We use incremental and joint implementation of multiple SOX-based control effectiveness disclosure and audit mandates to assess relative performance of alternatives for small U.S. public companies. Using data from several low and high effort management disclosure and audit regimes implemented...

The 1964 Securities Acts Amendments extended the mandatory disclosure requirements that had applied to listed firms since 1934 to large firms traded Over-the-Counter (OTC). We find several pieces of evidence indicating that investors valued these disclosure requirements, two of which are...

Foreign companies listing on U.S. exchanges are required to report financial information under U.S. GAAP on Form 20-F using either Item 17 or Item 18 disclosure rules. These two disclosure rules differ in that Item 17 allows many exemptions from U.S. GAAP, while Item 18 requires disclosure of...

Securities regulators around the world are considering the costs and benefits of alternative policies for providing information to financial markets on corporate internal control. These policy options differ on the level of auditor involvement, among other dimensions. We examine the association...

At a time when distrust of corporate management is at an all-time high and the media are increasing their focus on corporate governance, Standard amp; Poor's has published a study that examines the transparency and disclosure (Tamp;D) practices of major public companies around the globe. This...

This study examines how key market participants — managers and analysts — responded to SFAS 123R's controversial requirement that firms recognize stock-based compensation expense. Despite mandated recognition of the expense, some firms' managers exclude it from pro forma earnings and some...

This paper examines the valuation implications of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions allowances. We posit that the value of a firm's bank of emission allowances has two components that are likely to be positively valued by the capital market: 1) an asset value component; and 2) a real option value...

Citing fear of legal liability as a partial explanation, prior research documents (1) managers' reluctance to voluntarily disclose management earnings forecasts, and (2) higher forecast disclosure frequencies in periods of bad news. We provide evidence on how management earnings forecast...

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the United States Congress enacted new legislation and regulations in 2002 requiring corporations to recognize stock option grants as an expense (voluntarily) on their financial statements. In 2004 option, expensing became mandatory. This paper...

The primary purpose of a data standard is to improve the comparability of data created by multiple standard users. Given the high cost of developing and implementing data standards, it is desirable to be able to assess the quality of data standards. We develop metrics for measuring completeness...