In recent years, firms (and lawmakers) have sought to mitigate the dysfunctional effects of incentive-based executive compensation by adopting clawbacks. However, extant clawbacks (whether firm-initiated or as mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act) do not go far enough in that they seem to allow...

We examine the relation between nonaudit fees and SOX 404 opinions on the effectiveness of a client's internal control over financial reporting. We find a negative association between nonaudit fees and the auditor's propensity to issue an adverse SOX 404 opinion during 2004-2006 (when AS2 was...

Section 404b of the 2002 Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) requires auditors to attest to the effectiveness of a client's internal control over financial reporting (ICFR). In this paper, we provide an overview of key regulatory events in the implementation of the 404 internal control audit. We discuss...

We examine the relation between voluntary clawback adoptions in the US and firms’ propensity to issue earnings forecasts and the frequency of such forecasts. We find that clawback adoptions are followed by an increase in the likelihood and frequency of managers issuing earnings forecasts....