Overall, the authors’ findings indicate that variations in the detail of disclosures of material control weaknesses alter trust in management, and these changes in trust have lasting implications for investors’ perceptions of risk associated with the disclosing firm.
Rose, A. M., J. M. Rose, and C. S. Norman. 2016. Material Control Weakness Corrections: The Enduring Effects of Trust Management. Behavioral Research in Accounting 28 (2): 41 – 53.
This study provides some of the first empirical evidence of the characteristics of efficient MCS design for PHOs. This evidence has the potential to assist primary healthcare owners, managers and their advisors to better understand the relationship between ownership and MCS design and thereby improve the effectiveness and efficiency of delivery of primary care.
King, R. and P. Clarkson. 2015. Management control system design, ownership, and performance in professional service organizations. Accounting, Organizations and Society 45: 24-39.
The authors’ findings are important because they indicate that AS5 may be less effective at improving ICQ than AS2 and provides some evidence that declining material weakness rates under AS5 do not indicate improving ICQ. The findings also suggest that SOX 404(a) management assessments are not an acceptable substitute to ICFR audits for improving ICQ. The results suggest that more rigorous SOX 404(b) audits under Auditing Standard No. 2 had real benefits in terms of improved overall internal control system quality and unaudited accruals quality; however, attempts to reduce ICFR audit costs via reduced requirements of Auditing Standard No. 5 may have resulted in lower material weakness disclosure rates and lower overall internal control system quality.
Schroeder, J. H. and M. L. Shepardson. 2016. Do Sox 404 Control Audits and Management Assessments Improve Overall Control System Quality? The Accounting Review 91 (5): 1513-1541.
The study results are important to regulators, practitioners, and academics. The findings show that internal controls opinion shopping appears to occur among firms that have clean internal control opinions prior to a restatement. In addition, clients have the incentive to manipulate the audit process, via internal control opinion shopping, due to the increased focus and oversight on internal controls reporting. Finally, auditor dismissals that occur late in the fiscal period are more likely to be associated with internal control opinion shopping.
Newton, N. J., J. S. Persellin, D. Wang, and M. S. Wilkins. 2016. Internal Control Opinion Shopping and Audit Market Competition. The Accounting Review 91 (2): 603–623.
The authors identify a setting where there is a greater risk of value reduction for stockholders. Specifically, they find that companies which have material weaknesses in internal controls are more likely to engage in real earnings management, through inventory management and reducing discretionary expenditures. While these activities are allowed by GAAP, the findings of this paper suggest management may take actions that are detrimental to firm value.
Jarvinen, T. and E. Myllymaki. 2016. Read Earnings Management before and after Reporting SOX 404 Material Weaknesses. Accounting Horizons 30 (1): 119-141.
The authors use a unique data set to shed light on characteristics which lead to material weaknesses, specifically in tax-related accounts relative to other accounts. The data (obtained from several international accounting firms) allows the authors to determine which characteristics of tax-related internal control deficiencies are different from other deficiencies, prevent them from being remediated, and cause them to rise to the level of a material weakness. Results suggest that tax deficiencies, relative to other account-specific deficiencies, are less likely to be remediated, more severe, and more likely to cause a financial misstatement. Tax-related deficiencies are less likely to get remediated by year-end if discovered by the auditor, if the control was deficient in design, or if the control pertained to monitoring. This paper underscores the importance of auditor involvement in internal control reporting in taxes.
Graham, L. and J.C. Bedard. 2015. Internal Control Deficiencies in Tax Reporting: A Detailed View. Accounting Horizons 29 (4): 917-942.
The auditor needs a different model for audits of internal control. The auditor needs to apply two different models in an integrated audit, the original model for the opinion on the financial statements and a different model for the opinion on internal controls.
The author believes standard setters should sponsor research on an appropriate risk model for audits of internal control. Even before the research is completed, the standards could be enhanced in the following ways:
• indicate that the original audit risk model is intended for use only in financial statement audits, not internal control audits;
• write standards that consistently use risk terminology and are clear as to which risk they are discussing; and
• provide guidance on the use of models in integrated audits.
Akresh, A. D. 2010. A Risk Model to Opine on Internal Control. Accounting Horizons 24 (1): 65-78.
The study contributes by contending and showing that for fraudulent financial reporting, reporting intentions to different internal report recipients are influenced by a particular situational antecedent: unsuccessful social confrontation. The authors believe that the research and related findings will be useful for audit committees and other senior executives concerned with the timely reporting of fraud. Such groups not only are responsible for establishing internal reporting channels, but also are responsible for training and communicating with employees about what to do should they discover wrongdoing such as fraud. The evidence on the effects of social confrontation on reporting intentions for two different internal report recipients should be helpful in training and communicating with employees regarding what to do in response to discovering fraud.
Kaplan, S. E., K. R. Pope, and J. A. Samuels. 2010. The Effect of Social Confrontation on Individuals' Intentions to Internally Report Fraud. Behavioral Research in Accounting 22 (2): 51-67.
Combining the remediation and earnings quality analyses, the results imply that investors should be most concerned about MWs in information technology, segregation of duties, account reconciliations, taxation, revenues, and inventory. These types occur frequently and are slow to remediate; thus, their effects on financial reporting linger longer than others. Their link to near-term earnings quality is evident, as their remediation reduces abnormal accruals, and/or their lack of remediation in the following year further increases accruals. In general, these results suggest that financial statement users should adopt a more granular view of remediation, as successful remediation of some specific MWs can signal improvement in the quality of disclosed financial information even if other MWs remain unremediated.
Bedard, J. C., R. Hoitash, U. Hoitash, and K. Westermann. 2012. Material Weakness Remediation and Earnings Quality: A Detailed Examination by Type of Control Deficiency. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 31 (1): 57-78.
The findings offer three important contributions to the existing literature. First, they indicate that MW reported in multiple consecutive years have a progressively larger and statistically significant negative impact on CE when firms that partially remediate are excluded from the sample. That is, the market notices that some firms are slow to remediate MW, whereas other firms take timely remediation steps to address MW. Second, the study shows that the number and specific types of MW are significant factors in understanding the relation between MW and CE. In fact, even if a firm does not remediate all MW in a given year, the market views favorably a reduction in the number of MW (i.e., partial remediation). Third, given the richness of the dataset, the current study helps to reconcile conflicting results in the prior literature on the effects of MW.
Gordon, L. A., and A. L. Wilford. 2012. An Analysis of Multiple Consecutive Years of Material Weaknesses in Internal Control. Accounting Review 87 (6): 2027-2060.