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Book Internal Control Weaknesses and Information Uncertainty

Download or read book Internal Control Weaknesses and Information Uncertainty written by Messod D. Beneish and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We analyze a sample of 330 firms making unaudited disclosures required by Section 302 and 383 firms making audited disclosures required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We find that Section 302 disclosures are associated with negative announcement abnormal returns of -1.8 percent, and that firms experience an abnormal increase in equity cost of capital of 68 basis points. We conclude that Section 302 disclosures are informative and point to lower credibility of disclosing firms' financial reporting. In contrast, we find that Section 404 disclosures have no noticeable impact on stock prices or firms' cost of capital. Further, we find that auditor quality attenuates the negative response to Section 302 disclosures and that accelerated filers - larger firms required to file under Section 404 - have significantly less negative returns (-1.10 percent) than non-accelerated filers (-4.22 percent). The findings have implications for the debate about whether to implement a scaled securities regulation system for smaller public companies: material weakness disclosures are more informative for smaller firms that likely have higher pre-disclosure information uncertainty.

Book Market Uncertainty and Disclosure of Internal Control Deficiencies Under the Sarbanes Oxley Act

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.

Book Disclosure of Internal Control Systems

Download or read book Disclosure of Internal Control Systems written by Nachidah Ngaleu and published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Internal Control is a process carried out by an entity's Board of Directors, management and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of its objectives. Its goal is to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of operations, the reliability of financial reporting as well as compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The accounting scandals that occurred in the U.S. in the early 2000's have had a tremendous impact on investments and the economy and thus triggered a lot more research in the field of internal control worldwide. Studies in the field have looked at internal control from a variety of perspectives. The purpose of this research is to assess how listed Finnish companies report their Internal Control. This is achieved by answering the following research questions: How do these organizations disclose their Internal Control? Do they comply with applicable codes and regulations? Are there any similarities and/or differences between the reports? The methods used for this research include both nomothetic and action-oriented methods and a cross-sectional field study approach is used to analyse the data.

Book Internal Controls

    Book Details:
  • Author : Government Accountability Government Accountability Office
  • Publisher : CreateSpace
  • Release : 2014-12-31
  • ISBN : 9781503184732
  • Pages : 76 pages

Download or read book Internal Controls written by Government Accountability Government Accountability Office and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-12-31 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Internal control generally serves as a first line of defense for public companies in safeguarding assets and preventing and detecting errors and fraud. Internal control is defined as a process, effected by an entity's board of directors, management, and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of the following objectives: (1) effectiveness and efficiency of operations; (2) reliability of financial reporting; and (3) compliance with laws and regulations. Internal control over financial reporting is further defined in the SEC regulations implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Book An Analysis of Firms that Disclose Ineffective Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Download or read book An Analysis of Firms that Disclose Ineffective Internal Control Over Financial Reporting written by Mason C. Snow and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In, 2002, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) to impose more strict regulation with regard to the way public companies manage financial information. This thesis examines companies that disclosed one or more material weaknesses (MWs) in internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR) during the post-SOX period.

Book The Disclosure of Material Weaknesses in Internal Control After the Sarbanes Oxley Act

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).

Book Government Auditing Standards   2018 Revision

Download or read book Government Auditing Standards 2018 Revision written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-03-24 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Audits provide essential accountability and transparency over government programs. Given the current challenges facing governments and their programs, the oversight provided through auditing is more critical than ever. Government auditing provides the objective analysis and information needed to make the decisions necessary to help create a better future. The professional standards presented in this 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards (known as the Yellow Book) provide a framework for performing high-quality audit work with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence to provide accountability and to help improve government operations and services. These standards, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), provide the foundation for government auditors to lead by example in the areas of independence, transparency, accountability, and quality through the audit process. This revision contains major changes from, and supersedes, the 2011 revision.

Book Management s Communication Style when Disclosing Material Weaknesses in Internal Control

Download or read book Management s Communication Style when Disclosing Material Weaknesses in Internal Control written by Joseph F. Brazel and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires management to assess and disclose the effectiveness of their internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR). However, the regulation does not provide specific guidance regarding the communication style to be used in these reports. Our analysis of 200 actual ICFR reports disclosing material weaknesses in internal control reveals great variations in terms of 1) whether management uses a more defensive tone in the “reasonable assurance” argument and 2) whether management uses first-person pronouns (e.g., we, us, our). We observe that the most common communication style in our sample is a defensive tone combined with the use of first-person pronouns. In an experiment where we vary management's communication style with respect to material weakness disclosures, we find that nonprofessional investors are more willing to invest in a company when management takes a less defensive tone and does not use first-person pronouns. Our findings show a sharp contrast between the communication styles management chooses to use in actual ICFR reports and what we observe experimentally to be the most effective style. These findings have implications for management in terms of improving their communication effectiveness with investors.

Book Economic Determinants and Consequences of Voluntary Disclosure of Internal Control Effectiveness

Download or read book Economic Determinants and Consequences of Voluntary Disclosure of Internal Control Effectiveness written by Chong-ŭn Yi and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation investigates the economic determinants of firms' decisions to voluntarily disclose internal control weaknesses, and the economic consequences of such disclosures, in the context of companies' initial public offerings (IPOs) of equity securities. I find that IPO firms with greater potential litigation risk and restated pre-IPO financial statements are more likely to disclose internal control weaknesses over pre-IPO financial reporting. In addition, I find that voluntary disclosure of internal control weaknesses and the related remediation procedures is negatively associated with underpricing, indicating that ex ante uncertainty about the new issues' value is reduced. Further, IPO firms benefit from such voluntary disclosure through increased IPO proceeds. The results also suggest that the new internal control disclosure requirements under SOX sections 302 and 404 have induced IPO firms to voluntarily disclose internal control weaknesses, contributing to lower information asymmetry between IPO firms and uninformed investors.

