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...

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...

Since the revelation of accounting scandals at Enron, Worldcom, and several other high profile companies (quot;Enron et al.quot;) five years ago, there has been unprecedented public focus on U.S. corporate governance. A common view, articulated by many journalists, politicians, and public...

Corporate governance is essential for establishing an attractive investment climate characterised by competitive companies and an efficient capital market. This paper examines the impact of four corporate governance programmes to perceived auditor independence from the perspective of Malaysian...

We provide evidence of an association between audit partner rotation and the quality of earnings. It is a requirement for Australian firms that the engagement partner be identified by name in the annual report. Using a sample of 3,621 firm-years between 1998 and 2003, we show that audit partner...

We develop a classification to score the potential of corporate audit committees to be financially literate, as defined in this paper, based on listing requirements of the NYSE, promulgated late in 1999. We score audit committees of approximately 300 large companies in 2000 and 2004, and of a...

This study addresses the role of audit committees and auditors in the reporting of internal control deficiencies after the passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX). We find that a higher number of meetings of the audit committee, lesser proportion of quot;financial expertsquot; in the audit...

I analyze the effect of auditor choice on acquirers' market values around merger announcements and the factors affecting the interaction between auditor size and the market reaction to the merger announcements. Surprisingly, I find that acquirers audited by the largest accounting firms...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandates the disclosure of whether at least one member of the audit committee is a financial expert. However, the final version of the rule adopted by the SEC defined experts to include both accounting and non-accounting experts. Did the SEC do the right thing? Are the...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) mandates management evaluation and independent audits of internal control effectiveness. The mandate is costly to firms but may yield benefits through lower information risk that translates into lower cost of equity. We use unaudited pre-SOX 404 disclosures and SOX...