Fraud is a serious problem in the world, which often implies huge financial losses. The risk of fraud which is committed in companies is often considered insignificant and no preventive measures are taken which would minimize the possibility of its occurrence. Often, companies also do not have...

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspection process identifies deficiencies related to how firms conduct audits. Our work extends prior research by examining the type of internal control audit deficiencies (entity-level or application-level). Internal control audit...

Using a sample of almost 300 European banks, we show that the concentration of ownership leads to larger capital buffers, consistent with theories of interest alignment and the charter value theory. Contradictory findings of previous literature suggest that external factors may affect the...

To inform the debate on the merits of internal control audits, we examine managers' decisions to temporarily exempt newly acquired businesses from Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We provide evidence that managers are more likely to elect the exemption when expected compliance costs are...

The quality of financial statement (FS) audits integrated with audits of internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR) depends upon the quality of ICFR information used in, and its integration into, FS audits. Recent research and PCAOB inspections find auditors underreport existing ICFR...

This study examines the extent to which audit clients successfully engage in internal control opinion shopping activities and whether audit market competition appears to facilitate those activities. Regulators have long been concerned about the impact of both audit market competition and opinion...

The literature posits that some CEO overconfidence benefits shareholders, though high levels may not. We argue adequate controls and independent viewpoints provided by an independent board mitigates the costs of CEO overconfidence. We use the concurrent passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and...