Hur ser revisorerna på revisionsbyråernas affärsstrategi år 2011?

Abstract

The Audit obligation abolition has led to that 72 percent of the Swedish limited companies do not need statutory audit. This means that audit firms have had to adapt their business strategy to meet the current market and customer needs. Historically the profession was heavily regulated by their own restrictions on how to respond to clients and competitors. The entire audit profession has now had to adapt in order to become more open to changes.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze how auditors view the audit firms’ business strategy after the abolition of the audit obligation. We have used an abductive research approach and a qualitative method, involving four interviews with auditors from the five largest auditing firms in Sweden, we supplemented this with a documentary study of the firms’ websites and annual reports.

According to the interviewed auditors the audit firms’ business strategy in 2011 still includes auditing. But today it is even more focused on consulting, accounting, sales, and to a greater extent than in previous years the firms market themselves to new and potential customers. These strategic changes began before 2011, but escalated after the audit obligation abolition.

The study contributes to a greater understanding and knowledge of the business strategies for the five largest auditing firms in Sweden in 2011, after the abolition of the audit obligation. The survey results are interesting for the accounting profession and auditors, but also for students intending to become auditors.