The information systems literature and the public press have called for organizations to more closely scrutinize their information technology (IT) controls; however, little more than anecdotal evidence exists on the business value of IT internal control investments, beyond regulatory compliance....

Given the board of directors’ oversight role with respect to internal control systems, we examine how disclosures of internal control material weaknesses under Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 affect shareholders’ voting in director elections. We find that the presence of material weaknesses is...

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...

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires firms to assess the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting and auditors to express an opinion on the effectiveness of such internal controls. We examine whether the first-time inclusion of additional audited information in...

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...

In this study, I examine the association between audit committee quality and internal control quality. While information on the quality of internal control is not generally available, companies changing auditors are required to disclose any internal control problems that were pointed out by...

Securities regulators around the world are considering the costs and benefits of alternative policies for providing information to financial markets on corporate internal control. These policy options differ on the level of auditor involvement, among other dimensions. We examine the association...

In this paper we examine the association of audit fees with disclosures regarding internal control effectiveness under Section 302 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). In contrast to previous studies, we focus on non-accelerated filers, whose eventual compliance with the costly provisions of...

This paper extends prior research on audit risk adjustment by examining the association of audit pricing with problems in internal control over financial reporting, disclosed under Sections 404 and 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While studies of auditors' responses to internal control risk...

This study investigates whether having a Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 [SOX 404] material weakness allows managers of these firms to manipulate earnings to a greater extent using discretionary accruals than managers of firms with no SOX 404 material weaknesses. The study focuses on a sample of 218...