Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

<p dir="ltr">This paper examines the informational content of insider trades and the impact of the Sarbanes Oxley Act on the ability of outside investors to use this information. I find that while the new reporting requirement speeds up the incorporation of insiders’ information into the market, there still exists an opportunity for attentive outsiders. The studies also address how the increased market efficiency has affected the differences between insiders, such as top-level executives and the rest of insiders. I find that the Sarbanes Oxley Act has greatly leveled the playing field in terms of how outsiders perceive these groups. Further, I extend the analysis of identifying opportunistic insiders. I find that using 8K corporate events in addition to quarterly earnings announcements, we are able to more efficiently label insiders as opportunistic compared to previous studies. Finally, I extend the literature on institutional investors by analyzing the link between this group and insider activity. I show that the previous findings of institutional investors following insiders is being driven by a subset of institutions, and I find evidence to support important distinguishing characteristics of institutional investors indicating institutions should not be studied as a whole, but in groups.</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Catarina_de_Araujo_Costa.pdf: 2271923 bytes, checksum: 7d0dcbb5219e32afd71cf088e663cb3f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-07 / Em maio de 2005, 34 empresas brasileiras negociavam American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) na Bolsa de Valores de Nova Iorque (New York Stock Exchange - NYSE), Estados Unidos. Diante da obrigatoriedade de adequar-se ?? Lei Sarbanes-Oxley de 2002, o objetivo geral deste trabalho ?? investigar, na percep????o dos gestores, se o Comit?? de Auditoria ou ??rg??o equivalente das empresas brasileiras contribuiu para minimizar as fraudes, aumentar a transpar??ncia na divulga????o das informa????es cont??beis e melhorar os controles internos. Obtiveram-se 25 respostas de 17 empresas. Os resultados obtidos demonstram a grande relev??ncia do Comit?? de Auditoria, apesar da obrigatoriedade: 56% dos respondentes afirmaram que o comit?? participou ativamente com recomenda????es relacionadas com a avalia????o do sistema de controles internos; 68% consideram-no de grande import??ncia para o bom desempenho da empresa e 71% o manteriam em funcionamento mesmo se, no futuro, sua exist??ncia fosse facultativa. / Em maio de 2005, 34 empresas brasileiras negociavam American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) na Bolsa de Valores de Nova Iorque (New York Stock Exchange - NYSE), Estados Unidos. Diante da obrigatoriedade de adequar-se ?? Lei Sarbanes-Oxley de 2002, o objetivo geral deste trabalho ?? investigar, na percep????o dos gestores, se o Comit?? de Auditoria ou ??rg??o equivalente das empresas brasileiras contribuiu para minimizar as fraudes, aumentar a transpar??ncia na divulga????o das informa????es cont??beis e melhorar os controles internos. Obtiveram-se 25 respostas de 17 empresas. Os resultados obtidos demonstram a grande relev??ncia do Comit?? de Auditoria, apesar da obrigatoriedade: 56% dos respondentes afirmaram que o comit?? participou ativamente com recomenda????es relacionadas com a avalia????o do sistema de controles internos; 68% consideram-no de grande import??ncia para o bom desempenho da empresa e 71% o manteriam em funcionamento mesmo se, no futuro, sua exist??ncia fosse facultativa.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carmen_Nagano_Drimel.pdf: 439559 bytes, checksum: 6bb991b76ab92573730d4013743eeacc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-09-29 / This present assignment consists in the study of Internal Controls and has as goal the research and analysis of the impacts of requirements of the American law Sarbanes-Oxley in a Brazilian subsidiary of multinational of chemichal area. To achieve the purpose of this assignment , besides of the bibliographic surveyed , was done case study in a chemical company related. The case study makes possible na analysis between the bibliographic surveyed and the results reached. The collected data shows the importance of the Sarbanes-Oxley law and however the law is mandatory, it was observed advantages and disadvantages of being in compliance with the Sarvanes-Oxely in the company surveyed. / O presente trabalho consiste no estudo dos Controles Internos e tem como objetivo a pesquisa e an??lise dos impactos dos requerimentos da lei americana Sarbanes-Oxley em uma subsidi??ria brasileira de multinacional do ramo qu??mico. Para atender ao objetivo proposto foi realizado inicialmente um levantamento bibliogr??fico e em seguida, um estudo de caso em uma empresa do ramo qu??mico. O estudo possibilitou uma an??lise entre o a bibliografia pesquisada e os resultados alcan??ados. Os resultados obtidos demonstram a import??ncia da lei Sarbanes-Oxley, e apesar de sua obrigatoriedade, foram verificadas vantagens e desvantagens na empresa objeto da pesquisa.

