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Explaining the influence of time budget pressure on audit quality in Sweden

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Abstract

This paper is aimed at explaining how time budget pressure influences audit quality in the Swedish context. A hypothesis is deduced and tested through a survey sent to Swedish auditors. The Swedish context provides a special setting since audit firms and auditors have been facing new pressures due, for example, to the removal of statutory audits for a majority of the companies in Sweden. The findings show that time budget pressure lowers the quality of audits performed by Swedish auditors, but it is not the only explanation. Audit quality is also related to other factors such as gender, position, experience, number of clients, local office size and audit firm. Thus, the model is useful for explaining the factors influencing audit quality and could be used and expanded in future studies. The study also has practical implications showing that when trading-off between audit efforts and available resources and setting time budgets for each audit assignment, audit firms should also consider the personal characteristics of the auditors.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the auditors who answered the survey and are indebted to participants in the 36th EAA Annual Congress for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper. The research has been funded by Kristianstad University and Linköping University. The authors are also thankful to their colleague Timurs Umans who contributed with valuable input.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden

    Pernilla Broberg, Daniela Argento, Niclas Gyllengahm & Ola Mårtensson

  2. Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Pernilla Broberg & Torbjörn Tagesson

  3. Grant Thornton, Malmö, Sweden

    Niclas Gyllengahm

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  1. Pernilla Broberg
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  2. Torbjörn Tagesson
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Correspondence to Torbjörn Tagesson.

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Broberg, P., Tagesson, T., Argento, D. et al. Explaining the influence of time budget pressure on audit quality in Sweden. J Manag Gov 21, 331–350 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-016-9346-4

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