Under SEC Rule 14a-8, shareholders have the right to petition management to include a topic for vote on the annual proxy statement. In response, management may request no-action relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff to exclude unwelcome proposals. Using a sample of 3,040...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between internal control, economic policy uncertainty, and performance of cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) based on the panel data of Chinese listed firms. The authors expected that internal control has a positive...

Most recent research and press reports on Sarbanes-Oxley have focused on large, dual-listed companies and UK-based subsidiaries of US companies that have to comply with the regulation. Often, these companies have big compliance budgets and have been at the vanguard of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance...

Chinese firms listing in the U.S. via reverse mergers (CRMs) have dominated prior media, regulator and research attention. Yet CRMs have effectively ceased, leaving Chinese firms listing via initial public offerings (CIPOs) as the relevant remaining class of Chinese firms listing on U.S....

This paper extends prior research on audit risk adjustment by examining the association of audit pricing with problems in internal control over financial reporting, disclosed under Sections 404 and 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While studies of auditors' responses to internal control risk...

With the current debate focusing on providing relief to firms subject to Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the SEC and the PCAOB are jointly developing regulatory and auditing guidelines to simplify and increase the efficiency of the Section 404 review process. To shed light on this ongoing...

Public disclosure about effectiveness of internal control systems is subject to much controversy in Canada, resulting in Canadian disclosures being made in Management Discussion and Analysis (MDamp;A). These disclosures are provided to investors without a definition of the weaknesses to be...

This paper examines the association between ineffective internal control over financial reporting and the profitability of insider trading. We predict and find that the profitability of insider trading is significantly greater in firms disclosing material weaknesses in internal control relative...

This study examines companies' costs to comply with SOX 404 and identifies factors that are associated with these costs. SOX 404 costs can be classified into three categories: internal labor costs, external consulting and technology expenses, and auditor attestation charges. While prior research...

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires firms to assess the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting and auditors to express an opinion on the effectiveness of such internal controls. We examine whether the first-time inclusion of additional audited information in...