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...

This study examines whether certain board and compensation committee characteristics, as proxies for board governance quality, are associated with the extent of board disclosure of executive compensation practices. A unique feature of this study is the development of a disclosure index using 23...

We analyze the disclosure practices of companies as a function of their interaction with U.S. markets for a group of 794 firms from 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. Our analysis uses the Transparency and Disclosure scores developed recently by Standard amp; Poor's. These scores rate...

Firms are organized as nexuses of contracts to reduce transaction costs arising from the bounded rationality of humans. The managers and others who enter into contracts also are boundedly rational, which makes all contracts incomplete. For external finance contracts, corporate governance is a...

For a sample of U.S. firm years spanning the time period 1980 through 1996 we document a positive association between the excess value of diversification as defined by Berger and Ofek [1995] and security analyst ratings of voluntary disclosure as developed by the Association for Investment...

The focus of the paper is on the remuneration of executives of large European banks. We describe the pay-for-performance sensitivity of the compensation and its disclosure as two dimensions of the board remuneration systems in the European countries. The results stress the importance of...

In response to the dramatic increase in corporate restructurings and perceived abusive accounting practices, the Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) released Issue No. 94-3, Liability Recognition for Certain Employee Termination Benefits and Other Costs to Exit an Activity (including Certain Costs...

Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires firms to report on the effectiveness of their internal control over financial reporting. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires foreign large accelerated filers to provide both management and auditor Section 404 reports starting for fiscal...

The main objectives of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are to improve the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosure. Under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the external auditor has to report an assessment of the firm's internal controls and attest to management's assessment of those...

We argue that information about firm activities can vary substantially in the presence of founder or heir ownership, thereby influencing the risks borne by minority investors. We explore two hypotheses with regard to these controlling shareholders and corporate transparency, focusing on their...