We examine a voluntary disclosure that is nonproprietary in nature and simply reflects management's intention to explain how a widely-known nonrecurring economic event is reported in financial statements. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA) retroactively reinstated previously expired...

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...