Using 1,473 going private transactions completed between 1985 and 2007, I assess whether the increase in going private transactions that occurred after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was driven by SOX, or whether this phenomenon continues an ongoing historical trend. To examine this issue, I initially used structural break tests and intervention analysis. From the initial techniques, I find support that the passage of SOX increased going private transactions for these categories. Secondarily, I use Granger causality tests and impulse response functions to examine the link between going private transactions and the public stock market. When I categorize going private transactions according to the type of acquirer, transaction size, and target industry, I find bi-directional Granger causality relationships between smaller-sized going private transactions and the S&P 500 Index (or Tobin's Q). I also find several unidirectional Granger causality relationships for some categories of going private transactions, based on the type of acquirer or the target industry, to the S&P 500 Index (or to Tobin's Q). The impulse response of going private transactions (or the public stock market) to a shock in the public stock market (or going private transactions) is not immediate, but is delayed two to three quarters. The link between going private transactions and the public stock market is an ongoing phenomenon, continuing a historical trend for going private transactions. For going private transactions with structural breaks, SOX affects the linkage but not for going private transactions with no structural break.

O mercado americano de capitais é reconhecidamente o maior mercado do mundo. Uma série de escândalos de natureza contábil, provocados pela descoberta de transações irregulares em uma de suas maiores empresas, resultou no enfraquecimento do grau de confiança dos investidores, abalando o equilíbrio não apenas do próprio mercado de capitais americano, mas também dos demais mercados internacionais. A Lei Sarbanes-Oxley foi editada com o objetivo restaurar a confiança dos mercados. O sentimento com relação a esta Lei é bastante controverso. Para alguns, ela foi precipitada, pois, o próprio mercado, dado o tempo, se ajustaria aos efeitos da perda de confiança. Desta forma, para estes, a Sarbanes-Oxley representa apenas um aumento desmedido de custos sem o correspondente benefício. Para outros, porém, a Lei representa uma grande oportunidade para se discutir a importância da disseminação de uma cultura empresarial que não veja o lucro como um fim em si mesmo. Este trabalho analisa a Lei à luz dos modernos conceitos de governança corporativa e apresentação de informações contábeis e termina por concluir que a Lei Sarbanes-Oxley, apesar de recente, já foi capaz de alertar administradores do mundo inteiro sobre a necessidade de assumir a responsabilidade sobre a informação por eles prestada, contribuindo para aumentar os níveis de transparência das empresas. / The American capital market is recognisably the greatest market in the world. After several accounting scandals, be set by the discovery of irregularities in one of its most important companies, the level of investor confidence was worldwide shaken, affecting the Market Efficiency Theory. A careful insight into the nature of the misleading transactions attested that they could have been avoided if only companies were not so strongly concerned with financial results that ethics standards and the lack thereof were never considered. In the search to restore market confidence, the American Government issued The Sarbanes-Oxley Act on July 30, 2002. The main objective of this Act is to ensure that managers take responsibility for the transparency and reliability of disclosure though a strong incentive in the adoption of ethical standards as well as good corporate governance procedures linked to a series of sanctions that aim to prevent such wrongdoings from occurring in the future. For some, this Act represents an increase in costs without the correspondent benefit. For others, it represents a great opportunity. The present paper analyses the Act as regards the modern corporate governance theory and concludes that the Sarbanes-Oxely Act, although pretty recent, has already succeeded in making managers more conscious of their responsibility regarding the reliability of information they provide, resulting in improvement both in transparency and corporate governance. / Dissertação (mestrado) - Faculdades IBMEC, Programa de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração e Economia, Rio de Janeiro, 2005. / Bibliografia: p. 129-137

