Revisorers auktorisationstid

: byråernas dolda påverkan

Abstract

The number of certified auditors is not expected to meet the future demand of them, which means that the need for certified auditors will increase. Today the regulated certification time amounts to eight years, while the average certification time is ten years, which can be experienced as a long and complex process. We want to investigate how organizations can act in order to reduce the average certification time, by studying the practical certification time, and therefore make the profession more attractive. Hence, the purpose of the study is to explain what organizational factors affect the auditor’s practical certification time.

The study has a quantitative approach and through a deductive approach, hypotheses have been developed. A survey was conducted on certified auditors distributed at audit firms around Sweden to test the hypotheses. The organizational factors studied in the study are mentorship, firm specific education and the management method up-or-out. In addition to the organizational factors, there may be factors that affect the certification time. Therefore, the impact of additional factors was also tested. These factors were gender, age, firm at certification, number of written certification tests, previous work experience, college/university, degree level and leave of absence.

The study did not resulted in any significant relationship between the auditor’s practical certification time and the independent variables that were included in the study. Therefore, the conclusion of the study is that audit firms cannot be expected to have a big impact on the auditor’s practical certification time. Since the study contains deficits and no significant relationship could be demonstrated, there is need and opportunity for further research on the field of research.