Based on a model developed in prior studies (e.g. Ogneva et al. 2007), we first use US data to predict the likelihood that a firm has material internal control weaknesses (ICW). We then show, using this model, that firms in the pre-SOX era, in UK and in Australia with a higher predicted...

When we examine all firms in the sample we find that short-term debt is positively associated with earnings management consistent with some prior studies and the debt hypothesis. However, when we focus on high creditworthy (investment grade) firms we find a negative relation between short-term...

In this study, we document that independent corporate boards of Hong Kong firms provide effective monitoring of earnings management, which suggests that despite differences in institutional environments, corporate board independence is important to ensure high quality financial reporting. The...