The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) aimed to improve financial reporting by enhancing corporate disclosure and governance. We find statistically significant increases, from before to after the passage of SOX, in total return variance, market risk and idiosyncratic risk. The risk increases are...

This study finds significant changes in capital market measures of risk following the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley for US financial services firms. Shorter-term measures of risk shifts are positive, on average, and consistent with the mandatory nature of the disclosure and governance provisions....