Much has been written about Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, especially the great expense that it inflicts upon SEC registrants preparing their annual reports. Less remarked on, though, is whether the restrictions that SOX imposes on the auditing profession in its relationship to its...

The issue of the importance of the independent auditor's audit to the integrity of corporate financial statements has been a staple of the corporate governance and financial market functioning literature since the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These acts...

Before implementation of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002, researchers frequently used fees from non-audit services (NAS) as a surrogate for auditor independence. NAS is still used in this way, even though SOX has restricted the types of NAS that auditors may provide to their clients....

We explore differences in the roles of auditors and judges in the United States, emphasizing the issue of independence for each group. We examine factors that influence the independence of US judges and auditors. We use examples to highlight the potential impact of various factors on each...