The aim of this study is to explore the content of internal audit (IA) disclosures in annual reports and explain the relationship between IA disclosures and external audit fees. A content analysis of the IA disclosures made it possible to generate inductive categories that were used as a basis for statistical analysis. The findings show a large variation in disclosure practices, and only a small portion of all disclosures contain firm‐specific information related to IA. Evidence is provided that the use of an IA function (IAF) is associated with higher external audit fees. However, companies that disclose firm‐specific information related to IA pay lower audit fees than those not providing this disclosure. Overall, the results of this study indicate that firm‐specific IA disclosures most likely represent actual investments in IA and can be used as a proxy for IAF quality.

This study analyses whether municipal ownership affects and determines audit fees. Our model of the determinants of audit fees was tested on data from 249 Swedish municipal and 240 private corporations within the real estate industry, thus extending the study of audit fees to hybrid organizations. The statistical analysis was followed up with interviews of five partners from five different audit firms. The result of the study shows that municipal corporations are paying significantly lower audit fees than equivalent private corporations. This finding is primarily explained by lower perceived business risk and by the fact that municipalities are able to push prices by coordinating procurements of audit services.

Ever since Simunic (1980), a great deal of research has examined the pricing of auditing services. The absence of proprietary audit cost data forces most researchers to use audit fee models linking theoretical concepts to observable data. In order to make audit pricing more transparent, there is a need to examine the determinants of audit fees with regard to, for example, different organizational forms, institutional settings, and governance mechanisms.Regarding corporate disclosures, most prior research has investigated various determinants, although little field-based research has focused on the actual disclosure process. By focusing on disclosure practices, it is possible to explore the role of essential actors involved in the preparation of annual reports. The overall aim of this thesis is twofold: first, to explore theoretically salient influences on audit fees by analyzing the effects of client business risk, municipal ownership, and the content of internal audit disclosures, and second, to improve our understanding of how companies manage their corporate disclosures.This thesis consists of a compilation of four papers and a comprehensive summary. The specific aim of each paper and current knowledge of the phenomenon under study have formed the basis for the methodological choices (interviews, content analysis, and regression analysis). The empirical material consists mainly of publicly available data from annual reports and of interviews with managers of listed companies, audit firms, and communication agencies. Given the twofolded aim of this thesis, evidence is provided that: (i) the determinants of audit fee cutting and relative audit fee pressure are considerably different, especially with regard to different client business risk factors; (ii) municipal companies are paying significantly lower audit fees than equivalent private companies; (iii) there is a considerable heterogeneity in internal auditing disclosures, and companies with more transparent firm-specific disclosures related to internal auditing pay lower audit fees than do those not providing such disclosures; and (iv) the management of corporate disclosure within the annual report is heavily influenced by the knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics of the project manager.