By way of introduction the thesis draws attention to the fact that a law reform was passed unanimously on December 6th, 2012. The objective behind the law reform is to lighten the administrative burden to smaller businesses situated in accounting group B. One of the new initiatives is to allow the companies to choose between a traditional audit and a new stand-ard, called “Udvidet gennemgang”.By doing so the government expect the business commu-nity to save DKK 236 million. In addition each company that chooses “Udvidet gennemgang” as an alternative to being audited is expected to save up to 25 % off their fees regarding auditing. FSR – danske revisorer have stated that requirements from interested parties and specific circumstances determine what product from an accountant a company should choose.
The aim of this thesis in to investigate and scrutinize if and under which circumstances the new standard has a raison d'être. The thesis provides an account of the now four main prod-ucts an accountant can offer followed by an analysis of differences and similarities between them. With empirical studies four accountants and four bank employees are involved to con-tribute to a more nuanced understanding of which companies that can and should choose the new standard over a traditional audit and vice versa. The thesis concludes that both the requirements of internal and external interested parties are important factors when a com-pany has to decide whether or not it should choose the new standard. If an owner also man-ages the daily operations of his business which furthermore is self-financing, it speaks in fa-vour of choosing “Udvidet gennemgang”. Holding companies with limited activity can also benefit from leaving the more comprehensive and expensive audit. However, if a company satisfies none of the above-mentioned characteristics an audit most often makes the most sense. Moreover, if a company has a borrowing requirement it is important to know what the financial institutions focus on. From the personal interviews used in the thesis the finan-cial institutions highlight a company’s complexity, its financial state and the bank’s collateral securities as the three most important factors when the financial institutions decide whether or not to demand an audit or accept the new standard, “Udvidet gennemgang”.