<p>Efter en rad uppmärksammade redovisningsskandaler världen över har utredningar huruvida en kod för näringslivet ska lagstiftas eller inte accelererat. Förtroendekommissionen har tagit fram en svensk kod för bolagsstyrning som företagen på A- och O-listan antingen ska följa eller förklara avvikelsen. Syftet är att bygga upp aktiemarknadens och näringslivets förtroende för de noterade bolagen i Sverige. Målet är att alla bolag på svenska börsen ska omfattas av regelverket i framtiden. Stockholmsbörsens chef Jukka Ruuska hoppas att många av bolagen som inte är tvungna att följa Koden gör det av fri vilja ändå. Är företag villiga att tillämpa något som är frivilligt? Hur ställer sig medelstora företag som inte är noterade på börsen till implementeringen av bolagskoden?</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att ta reda på vilken inställning medelstora företag i Sverige har till implementeringen av Koden samt undersöka vilka effekter som företagen tror att Koden ger.</p><p>Undersökningen baseras på en kvalitativ forskningsansats med inslag av sex intervjuer. Vi har valt att avgränsa oss till medelstora företag i Sverige med 17-500 anställda och som inte är noterade på svenska börsen.</p><p>Undersökningen har visat att deltagande företag anser att det finns ett behov av reglering av bolagsstyrning i Sverige. Företagen tror att ökad rapportering påverkar förtroendet för bolagsstyrningen positivt. Efterlevnaden av Koden bör, enligt intervjuobjekten, dokumenteras som ett bevis på efterlevnad. Deltagande företag var svagt insatta i kodens olika delar men ansåg att medelstora företag bör tillämpa delar av Koden.</p><p>Vi tror på ökad informationsgivning från både Kodgruppens sida samt stöd och kunskap från revisorernas håll.</p> / <p>After a series of observed accounts scandals in the world examinations have accelerated about whether a code for the business world shall be legislated or not. Trust Commission have set up a Swedish code for corporate governance that corporate on the A and O-list either shall comply or explain the divergence. The purpose is to build up the stock markets and the business world’s trust for the noted companies in Sweden. The goal is that all companies in the Swedish stock exchange shall implement the rule agency in time. The chief of Stockholm stock exchange Jukka Ruuska is hoping that many of the companies that are not required to follow the code will do that of free will. Are companies willing to apply something, which is voluntary? What attitude do middle -bracket companies have, which are not noted on the stock exchange to the realization of the code?</p><p>The purpose with this composition is to find out what attitude middle -bracket companies in Sweden have to the realization of the code and to investigate which effects the companies believe the new code will bring.</p><p>The study is based on a qualitative research approach with element of six interviews. We have chosen to demarcate us to middle -bracket companies in Sweden, which have 17-500 employees and are not noted on the Swedish stock exchange.</p><p>It has been shown in the study that participating companies consider that there is a need of corporate governance in Sweden. The companies believe that increased accounting affect the faith for the corporate governance positive. Observance of the code should, according to the interviewees, be documented as a proof on observance. Participating companies were vaguely initiated in the different parts of the code, but are of the opinion that middle-bracket companies should apply parts of the code.</p><p>We believe that more information should be given from both Kodgruppen’s side and also support and knowledge from auditor’s range.</p>

I examine factors influencing accounting firms' and their clients' decisions to pursue an auditing vs. consulting relationship. I employ the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) prohibition on providing both services to the same clients as a natural experiment. Because Deloitte & Touche was the only Big 4 firm to retain its consulting division post-SOX, I compare Deloitte's client switch and retention decisions to those made by its direct competitors. In this context, I investigate how the decision to continue or terminate an audit relationship is influenced by auditor industry specialization, the historical provision of auditor-provided consulting services and the likelihood that the client will require consulting services in the future. I find that there is a preference for auditing when the auditor is a specialist in the client's industry, and there is a preference for consulting when the auditor provided consulting services in the past and the client is likely to require consulting services in the future. I also report empirical evidence on audit effectiveness and efficiency in cases where the auditor and its client discontinued the audit in order to maintain a consulting relationship. Although there was no impact on audit effectiveness, the auditor switches reduced efficiency as evidenced by significantly higher audit fees. This study is relevant to the current audit environment because public accounting firms that spun-off their consulting divisions around the enactment of SOX are in the process of rebuilding their consulting practices and must now choose between providing audit and consulting services to their clients. It may also be pertinent to European policy makers who are currently considering a proposal to limit auditors' ability to jointly offer audit and consulting services to the same client.

