Insider trading and earnings management (EM) have traditionally been associated with fraud and corporate scandals. Corporations involved in fraudulent financial reporting or earnings manipulations were assumed to have used insider trading patterns to manipulate earnings, thereby concealing information from investors. The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental study was to examine the association between insider trading patterns and EM citations among a randomly selected sample of publicly traded companies. The research question pertained to the association between the number of EM citations and whether a firm exhibited patterns of insider trading among publicly traded firms. The theoretical framework was based on accounting, auditing and financial theories. Archival data were collected in the form of financial statements from annual reports of 77 companies submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. A multiple linear regression was used to answer the research question to determine whether there was an association between insider trading patterns and EM. Results of descriptive statistics and regression analysis revealed that, after controlling for the firm size, a significant association existed between the number of EM citations and patterns of insider trading in the sample of publicly traded firms. A positive relationship, wherein firms with patterns of insider trading had more EM citations as indicated from the regression results. These findings may encourage investors, regulators, auditors, the public, and other interested parties to work with researchers to foster confidence in financial markets and the accounting profession, and to redeem the mistakes made by companies in the past.

The central focus of this dissertation study is to understand the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the factors that contribute to increased risk of fraud in order to determine why fraud may occur despite the imposed regulation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The main premise of the study tests the application of the fraud triangle framework constructs to publicly traded restaurant companies during the time period of 2002-2014, using proxy variables defined through literature. Essentially, the study seeks to identify the factors that may provide the optimal criteria to engage in fraudulent or opportunistic behavior. The fraud triangle theoretical framework is comprised of the constructs of pressure, opportunity and rationalization, and has mostly been utilized by external auditors to assess the fraud risk of various companies. It has never been applied to the restaurant industry, and the proxy variables selected have never before been tested in a comprehensive model. Thus, a major contribution of this study may enable executive managers to assess the fraud triangle conditions according to the model in order to afford conclusions regarding increased risk of fraud. The study first hypothesized that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has had a significant impact on detecting increased risk of fraud for publicly traded restaurant companies. Additionally, the study controlled for and tested the proxy variables of the fraud triangle constructs to determine if any of the variables had a significant impact on detecting increased risk of fraud for publicly traded restaurant companies. The variables tested included company size, debt, employee turnover, organizational structure, international sales growth, executive stock compensation, return on assets, the Recession, and macro-economic factors of interest, inflation, and unemployment rates. The research study adopted an exploratory research design using the case of publicly traded United States restaurant companies in order to provide a better understanding of the characteristics that may contribute to increased fraud risk. The study assumed a binary distribution of the dependent variable, increased fraud risk, measured by the incidence of a reported internal control deficiency over the testable time period. Specifically, the study employed a probit model to estimate the probability that an entity or company will be at an increased risk of fraud based on the independent variables that support and are linked to the fraud triangle framework. Additionally, the model assumes equal weight to the variables of the fraud triangle framework. Through use of the probit model, the major findings of the study were as follows: First, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act does have a significant impact on highlighting areas of increased fraud risk for publicly traded restaurant companies. Second, for the total population of restaurant companies, only the Recession, interest rates, inflation rates and unemployment rates are significant indicators of increased fraud risk. None of the internal variables were significant. However, once the data was segmented by type of restaurant, the results revealed significance of both internal and external variables. These results imply a couple of theoretical notions: first, that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is an effective means for detecting risk of fraud for publicly traded restaurant companies when considering variables that support the fraud triangle; second, that the fraud triangle is contextual when applied to the restaurant industry because only the variables that are outside of managements control were significant. Finally, from a managerial perspective, the study provides evidence that macro-economic conditions that might affect consumer demand may increase the risk of fraud for publicly traded restaurant companies.

