This study investigates whether audit committee do contribute towards external auditor independence. Audit committees are mandatory internal control mechanism required in all listed firms to ensure effective enforcement of good corporate governance. The results indicate that auditor independence...

Despite the unquestionable influence of conservatism, disagreement remains about what economic demands lead to financial reporting conservatism. Research examining lenders' demands for reporting conservatism has been questioned for ignoring conservative contract modifications. We document that...

This paper examines the economic relevance of the factors set forth under Section 408 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to guide the enhanced regulatory scrutiny of public company financial disclosures, as required under the Act. We interpret two of the factors, volatility and firm size, as predictors...

We add to the literature on mandatory auditor rotation by examining the Florida government audit environment in which there exist both rotation and non-rotation regimes and in which there exists an independent measure of the joint quality of the audit and of the financial statements of the...

Audit deficiencies have far-reaching implications on the users of financial reports, accounting firms and their clients, and the accounting profession. Section 104 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (USHR 2002) requires the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to conduct inspections of each...

US public companies recently filed, for the second or third time, management and auditor reports on internal control as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (404 reports). This Special Comment summarizes our experience and findings on the credit implications of these reports

We examine Enron's collapse to provide insights as to the efficacy of recent governance reforms. In doing so, we explore two main issues. First, if recently mandated governance changes had been in place earlier, would they have constrained actions by Enron's management? Second, and more...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of effectiveness of 42 red flags for detecting fraudulent financial reporting as perceived by 82 internal auditors. According to Practice Advisory 1210.A2-2.2: Responsibility for Fraud Detection (IIA, 2004), internal auditors have a...

We examine the effect of the use of fairness opinions by acquirers on acquirers' short-term market performance. Our paper is the first to examine the effect of using fairness opinions on acquirers' abnormal returns around merger announcements. We hypothesize that acquirers purchase fairness...

The current regulatory environment, brought on by recent high-profile audit failures, expands the auditor's role in detecting fraud. For example, auditors must now provide an opinion on clients' internal controls, addressing their effectiveness at preventing or detecting fraud. While the...