Forventningskløft og rapportering i forbindelse med regnskabsaflæggelse

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to clarify the issue of expectancy gap and the factors that effects on companies’ choice of statements type in the context of financial reporting. The past several years, there has been an increased focus on relieving the administrative burdens for companies, and thereby make the Danish market more competitive. Since 2006, three new types of statements have been introduced in the context of the relief of the administrative burdens. This includes respectively extended review, review, and arranging of financial information. Along with the relief of the obligatory audit, there has been an increasingly focus on auditors work since the financial crisis. Today we experience a distinctive expectancy gap more than ever. To evaluate whether the relief of the obligatory audit has achieved the intended impact, we have analyzed the existing differences between the four different types of statements. We can state that there are major differences in work actions between auditing and the other statements. The work actions of extended review and review are very similar to each other and are only separated by four supplementary work actions in the extended review. The government expected the extended review to be a success as well as a substitute to audit, but these expectations and the needs of the users of the annual report don’t concur. The review and extended review cannot provide the safety, which the users of the annual report need and want. Researches show that the users of the annual report don’t know the difference between auditing and the alternative statements. The users, which comprehend banks and suppliers, don’t give the review and extended review any value against an audit. Therefore, the objective of the statement of review and extended review hasn’t achieved the expected effect. By the analyses, we can state, that the companies, which don’t depend on credit from suppliers or banks, could benefit from declining the audit and use arranging of financial information instead. The companies, which are not subject to demand from external users of the annual report, might achieve a relief of the administrative burdens. We believe that the government could achieve a relief of the administrative burdens by removing the opportunity to choose a review and extended review, further giving all companies in accounting B-class the opportunity to declining the audit. This proposal gives an increased focus on companies that don’t need a high level of safety. At the same time the proposal simplifies the rules in the context of financial reporting.