This dissertation examines the litigation and legal liability exposure of auditors related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Three separate studies were conducted to examine how auditor's litigation exposure is evaluated by potential litigants (lawyers), and how auditor liability is evaluated by jurors, following the bankruptcy of a client. The first study examines whether the auditor's SOX Section 404 reporting decisions influence lawyers' assessments of their litigation exposure. The second study investigates whether voluntary disclosures of significant deficiencies in internal controls within the SOX Section 404 report, and the subjectivity of the internal control judgments made by the auditor, influence jurors' perceptions of auditor liability for negligence. The third study examines how the requirements of SOX Section 302 related to audit committee independence and audit committee expertise influence jurors' perceptions of auditor independence and auditor liability for negligence. Overall, these three studies provide insights on how different provisions of SOX, specifically the Section 404 report and audit committee requirements, influence the likelihood that auditors will be sued and the likelihood that they will be held liable by a jury.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of U.S. firms’ geographic location, whether urban or rural, on their corporate disclosure and governance practices. An “urban” firm is one that is headquartered in a large metropolitan area; whereas, a “rural” firm is one that is headquartered some distance from any metropolitan area. Specifically, the study examines whether there are different stock market reactions to urban and rural firms around key event dates relative to the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) on July 30, 2002. Also, the readability and linguistic style in the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of public company’s annual reports (Form 10-K) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are investigated to determine whether urban and rural firms communicate information differently to investors.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eduardo_Carmona.pdf: 1166688 bytes, checksum: b3087541f5e157167d8a31bca6b4780e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-25 / The choice of this theme was motivated by personal interest of the author and by his presence in the area, in addition, the changes due to publication of the Sarbanes & Oxley generated great impacts on the internal audit activity in insurance companies. The general objective of the research is to examine the new skills to meet changes in the insurance market after the Sarbanes & Oxley, and aims to identify specific skills required of the internal auditor active in the insurance market and verify the perception of the internal auditor active in the insurance market on the degree of importance of these skills. In this context, this research provides the lifting of three assumptions: H1 The skills required of internal auditors working in the insurance market are equivalent to a whole; H2 Among the skills required of internal auditors working in the insurance market, technical knowledge is more important; H3 Among the skills required of internal auditors working in the insurance market, the interpersonal and communication skills are more important. To conduct this research was conducted a survey that allowed bibliographic detect the powers of internal audit in the face of demands for transparency and accountability post-publication of the law, then there was a group of integrated focus for professionals working in auditing and consulting companies insurance which enabled describe the specific skills of the internal auditor in the insurance market. As a result of the focus group pointed to 19 skills required of the internal auditor. In a second stage, was drawn up a questionnaire, where 12 were selected among the powers given by the focus group. The questionnaire was answered by 105 internal auditors. As a result of this research, identified itself as the most important skills identified were: Knowing the Sarbanes - Oxley Mastering the concepts and methodology of the audit, and know the concepts of COSO. There is also a trend that there is the possibility that number 2 (H2) presented. It can be concluded with the results achieved in this research that the impact generated by the Sarbanes & Oxley influenced directly in the execution of internal audit activities in the insurance companies and consequently the skills required in his role. / A escolha desse tema foi motivada pelo interesse pessoal do autor e por sua atua????o na ??rea, adicionalmente, as altera????es ocorridas devido ?? publica????o da lei Sarbanes & Oxley produziram grande impacto na atividade de auditoria interna em companhias de seguros. O objetivo geral da pesquisa consiste em analisar as novas compet??ncias para atender ??s mudan??as ocorridas no mercado segurador ap??s a lei Sarbanes & Oxley, bem como tem como objetivos espec??ficos identificar as compet??ncias requeridas do auditor interno atuante no mercado segurador e verificar a sua percep????o sobre o grau de import??ncia dessas compet??ncias. Nesse contexto, esta pesquisa propicia o levantamento de tr??s hip??teses: H1: As compet??ncias requeridas dos auditores internos atuantes no mercado segurador s??o equivalentes em seu conjunto; H2: Dentre as compet??ncias requeridas dos auditores internos atuantes no mercado segurador, os conhecimentos t??cnicos s??o mais importantes; H3: Dentre as compet??ncias requeridas dos auditores internos atuantes no mercado segurador, as habilidades interpessoais e de comunica????o s??o mais importantes. Para a realiza????o desta pesquisa, foi realizado um levantamento bibliogr??fico que permitiu detectar as compet??ncias da auditoria interna diante das exig??ncias de transpar??ncia e responsabilidade p??s-publica????o da lei; posteriormente, realizou-se um Focus Group integrado por profissionais de auditoria atuantes em consultorias e companhias de seguros o qual possibilitou elencar as compet??ncias espec??ficas do auditor interno no mercado segurador. Como resultado do Focus Group apontaram-se 19 compet??ncias requeridas do auditor interno. Em uma segunda etapa, foi elaborado um question??rio, em que foram selecionadas 12 compet??ncias dentre as apresentadas pelo Focus Group. Esse question??rio foi respondido por 105 auditores internos. Como resultado desta pesquisa, identificou-se que as compet??ncias mais importantes apontadas foram: Conhecer a lei Sarbanes - Oxley e dominar os conceitos da metodologia de auditoria, bem como conhecer os conceitos do COSO. Verifica-se, tamb??m, que existe uma tend??ncia ?? hip??tese de n??mero 2 (H2) apresentada. Pode-se concluir, com os resultados obtidos nesta pesquisa, que os impactos gerados pela lei Sarbanes & Oxley influiram diretamente na execu????o das atividades de auditoria interna em companhias de seguros e, conseq??entemente, nas compet??ncias exigidas em sua fun????o.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ademar_Lucas.pdf: 1485296 bytes, checksum: 9ffbcd8ffda7505b281291f57926d773 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-05-01 / One of the main goals of the companies is to have a consistent internal controls system, with not only the objective of attending the legal rules, specially COSO and Corporate Finance, but also get prepared to be in compliance to the daily routines, turning them into a model when compared to the principal competitors and mainly the present and future investors. To attend and obtain the systems and internal controls mechanisms proposed by Sarbanes-Oxley certifications is actually a big challenge for most of the multinational companies registered in SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission). Lean structures, rare resources with challenging deadlines assume the huge responsibility to attend the requirement that without a vigorous implementation project, in many cases fail or reach the objectives with high costs and end up destroying value instead of generating it. So, due to this scenario, this work has the objective of contributing to the analysis of this methodology, not only to attend the law but to reduce cost and generate value through the strengthen of the internal controls systems, turning them into animating value generation process mechanisms. So, the idea is to identify the main gaps in the theory through the literature revision and a case study in order to put a question to the main deficiencies, strong points or contributions through the evaluation of the noticed practices and the proposition of a model. Finally, we can say that as a result of the research and the analyses made in this case, the vast majority of executives and other employees recognize the benefit that Sarbanes-Oxley Act has brought to the company searched. Also recognize that, although there is still necessity for systemic adequacy and infrastructure, it helps reducing and controlling the risks and reinforce the system of internal controls in all ts areas of expertise. Approach and understand that there is need for a change in the other employees' culture to be inserted in the day-to-day routine as internal controls, attention to Sarbanes-Oxley and Corporate Governance, making the control cost smaller