The construction of status in the auditor–audit committee relationship

This chapter investigates the construction of status in the relationship between the auditor and the audit committee. Such a study is merited considering that regulation as a driver of corporate governance has been designed towards a regulatory concern with lax audit practice, where the audit committee was presented as a solution. This is, however, a problem not manifested in the Swedish context. The driver was instead connected to the need for companies to follow suit with an Anglo-Saxon regulatory development. The study is informed by interviews with audit committee members and external auditors in large, listed companies and contributes novel insights to the understanding of the transformation of the role of the auditor due to the regulatory driver represented by the audit committees. The findings show a rather paradoxical development where the auditors increase their status through direct access to the board of directors, while also decreasing their status by being reduced to a supplier, among other suppliers of trust and comfort to the directors. The findings are of interest to accounting firms, as well as clients and investors, to recognise the transformation of the status of the auditor in spite of regulations to protect the role.