Prior research suggests that the character of the relationship between client management and audit partners will influence the audit and that current audit methodologies rely more extensively on auditor–client interaction. The current paper contributes to the literature by investigating how chief financial officers (CFOs) seek to influence audit planning in connection with planning meetings with auditors. The data consist of semi‐structured interviews with the CFOs of 52 Swedish listed companies. The results suggest that CFOs seek to influence audit planning, particularly with regard to internal controls and the selection and scope of entities subject to audit. Furthermore, the CFOs often tended to assume the role of those charged with governance rather than the role of management during the audit planning phase, which may have implications for ISA 300 (Planning an audit of financial statements).