The current research is concerned with exploring the quality of information technology (IT) control over financial reporting systems as reported under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. More specifically, this dissertation examines the association between organizational governance mechanisms and the occurrence and subsequent disclosure of IT control weaknesses. Despite the adverse impact of IT control weaknesses on internal control quality and financial reporting reliability, research on IT controls in general and IT control weaknesses in particular remains largely anecdotal with limited reliance on theory. The current work proposes and tests an integrated theoretical model of the antecedents of IT control weaknesses. The proposed model draws upon agency theory to provide a theoretical perspective of the occurrence of IT control weaknesses and upon corporate governance literature to solicit potential factors that influence the achievement of effective IT control over financial reporting. Drawing upon agency theory, this research views the existence of IT control weaknesses as a manifestation of an agency problem caused by information asymmetry and lack of alignment between the overall organization represented by its board of directors as a principal and its information systems (IS) organization represented by the top IS team as an agent. Drawing on corporate governance literature, this dissertation proposes two categories of governance and contracting mechanisms that the board of directors can employ to reduce information asymmetry and align the interests of the top IS team with those of the firm thereby reducing the agency problem. These categories are: IT governance mechanisms and IT executive incentive alignment mechanisms. The IT governance mechanisms involve two elements: first, the IT background element which includes (a) the IT background of the board of directors as reflected by two of its main committees, namely the corporate governance committee and the audit committee and (b) the IT background of the top management team; second, the IT executive element as reflected in terms of the structural and the expert power of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). The IT executive incentive alignment mechanisms include two elements: (a) the CIO’s absolute compensation level and (b) the pay disparity between the CIO and other members of the top management team. A research model integrating these elements is developed and tested with empirical data. For testing the proposed model, this dissertation uses a sample of firms with IT control weaknesses and a control group of similar firms with no IT control weaknesses for the years 2005-2009. Empirical results provide support for five of the seven hypotheses put forth in this research. Regarding the IT governance mechanisms, study findings indicate that a lower likelihood of disclosing IT-related control weaknesses is associated with having audit committee and corporate governance committee members with IT expertise. Furthermore, the study findings provide support for the contention that the goal congruence is contingent on the CIO’s power. To this end, the study finds that a lower likelihood of disclosing IT-related control weaknesses is associated with having CIOs with higher levels of structural and expert power. As for the incentive alignment mechanisms, empirical results provide support for the assertion that goal congruence is contingent on perceived pay equality between the CIO and other members of the top management team. The results indicate that the lower the pay disparity between IT executives and business executives in the top management team, the lower the likelihood of disclosing IT control weaknesses. The present study contributes to the current body of knowledge of literature in several ways. It is the first study to propose and test an integrated model of the antecedents of IT control weaknesses. The proposed model adds to the current literature by introducing agency theory as a theoretical basis of the antecedents of IT control weaknesses. Furthermore, this study adds to the current literature by introducing and providing empirical evidence linking the IT background of the corporate governance committee, the structural power and expert power of the CIO, and the CIO relative pay to the disclosure of IT control weaknesses over financial reporting. Lastly, this research contributes to practice by offering a much needed understanding for managers, directors, auditors, and regulators in their effort to improve the quality of IT control and the reliability of financial reporting.

[pt] A Lei Sarbanes-Oxley aprovada em 30 de julho de 2002 foi criada primordialmente para intensificar a governança corporativa das organizações e restabelecer a confiança do mercado abalada pelos escândalos corporativos da Enron e WorldCom. A Lei se aplica as companhias que têm ações listadas nas bolsas de valores americanas. Muito tem se discutido sobre os custos e benefícios advindos da entrada em vigor desta lei que trouxe mudanças significativas às organizações. A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo final apresentar o resultado da avaliação sobre o impacto da Lei Sarbanes-Oxley em empresas brasileiras identificando até que ponto esta nova regra está criando ou destruindo valor aos investidores. / [en] Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed on July 30, 2002 was created mainly to strengthen corporate governance and restore financial market confidence in response to corporate scandals involving Enron and World Com. The Act applies to companies listed on American stock exchanges. There has been a lot of discussion about the costs and benefits arising from the coming into force of the Act which caused expressive changes in the organizations. The ultimate aim of the present study is to present the results of the evaluation of Sarbanes-Oxley Act impacts upon Brazilian companies, identifying to which extent the new regulation is creating or destroying value for investors.