Book Internal Control Weakness and Cost of Equity

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.

Book Spillover Effects of Internal Control Weakness Disclosures

Download or read book Spillover Effects of Internal Control Weakness Disclosures written by Shijun Cheng and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We find that firms are less likely to report an internal control material weakness (as mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) in a given year if one of their audit committee members is concurrently on the board of a firm that disclosed a material weakness within the prior three years. We find a similar spillover effect for financial restatement disclosures. The spillover from material weakness disclosures is evident only if a shared director has more experience with the disclosing firm or can channel more information about the disclosed material weakness. Our findings suggest that prior director experiences outside the firm influence the work of audit committees inside the firm. One rationale is that a director's prior experience with an adverse disclosure helps diffuse important insights and serves as a catalyst for improvements in a firm's internal control and financial reporting practices. An alternative explanation, which we cannot dismiss, holds that a director's prior experience helps a firm to under-report material weaknesses and financial restatements without any attendant improvements in the underlying practices.

Book Product Differentiation in Auditing

    Book Details:
  • Author : Dan A. Simunic
  • Publisher : Canadian Certified General Accountants' Research Foundation = Fondation de recherche de l'Association des comptables généraux licenciés du Canada
  • Release : 1987
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 90 pages

Download or read book Product Differentiation in Auditing written by Dan A. Simunic and published by Canadian Certified General Accountants' Research Foundation = Fondation de recherche de l'Association des comptables généraux licenciés du Canada. This book was released on 1987 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fundamental question with respect to the market for audit services is whether or not such services are homogeneous across suppliers ... In this monograph, we review the basic principles and findings concerning differentiated product markets as they have been developed in the economic literature. Using Lancaster's characteristics framework, we posit that the audit service contains several attributes which are valued by top management. A key attribute is "credibility", which is communicated by an audit firm's brand name and is identified with the power of an auditor's test ... We posit that, along with other product characteristics, the power of test varies systematically across audit firms. Hypotheses concerning the demand for different audit service specifications (qualities) are developed in a context where companies are changing their capital structure through an initial public offering of common shares. These hypotheses are tested using a sample of 469 U.S. corporations which first "went public" during 1981. The results are consistent with the existence of differential audit services.

Book Government Auditing Standards

Download or read book Government Auditing Standards written by Government Accounting Office and published by www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK. This book was released on 2012 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newly revised in 2011. Contains the auditing standards promulgated by the Comptroller General of the United States. Known as the Yellow Book. Includes the professional standards and guidance, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), which provide a framework for conducting high quality government audits and attestation engagements with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence. These standards are for use by auditors of government entities and entities that receive government awards and audit organizations performing GAGAS audits and attestation engagements.

Book International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards

Download or read book International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards written by and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2004 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Sarbanes Oxley Act

Download or read book The Sarbanes Oxley Act written by Michael F. Holt and published by Butterworth-Heinemann. This book was released on 2007-11-16 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sarbannes-Oxley Act (SOX) is a mandatory requirement for all listed corporations in the US, whether foreign or not. Compliance is not an option. Other countries are developing similar legislation so the books value is international in scope. SOX is a hot topic and the effects are just beginning to be felt world-wide. This new book goes beyond the implementation phase of SOX and looks at the reaction to the Act in terms of costs, benefits and business impacts. This book is for Senior Managers in the Business and Financial/Accounting Communities who want/need to know what the reaction of business and government is to the SOX legislation, what it is costing and how the effects are penetrating through the business environment.Mike Holt presents a comprehensive review of the impact that Sarbanes-Oxley legislation has had on business, the financial community, governments and the public since its inception in 2002. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has been somewhat successful, but not completely and the cost (well over a trillion dollars) might be considered too high a price to pay for the gains. This book takes a hard look at the costs, benefits and other impacts as well as at what influential and prominent financial, government and business leaders think about it now.* International in scope and content and including interviews with prominent business leaders, CEOs and CFOs of large and small corporations.* Compliance with The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is now mandatory for every listed US corporation and overseas corporations listed on US stock markets.* Covers the reaction of business and government to this legislation, what it is costing and how the effects are penetrating through the business environment.

Book Following the Money

Download or read book Following the Money written by George Benston and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2004-05-13 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Brookings Institution Press and American Enterprise Institute publication A few years ago, Americans held out their systems of corporate governance and financial disclosure as models to be emulated by the rest of the world. But in late 2001 U.S. policymakers and corporate leaders found themselves facing the largest corporate accounting scandals in American history. The spectacular collapses of Enron and Worldcom—as well as the discovery of accounting irregularities at other large U.S. companies—seemed to call into question the efficacy of the entire system of corporate governance in the United States. In response, Congress quickly enacted a comprehensive package of reform measures in what has come to be known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ followed by making fundamental changes to their listing requirements. The private sector acted as well. Accounting firms—watching in horror as one of their largest, Arthur Andersen, collapsed after a criminal conviction for document shredding—tightened their auditing procedures. Stock analysts and ratings agencies, hit hard by a series of disclosures about their failings, changed their practices as well. Will these reforms be enough? Are some counterproductive? Are other shortcomings in the disclosure system still in need of correction? These are among the questions that George Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E. Litan, and Alfred Wagenhofer address in Following the Money. While the authors agree that the U.S. system of corporate disclosure and governance is in need of change, they are concerned that policymakers may be overreacting in some areas and taking actions in others that may prove to be ineffective or even counterproductive. Using the Enron case as a point of departure, the authors argue that the major problem lies not in the accounting and auditing standards themselves, but in the system of enforcing those standards.