Studies of audit fees have focused on the audit market and on the organisational costs related to the production of audit. Audit is, however, an activity that is oriented towards the principal of the organisation, and could therefore be expected to vary according to the relationship between the agent and the principal, and vary according to the organisation of the principal. This is the governance issue of auditing. We hypothesize that audit fees are used mainly as a signalling device by agents and as a means of reducing conflict among agents when communicating to principals, be they citizen, the mass media or interest group. The model is tested on data from Swedish municipalities, thus extending the study of audit fees to political organisations. The test results supported the ordinary propositions of organisation and markets, as well as the proposition of the principal, thus suggesting that audit could be managed without managing auditors.

Municipal corporations can be seen as a method of disintegrating municipal operations but retaining control through those corporations. We assume that the municipal influence of the corporation can be described through the concept of governance strategy. Through a case study of seven corporations in one Swedish municipality, we found that emphasis was put on corporate strategy as a governance mechanism and that the board only retained a latent capacity. Furthermore, financial control and executive compensation were hardly ever used as a governance mechanism, which led us to formulate the ‘chamber concert’ hypothesis: The use of governance mechanisms is influenced by traditions, norms, knowledge, and governance needs.

Municipal corporations exist in an institutional twilight area, being both private and public, a characteristic, which presumably would be reflected in their choice of accounting standards. The literature of accounting choice does not, however, live in a twilight area, but is fragmented into two main divisions: positive accounting theory (PAT) and institutional theory (IT); only in a very few cases do the theories meet or cross-fertilize. We use both theories in this paper and derive hypotheses from them to explain accounting choices made by municipal corporations. Through testing the hypotheses on a sample of 545 Swedish municipal corporations, we indicate the empirical relevance of both PAT and IT. We conclude by suggesting an integrative approach of PAT and IT in an eclectic alternative. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A theory based on the demography of top management teams is used to explain membership turnover in two Swedish business groups, network analysis being used to define group membership. The results suggest these business groups possess a combination of financial and industrial experience as a group resource and the socialising strategy of control as a force counteracting the conflict-producing force of heterogeneity. An organisational demographic perspective focusing on opposing forces of heterogeneity and homogeneity is developed. It is shown that the perspective can be applied both to formal organisations and to informal ones such as networks.

The demand for information and transparency from corporations has increased over the last few years. Today, there are other information dissemination channels besides annual financial statements. One important channel is the Internet. The aim of this study is to explain the extent and content of social disclosure information on corporations’ websites. The empirical data in this study is based on annual financial statements and such websites. A multi- theoretical framework is used in order to explain the extent and content of social disclosures on corporate websites. The findings support that size and profitability are positively correlated with the content of social disclosure information on these websites. In general, State-owned corporations disclose more social information on their websites than privately owned corporations do. There are significant differences between different industries. This is true regarding not only the extent of social disclosures, but also their content.

Public awareness and interest in environmental and social issues as well as increased attention in the mass media have resulted in a higher demand for social disclosures from organisations. The aim of this study is to explain the extent and variation of content in social disclosures among Swedish municipalities. The empirical data is based on annual financial statements and archive data from official statistics. In this study we take an eclectic approach, and use a multi-theoretical framework in order to explain the content and extent of social disclosures. The study reveals that municipalities in general report very little social information. The statistical analyses show that the extent of social disclosures is associated with size, tax base, tax rate, financial performance and political majority. In general, the same variables that explain the extent of social disclosures also seem to explain differences in the content of disclosures between different municipalities.