when compared to the benefits generated. / Dentre os principais objetivos das empresas, est?? o de possuir um sistema estruturado de Controles Internos, n??o somente visando o atendimento ??s regras e normas legais, notadamente as de COSO e Governan??a Corporativa, mas tamb??m preparar a empresa para estar em "compliance" com suas atividades rotineiras, bem como representar um referencial delas em rela????o aos seus principais concorrentes e principalmente aos investidores presentes e futuros. Atender e obter a certifica????o dos sistemas e mecanismos de Controles Internos propostos pela Lei Sarbanes-Oxley, ?? atualmente um grande desafio para a maioria das empresas multinacionais que tenha registro na SEC (comiss??o de Valores Mobili??rios dos Estados Unidos da Am??rica). Estruturas enxutas com recursos escassos, com prazos desafiadores assumem a imensa responsabilidade de atender aos requisitos, sendo que sem um projeto robusto de implanta????o, em muitos casos malogram, ou realizam seus objetivos com altos custos e acabam destruindo valor ao inv??s de gerar. Diante desse quadro, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo contribuir para a an??lise dessa metodologia, n??o somente para atendimento ?? Lei, mas para reduzir custos e gerar valor atrav??s do fortalecimento dos sistemas de Controles Internos, transformando-os em mecanismos impulsionadores do processo de gera????o de valor. Para tanto, a id??ia ?? buscar identificar as principais lacunas da teoria atrav??s da revis??o da literatura e da apresenta????o de um estudo de caso, para o levantamento das principais defici??ncias, pontos fortes ou contribui????es atrav??s da avalia????o das pr??ticas percebidas e a proposi????o do modelo. Finalmente, poder-se-ia afirmar que como resultado da pesquisa e das an??lises efetuadas que, no caso sob estudo, a grande maioria dos executivos e demais colaboradores reconhecem o benef??cio que a Lei Sarbanes-Oxley trouxe para a empresa pesquisada. Reconhecem ainda que, apesar de ainda haver necessidade de adequa????o sist??mica e de infra-estrutura, ajuda na redu????o e controle dos riscos e refor??a sobremaneira o sistema de Controles Internos em todas as suas ??reas de atua????o. Abordam e entendem que h?? necessidade de alguma mudan??a na cultura dos demais colaboradores, para que seja inserida no seu dia-a-dia a cultura de Controles Internos, atendimento ?? Lei Sarbanes-Oxley e Governan??a Corporativa, fazendo com que o custo de controle seja cada vez mais reduzido, em rela????o aos benef??cios por eles gerados.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Wander_Pinto.pdf: 668393 bytes, checksum: 587017b7a13304e6485dba6f16c61ff5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-09-28 / This research treat of the Audit Companies perception related to the regulatory requirements describe in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 (Sections 302 and 404) and its respective impacts on the audit risk assessment performed by independent auditors on their audit of financial statements. The general objective, although, is to verify the effect and impact of requirements from the sections 302 and 404 of the SOX for the audit risk assessment for independent auditors. The information were obtained in two phases; on the first phase was performed an exploratory study based on a bibliography research; on the second phase was performed a data collection from a questionnaire sent to all Brazilian Audit Companies which are registered in the PCAOB. The result obtained with the questionnaire add with the concepts explored show that these Brazilian Audit Companies consider the SOX - sections 302 and 404 requirements positive related to the audit risk assessment for the audit of financial statements. / Esta pesquisa trata da percep????o das empresas de auditoria independente a respeito da regulamenta????o prevista na Lei Sarbanes-Oxley - 2002 - SOX (Se????es 302 e 404 da Lei) e de seus impactos na avalia????o de riscos de auditoria enfrentados pelo auditor independente em seu trabalho de exame das demonstra????es cont??beis de uma empresa. O objetivo geral foi, portanto, identificar a percep????o do auditor independente quanto ao impacto das se????es 302 e 404 da SOX na quest??o da avalia????o de risco de auditoria das demonstra????es cont??beis. A coleta de informa????es teve duas etapas. Na primeira, realizou-se um estudo explorat??rio por meio de pesquisa bibliogr??fica. Na segunda etapa, o instrumento de coleta de dados consubstanciou-se em question??rio dirigido a todas as empresas brasileiras listadas no PCAOB . O resultado obtido com o question??rio, alinhado aos conceitos explorados na pesquisa bibliogr??fica, indica que as empresas de auditoria consideram positivas as medidas contidas na referida Lei (se????es 302 e 404) em rela????o ?? avalia????o de riscos de auditoria para trabalhos de auditoria de demonstra????es cont??beis.