To inform the debate on the merits of internal control audits, we examine managers' decisions to temporarily exempt newly acquired businesses from Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We provide evidence that managers are more likely to elect the exemption when expected compliance costs are...

When there is high information asymmetry between directors and managers, independent directors do not have enough information to perform their functions. Only when faced with a good internal information environment can such directors acquire enough information to provide advice and monitor...

We examine the influence of auditors on mitigating corporate fraud in China, which is known to have weak legal enforcement, weak investor protection along with tight control of the media and labour unions. We find that firms with executives that have lower integrity, indicated by a greater...

We examine the influence of auditors on corporate fraud in China. We find lower executive integrity firms are associated with higher propensity of regulatory enforcement actions against corporate fraud in the subsequent year. We then show that this effect is moderated by the issuance of modified...

This study examines the effect of managerial fiduciary duties on the likelihood of firms receiving going concern (GC) opinions from their auditors. We exploit an influential 1991 legal ruling that expanded fiduciary duties of corporate directors and officers in favor of creditors for...

The Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) has been examining financial reporting of companies listed in the regulated market in Germany since 1.7.2005. The paper analyzes the enforcement disclosure quality between 2006 and 2008 by comparing the published activity reports of the panel with...

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...

The main objective of financial reporting is to provide useful information to a firm's stakeholders. However, it is questionable whether this goal can be fully realized without effective enforcement, which ensures faithful and consistent application of the relevant accounting standards. Within...

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...

A lawyers claim that the principle of client confidentiality overrides the public's right to know in the wake of wide-spread and deep corporate malfeasance has raised new awareness and concern. The latest round of this debate began with the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 307...