Download or read book The Wealth Change and Redistribution Effects of Sarbanes Oxley Internal Control Disclosures written by Gus De Franco and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This article provides evidence about the wealth change and redistribution effects of Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), which requires that management assess and publicly report on the effectiveness of their firm's internal controls, and that auditors publicly provide an opinion on management's assessment, as well as the effectiveness of the internal controls. This section is the most expensive, burdensome and contentious part of SOX - mainly because the benefits are elusive, and according to some critics, non-existent. We analyze a sample of 102 firms that report a deficiency in their internal controls between November 1, 2003 and December 31, 2004 and that have no confounding news during the event window. We find that the cumulative size-adjusted abnormal returns are -1.8% during the three-day event window for firms that report internal control deficiencies. This economically-significant wealth change supports the idea that investors value internal control news and that they are not (at least fully) aware of these deficiencies prior to the disclosures. We confirm these results for a small sample of firms reporting deficiencies in the first calendar quarter of 2005. More importantly, using trading data from the NYSE TAQ database, we find that small- (large-) investor net buying is positively (not) associated with returns. More specifically, it is small-investor net selling that is driving the negative returns. These results are consistent with the redistribution of wealth from large to small investors during the announcement period. In summary, our results support the conjectures made by regulators underlying the regulation and show that small investors benefit more from these disclosures than large investors.
Download or read book Market Uncertainty and Disclosure of Internal Control Deficiencies Under the Sarbanes Oxley Act written by Yongtae Kim and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines cross-sectional differences in stock market reactions to the disclosure of internal control deficiencies under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We hypothesize that the market punishment for internal control problems will be less severe for internal control disclosure that helps reduce market uncertainty around the disclosure. We also predict that such a relation is dependent on the types of disclosure and the market's prior knowledge of the credibility of firms' financial reporting. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that when firms disclose their internal control deficiencies, their abnormal stock returns are negatively associated with changes in market uncertainty (e.g., changes in the standard deviations of daily stock returns) around the disclosure. We also find that the impact of the uncertainty reduction is greater for voluntary disclosures of non-material weakness, especially those made in the context of previous suspicious events. The negative impact of changes in market uncertainty on the abnormal stock returns remains intact even after controlling for possible simultaneity. An analysis using financial analysts' earnings forecasts dispersion as an alternative proxy for uncertainty confirms the results.
Download or read book Law and Corporate Finance written by Frank B. Cross and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors examine the role of the law in developing large financial markets necessary for national economic success. They discuss the basic foundational law of contracts, property and tort, corporate law, and securities law, providing both a broad theoretical and empirical case for its value in financial markets.
Download or read book Applied Economics Business and Development written by Qingyuan Zhou and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-07-22 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This four-volume-set (CCIS 208, 209, 210, 211) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Symposium on Applied Economics, Business and Development, ISAEBD 2011, held in Dalian, China, in August 2011. The papers address issues related to Applied Economics, Business and Development and cover various research areas including Economics, Management, Education and its Applications.
Download or read book Benefits and Costs of Sarbanes Oxley Section 404 B Exemption written by Weili Ge and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thousands of publicly traded U.S. firms are exempt from auditor oversight of internal control effectiveness disclosures (Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002). We provide initial estimates of the measurable benefits and costs of this exemption. We measure the benefit of exemption with audit fee savings, which we estimate to be an aggregate $388 million from 2007 through 2014 for our sample of exempt firms. The key concern of exemption is internal control misreporting (IC misreporting; i.e., firms with ineffective internal controls erroneously disclosing effective internal controls). We estimate that 9.3 percent of exempt firms are IC misreporters, and that 404(b) compliance would lower this IC misreporting to 5.8 percent. IC misreporting imposes at least two measurable costs on current and prospective shareholders: lower operating performance due to non-remediation, and market values that fail to reflect a firm's underlying internal control status. We calculate the cost of 404(b) exemption from 2007 through 2014 to be an aggregate $719 million in lower future earnings due to non-remediation, and a $935 million delay in aggregate market value decline due to the failure to disclose ineffective internal controls. Although the measurable costs of exemption exceed the measurable benefits, the audit fee savings benefit shareholders of all exempt firms, whereas costs are borne by shareholders of only a fraction of exempt firms (the IC misreporters). In addition to providing initial evidence on measurable benefits and costs of internal control disclosure regulation, our study provides a tool for identifying the firms most at risk of inaccurately disclosing internal control effectiveness.
