Background

In 2006 the audit duty for SME’s was abolished in Denmark, and January 1st 2007 Finland decided to do the same. The subject is now under investigation in Sweden since the government has appointed an

investigation dealing with the future of the audit duty for small companies. The report will not only investigate whether an abolishment needs to be done but also if compliments are needed in order to prevent companies from breaking the rules, intentionally or unintentionally due to lack of knowledge.

Purpose

To investigate how a possible abolishment of the auditing duty for small companies will affect the creditors’ ability to assess the company’s creditworthiness.

Method

The selected sample of this study contained interviews with five organisations that would be affected differently of an abolishment of the audit duty. The authors wanted to interview organisations with different perceptions of the audit duty although the or-ganisations have in common that they all possess knowledge which is important to the banks in the credit rating process. The sample consists of representatives from; FAR SRS, Företagarna, Handelsbanken, Nordea and Upplysningscentralen.

Conclusion

All the different organisations in the study showed different views in the value of having audited financial statements. FAR SRS and Företagarna were, as could be expected, most and least in favour of having audited financial statements. UC did not predict to be affected by an abolishment, but did see a value in it. Interesting conclusions could be seen between the banks. It showed that depending on the organisational structure dif-ferent value was seen in the audit duty. This addresses how important a bank’s routines are in the process of valuing a company’s creditworthiness. The study showed that an abolishment will probably turn the focus in the credit process from the information that figures generates. The information used to assess a company’s creditworthiness would to a larger extent be on analysing the business concept, the environment and the re-sources that a company posses.