How Auditing Company X Works with Retaining Valuable Employees : Swedish Case study

Abstract: Today, neither employees nor employers seem to take for granted that a person will stay with the same firm until retirement. Yet, keeping employees for longer periods is an impor-tant challenge for firms. One industry where retention is interesting is the auditing industry in Sweden, this because certain requirements are needed to become an auditor. Firstly, the employee needs to have a Swedish university degree, including specific courses within au-diting/accounting. Furthermore, the person needs practical experience for a specific period of time. Due to these statements the challenge of retaining and motivating valuable em-ployees is crucial for the auditing firms, which is why we have chosen to do a case study at Auditing Company X to see how they work with employee retention. We have compared the findings to our chosen theory, which consist of four categories: the hiring process, in-ternal labor market and career, motivation and performance, and finally culture and leader-ship. These four categories are initially based on Leigh Branham‟s book: „Keeping the people who keep you in business: 24 ways to hang on to your most valuable talent‟ (Bran-ham, 2001). In our conducted case study, at Auditing Company X, we have been able to conclude that the firm‟s retention practices are to a great extend in line with the theoretical framework. There are some areas that need further attention from the company, such as an individua-lized reward system and communication between managers and employees. Even though there are some parts to work on the most important aspects of retention, such as having a holistic and long-term orientation, Auditing Company X seems to have incorporated this into their practices successfully.