We show that firms 'in danger' of being delisted from a stock market (NASDAQ) report higher performance-adjusted discretionary accruals and the inflated accruals are associated with an increased likelihood of maintained listing. Accruals of firms 'in danger' are less positive in fiscal quarters...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is two-fold: first, to examine whether the quality of accruals, as measured by accrual persistence, improved in the post-SOX period, and second, to examine the degree to which SOX-related improvement in accrual persistence varies across companies depending...

Motivated by regulatory assertions that the purpose of SOX was to restore investor confidence in the securities markets, we examine changes in the stock market reaction to earnings restatements following the implementation of SOX in order to evaluate whether the Act's reforms have had a...

Previous academic research has documented that people experience disutility from potentially being exploited by others beyond what this exploitation may do to their wealth. Such a tendency is labeled as the demand for accountability in accounting, and the psychology behind this phenomenon is...

This paper examines the effect of Sarbanes-Oxley provisions on 10-K filing delays. We find that tightened filing deadlines for accelerated and large accelerated filers are not associated with changes in the incidence of late filing; that Section 404 compliance does not affect filing timeliness...

I study how increased internal control disclosure requirements mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) affect annual corporate governance decisions regarding CFOs. Using non-CEO, non-COO executive officers as a control group, I find that CFOs of firms with weak internal controls receive lower...

This paper investigates remediation of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 material weaknesses (MWs). Prior research examines full remediation of all MWs or broad categories thereof. We build on these studies by investigating remediation of specific types of MW, thus measuring progress in improving...

An important aim of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was to reduce cost of capital by enhancing auditor independence. However, prior literature has argued that SOX has been ineffective in meeting this objective. We contribute to this debate by first providing evidence suggesting that auditor...

This paper responds to recent questions posed by PCAOB regarding how to more effectively utilize fraud risk assessments in the audit process. It examines the effects of explicitly integrating fraud risk assessments into auditors' judgments of the risk of material misstatement (RMM)....

I examine factors influencing accounting firms' and their clients' decisions to pursue an auditing vs. consulting relationship. I employ the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) prohibition on providing both services to the same clients as a natural experiment. Because Deloitte & Touche was the only Big 4...