Download or read book Market Reaction to Control Deficiency Disclosures Under the Sarbanes Oxley Act written by Parveen P. Gupta and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sections 302 and 404 of the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act require firms to periodically assess and report control deficiencies to the audit committee as well as to the SEC. Section 302 specifically directs company management to identify and report control deficiencies while Section 404 provides the discipline that forces companies to take the control assessment and reporting task seriously. Importantly, external auditors are required to opine separately on the effectiveness of their client's system of internal control over financial reporting and issue an adverse opinion on internal control in the presence of even a single material weakness. Prior to being mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, management was not required to assess and report on the state of internal controls in their company. Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) #60, which provided guidance to the external auditors on these matters, afforded them a great deal of flexibility and judgment not only in determining what constituted a reportable condition but also limited their disclosure only to the audit committee of the board. In a recent speech, Donald T. Nicolaisen, the SEC's Chief Accountant, remarks that these new requirements are not only a major financial but also a significant cultural endeavor for registrants in the U.S. and abroad. Consequently, these new requirements have drawn uproar and concern from companies of all sizes and market capitalization. Given the outcry from companies and regulatory assertions that these disclosures are the best thing that has ever happened to the capital markets, we examine whether such control deficiency disclosures convey valuation-relevant information to the market. This issue is important because increasing disclosure requirements without any attendant effect on valuation would impose unnecessary deadweight costs. The disclosures employed in our study were not mandatory under Section 404 at the time our sample firms made them. While there may be many reasons why our sample firms report these deficiencies early, these disclosures may portend the effect to be faced by other firms when the Section 404 rule becomes binding. Consistent with the regulatory assertions, we find that such disclosures are associated with a negative stock price reaction, on average, indicating that such disclosures do indeed convey valuation-relevant information. This reaction is mitigated to some extent, but not fully, if management also discloses that remediation steps have been taken to correct the weaknesses identified in the disclosures. Additionally, the price reaction is less negative for firms employing a Big Four auditing firm. Conversely, the reaction is more negative for firms with larger current liabilities relative to total assets, which suggests that control weaknesses may have implications for increased default risk.
Download or read book Internal Control Weakness and Cost of Equity written by Maria Ogneva and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requires every company to report on the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting. Section 404 has arguably been the most controversial provision of SOX, with many registrants complaining that the high cost of compliance outweighs its benefits. In contrast, the SEC and others have argued that the Section 404 provisions are beneficial to the capital markets and will eventually reduce the cost of capital. In this paper, we examine the association between implied cost of equity and internal control effectiveness for firms that filed Section 404 reports with the SEC. We find marginally higher cost of equity for firms disclosing material weakness in internal controls than for a sample of firms disclosing no material weaknesses. The differences in cost of equity disappear after controlling for firm characteristics associated with firms disclosing material weaknesses. Overall, our results are consistent with internal control weakness identified under Section 404 not being directly associated, on average, with higher implied cost of equity.
Download or read book Do Companies with Effective Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting Benefit from Sarbanes Oxley Sections 302 and 404 written by Parveen P. Gupta and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Post-SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) academic research on internal control focuses on the characteristics of publicly listed companies disclosing material control weaknesses or the consequences experienced by these companies. However, to date, limited research has empirically examined whether these new disclosures truly enhance “public interest” by promoting “equity” in the capital markets through enhanced information distribution. In this article, we empirically investigate the impact these disclosures have on information asymmetry and related market micro-structure. We hypothesize that both the management's and the auditor's reporting on internal control provide outside investors additional and higher quality information about a firm's future prospects, thereby reducing the information asymmetry in capital markets. Such reduction in information asymmetry should be reflected in decreased bid-ask spreads and price volatility, as well as increased trading volume. Our cross-sectional analyses show that, subsequent to the management's report on internal control per Section 302, the information environment improves for U.S. firms as manifested by decreased bid-ask spread and price volatility, and increased trading volume. However, we find no similar results subsequent to the auditors' reporting on a company's internal control over financial reporting. In our time-series intervention analyses, about 70% of sample firms have experienced significant and permanent reductions in their bid-ask spreads subsequent to the implementation of Section 302 of SOX, in contrast to only 30% of firms subsequent to the implementation of Section 404 of SOX. Our findings point to the public policy issue of whether financial reporting quality of public companies can be improved at a lower cost.
