This paper seeks to provide empirical evidence on the efficacy of three important governance mechanisms (auditors, directors, and institutional shareholders) in constraining aggressive financial reporting, proxied by abnormal accruals. It also examines the effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)...

Prior studies suggest that equity incentives inherently have both an interest alignment effect and an opportunistic financial reporting effect. Using three distinct proxies for earnings management we find evidence consistent with the incentive alignment (opportunistic financial reporting) effect...

Purpose - The implementation of compliance procedures associated with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 came at a great cost to most publicly-traded firms, largely due to the internal control disclosures required by Section 404 of the Act. In this paper we contribute to the inquiry on internal...