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Junior_Cesar_Rodrigues_de_Castro.pdf: 859787 bytes, checksum: cf5024fc1b06c1d588040ee78e0d148e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-09-01 / This dissertation subject is related to the study of teacher's perception in accounting towards the fulfillment of the audit services attributes after the limitations foreseen by the legal instruments Instruction CVM n? 308/99 and Sarbanes-Oxley about the consulting services. The study main goal is to check the Audit teacher's perception of 14 Academic Masters Programs if the limitations foreseen by the legal instruments Instruction CVM n? 308/99 and Sarbanes-Oxley about the consulting services provided improvement to the fulfillment of the audit services attributes. At first we make a bibliographic review, that is, collecting the main subject concepts and historic in an epigraph. The operational part of the study relates the concepts and main consulting services provided by Big Four in Brazil. After that, talks about the two legal instruments that limited the audit companies acting about providing, at the same time, audit and consulting services to the same client. In Brazil, this limitation was regulated in 1999, when the Instruction CVM n? 308/99 was edited and, in 2002, an akin conduct was adopted in the USA in the promulgation of the Law Sarbanes-Oxley. The text emphasizes the importance of these two legal instruments that contributed to separate the external audit services from the consulting ones, besides becoming a possible way to separate and minimize the margin of interest conflicts between the parts and provide improvement to the fulfillment of the audit services attributes. For the study conclusion, a questionnaire has been answered by the Audit teachers of 14 Academic Masters Programs, in private and public universities, in order to measure their perception about the subject. And we testified that 92% of those teachers who answered the questionnaire agree with the fact that providing the audit and consulting services at the same time to the same client may contribute to the impairment of the attributes in audit, like the independency, the goals and the technical and professional competency. / O tema desta disserta????o est?? relacionado ao estudo da percep????o dos professores em contabilidade quanto ao cumprimento dos atributos dos servi??os de auditoria ap??s as limita????es previstas pelos instrumentos legais Instru????o CVM n?? 308/99 e Sarbanes-Oxley sobre os servi??os de consultoria. O objetivo do estudo ?? verificar a percep????o dos professores da disciplina e/ou ??rea de Auditoria de 14 Programas de Mestrado Acad??mico se as limita????es previstas pelos instrumentos legais Instru????o CVM n?? 308/99 e Sarbanes-Oxley sobre os servi??os de consultoria trouxeram melhoria para o cumprimento dos atributos dos servi??os de auditoria. Inicialmente faz-se uma revis??o bibliogr??fica, ou seja, coleta dos principais conceitos e hist??ricos do assunto em ep??grafe. A parte operacional do estudo relata sobre os conceitos e principais servi??os de consultoria prestados pelas Big Four no Brasil. Trata, em seguida, dos dois instrumentos legais que limitaram o meio de atua????o das empresas de auditoria em prestar concomitantemente, os servi??os de auditoria e consultoria ao mesmo cliente. No Brasil esta limita????o foi regulamentada em 1999, quando editou a Instru????o CVM n?? 308/99 e, em 2002, semelhante medida foi adotada nos EUA quando da promulga????o da Lei Sarbanes-Oxley. O texto enfatiza a import??ncia desses dois instrumentos legais, que contribu??ram para separar os servi??os de auditoria externa dos servi??os de consultoria, al??m de se tornarem um meio poss??vel de distanciamento e minimiza????o das margens de conflitos de interesse entre as partes, e trazerem melhoria para o cumprimento dos atributos dos servi??os de auditoria. Para a conclus??o do estudo, aplicou-se um question??rio aos professores da disciplina e/ou ??rea de Auditoria de 14 Programas de Mestrado Acad??mico em institui????es de ensino superior, p??blicas e privadas, para medir sua percep????o sobre o assunto, e constatou-se que 92% dos respondentes concordam com o fato de que a presta????o simult??nea dos servi??os de auditoria e consultoria a um mesmo cliente pode dar margens para o enfraquecimento dos atributos em auditoria, como por exemplo, a independ??ncia, os objetivos e a compet??ncia t??cnico-profissional.