Download or read book The Journal of Economic Perspectives written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This journal attempts to fill a gap between the general-interest press and other academic economics journals. Its articles relate to active lines of economics research, economic analysis of public policy issues, state-of-the-art economic thinking, and directions for future research. It also aims to provide material for classroom use, and to address issues relating to the economics profession.
Download or read book The Disclosure of Material Weaknesses in Internal Control After the Sarbanes Oxley Act written by Weili Ge and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper focuses on a sample of 261 companies that have disclosed at least one material weakness in internal control in their SEC filings after the effective date of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Based on the descriptive material weakness disclosures provided by management, we find that poor internal control is usually related to an insufficient commitment of resources for accounting controls. Material weaknesses in internal control tend to be related to deficient revenue recognition policies, lack of segregation of duties, deficiencies in the period-end reporting process and accounting policies, and inappropriate account reconciliation. The most common account-specific material weaknesses occur in the current accrual accounts, such as the accounts receivable and inventory accounts. Material weakness disclosures by management also frequently describe internal control problems in complex accounts, such as the derivative and income tax accounts. In our statistical analysis, we find that disclosing a material weakness is positively associated with business complexity (e.g., multiple segments and foreign currency), negatively associated with firm size (e.g., market capitalization), and negatively associated with firm profitability (e.g., return on assets).
Download or read book Corporate Governance written by H. Kent Baker and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-08-20 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed look at the importance of corporate governance in today's business world The importance of corporate governance became dramatically clear at the beginning of the twenty-first century as a series of corporate meltdowns from managerial fraud, misconduct, and negligence caused a massive loss of shareholder wealth. As part of the Robert W. Kolb Series in Finance, this book provides a comprehensive view of the shareholder-manager relationship and examines the current state of governance mechanisms in mitigating the principal-agent conflict. This book also offers informed suggestions and predictions about the future direction of corporate governance. Relies on recent research findings to provide guidance through the maze of theories and concepts Uses a structured approach to put corporate governance in perspective Addresses essential issues related to corporate governance including the idea of principal-agent conflict, role of the board of directors, executive compensation, corporate monitoring, proxy contests and corporate takeovers, and regulatory intervention Corporate governance is an essential part of mainstream finance. If you need to gain a better understanding of this topic, look no further than this book.
Download or read book Earnings Management written by Joshua Ronen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-08-06 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a study of earnings management, aimed at scholars and professionals in accounting, finance, economics, and law. The authors address research questions including: Why are earnings so important that firms feel compelled to manipulate them? What set of circumstances will induce earnings management? How will the interaction among management, boards of directors, investors, employees, suppliers, customers and regulators affect earnings management? How to design empirical research addressing earnings management? What are the limitations and strengths of current empirical models?
Download or read book Principles of Accounting Volume 1 Financial Accounting written by Mitchell Franklin and published by . This book was released on 2019-04-11 with total page 1056 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The text and images in this book are in grayscale. A hardback color version is available. Search for ISBN 9781680922929. Principles of Accounting is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of a two-semester accounting course that covers the fundamentals of financial and managerial accounting. This book is specifically designed to appeal to both accounting and non-accounting majors, exposing students to the core concepts of accounting in familiar ways to build a strong foundation that can be applied across business fields. Each chapter opens with a relatable real-life scenario for today's college student. Thoughtfully designed examples are presented throughout each chapter, allowing students to build on emerging accounting knowledge. Concepts are further reinforced through applicable connections to more detailed business processes. Students are immersed in the "why" as well as the "how" aspects of accounting in order to reinforce concepts and promote comprehension over rote memorization.
Download or read book Business Research Yearbook written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Seventh International Research Symposium on Accounting Information Systems in Conjunction with 14th AIS Research Symposium written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Internal Accounting Control Evaluation and Auditor Judgment written by Theodore J. Mock and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1999 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology presents the results of a comprehensive empirical study of internal control evaluation and auditor judgment initiated by Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in 1977 and originally published as an American Institute of CPAs research monograph in 1981, which was awarded the American Accounting Association Wildman Award in 1982. This book contains an updated review of the professional literature related to internal control, multivariate analyses of the original statistics and analyses of the decision criteria used by the auditors.
