose in 1974, much research has been done about the gap. What is relatively unexplored is how the gap changes over time within a country, and how it is affected by external events. This lack of knowledge has motivated this study.Problem: How has the audit expectation gap changed in Sweden, from the emergence of the definition until today? In which way have corporate scandals and legislative changes affected the gap?Purpose: The aim is to identify and create an understanding of how the audit expectation gap has changed in Sweden.

In 2010 mandatory audit was revoked for small and medium sized companies in Sweden. At the same time the authorization for accounting consultants was established with the aim of raising the knowledge and status of the profession. Even though The Swedish Companies Registration Office has discovered more errors in the accounting after the mandatory audit was eliminated, it especially concerns those companies who does not have neither an auditor or an accounting consultant. One of the reasons often mentioned to be audited is the auditors role when it comes to lending decisions. Our empirical studie show that the auditors most important function, being unbiased, is not what is of greatest importance for the credit institutions.Instead it was professional skills, and for small and medium enterprises (SME) it was consulting they requested the most.

On November 1st 2010 the obligatory audit was removed in Sweden for small companies. What factors influence such companies to have their financial reports audited, and what factors exert the strongest influence. Purpose: The authors would like to investigate factors that affect companies with voluntary audits in Skåne län to continue with the audit. The authors also wish to examine the factors that have the strongest impact on the choice to adopt auditing. Method: A quantitative study has been conducted in which aquestionnaire was sent to companies in Skåne Län Conclusion: The factors that affect smaller companies to continue with audit are as follows: Accounting quality, cost, creditors (loans), suppliers / customers, the tax office and distort competition.

Sale and acquisition of a business is risky, since vague legislation and lack of literature often contribute to the fact that it is not possible for the parties to know beforehand how a dispute about the agreement shall be resolved. The objective of this thesis is to clarify what should be applied in terms of liability and the allocation of risks between the parties, in order to help avoid disputes about the agreement. In order to fulfill the purpose of the thesis, the legal status of the agreement has been investigated, as well as the question whether the sale of goods act should be applied, even though the sales agreement between the parties should be the primary regulation. Furthermore, another question that has been investigated is whether the buyer?s duty to investigate, and the seller?s duty to inform, affects the allocation of risks between the parties, and thereby also their liability..