Exploring the association between the content of internal audit disclosures and external audit fees: Evidence from Sweden

Abstract

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.