What did you expect? : a study on how the relationship can affect the expectations on an auditor

Abstract: Problem: That the clients expectations could be influenced by the relationship either positively or negatively. The relationship phases were redefined by Ruyter and Wetzels in 1999 describing the relationship in depth. Purpose: This paper’s purpose is to identify if there are any patterns in the relationship phases regarding the expectations and to discover how high expectations every phase has. Method: We have chosen positivism as our research philosophy and used a mix of a qualitative and quantitative study where we interviewed eight micro-company managers in Sweden. The paper is based on a deductive approach where we try to validate theories that have already been made. Theory: Our study contains theories discussing the audit profession, relationship phases, and the role of auditors, rules to keep an auditor unbiased, expectations on auditors and how an auditor can keep his objectivity, impartiality and independence. Conclusions: The conclusions of our study are that the expectations vary depending on which relationship phase they are in. Another conclusion is that the communication itself could be a major factor in building their relationship. We noticed that there were patterns between the two.