A large body of research is devoted to understanding the causes and consequences of firms' adoption of international accounting standards. Thus far, researchers' attention has focused almost exclusively on the informational benefits of the adoption. We extend the existing literature by offering...

This paper investigates the economic consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) by examining market reactions to related legislative events. Using concurrent stock returns of non-U.S.-traded foreign firms to estimate normal U.S. returns, I find that U.S. firms experienced a statistically...

We investigate the decision by a sample of Continental European firms to voluntarily adopt the International Accounting Standards (IAS) or U.S. GAAP. The strong employment protection laws in Continental Europe lead to labor practices that lack responsiveness to firm underlying economic...

This study examines the relation between audit committee independence and disclosure choice for financially distressed US firms. The tenor of both the financial statement notes and Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) is considered. For firms experiencing financial distress, there is a...

This paper examines the relations between three board characteristics (independence, diligence, and expertise) and Big 6 audit fees for Fortune 1000 companies. To protect its reputation capital, avoid legal liability, and promote shareholder interests, a more independent, diligent, and expert...

In response to recent criticisms of audit committee performance, new SEC and stock exchange rules require companies to prepare an audit committee charter and to publish the charter in their proxy statement at least once every three years. Audit committees also must disclose how they discharged...

Accounting scandals and concerns about the quality of financial statements have led to many calls for improved audit committee effectiveness. Prior research indicates that audit committee independence is positively related to effective oversight of the financial reporting process. Unfortunately,...