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...

We examine changes in the association between auditor type (Big 4, Second-Tier, and Other non-Big 4) and perceived financial reporting credibility in the wake of events (e.g., Andersen's failure, the implementation of SOX, creation of the PCAOB, etc.) which led to significant growth in...

Multiple stakeholders in the financial reporting process have articulated concerns over the rules-based orientation that U.S. accounting standards have adopted. Many argue that a more principles-based approach to standards setting, typified by international accounting standards, would improve...

We examine whether future shareholder activism is associated with current financial reporting quality. Activism refers to actions taken by shareholders to change firm policies and practices. If issues are present in an investee's financial reports, we expect shareholders to act to improve...

We provide the first, large sample evidence on firms’ voluntary, third-party verification of environmental and social metrics in ESG reports (“ESG assurance”) in the United States. Focusing on S&P 500 firms from 2010-2020, we document a striking increase in ESG assurance. Unlike financial...

We provide evidence on the long standing concern on auditor conflicts of interest from providing non-audit services (NAS) to audit clients by using rarely explored NAS fee data from 1978-80 Using this earlier setting, we find cross-sectional evidence of improved earnings quality when auditors...

Accounting regulation is one aspect of the government’s role in protecting the investing public’s interest. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was an effort by the U.S. Congress to remedy negative effects of earlier major accounting failures. Requirements of SOX highlight the critical role...

The paper describes the accounting profession role in the framework of corporate and securities regulation as a tool to "control" directors & managers in the interest of investors. It delves in the relevance of auditor's independence, analyzing the crucial issues and moments that may put that...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of prior year firm’s performance on subsequent year firm’s corporate governance mechanism. We used board size, CEO–Chairman combined structure and audit expenditure as a firm level corporate governance mechanism. The panel data of...

Using data on corruption convictions from the U.S. Department of Justice, we find that auditors charge higher fees when a firm is headquartered in a more corrupt district. This result is robust to a wide range of time and location fixed effects, using capital city isolation as an instrument, and...