Economic effects of SOX Section 404 compliance: A corporate insider perspective

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Alexander, Cindy R.; Bauguess, Scott W.; Bernile, Gennaro; Lee, Yoon-Ho Alex; Marietta-Westberg, Jennifer
• 署名单位: U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC); Singapore Management University; University of Southern California
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING & ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0165-4101
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2013.09.002
• 发表日期: 2013
• 关键词: sarbanes-oxley act; INTERNAL CONTROL; QUALITY; INFORMATION; MARKET; certification; earnings; CONSEQUENCES; governance; disclosure

摘要

We use survey responses from 2,901 corporate insiders to assess the costs and benefits of compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The majority of respondents recognize compliance benefits, but they do not perceive these benefits to outweigh the costs, on average. This is particularly true among smaller companies where the start-up costs are proportionately larger. However, the perceived efficiency of compliance increased with auditor attestations, years of compliance experience, and after the remediation of a material weakness. Notably, the perceived effects of compliance depend largely on firm complexity, but are mostly unrelated to firm governance structure. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.