Before the interviews took place, the company’s
annual reports for the period covered by the
questionnaire were studied as a familiarisation
exercise. No standard interview guidelines or
questions were developed as each case was
different. Instead, FDs were asked to ‘tell the story’,
from their perspective, of the discussions and
negotiations with their auditors referred to in their
questionnaire responses, and encouraged to raise
any other issues they wanted to (Thompson,
1988).