Business Commons^™

Occurrence And Consequences Of Surprise Internal Control Disclosures, Hambisa Belina

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandates public companies to establish internal control systems and assess their effectiveness. Quarterly reports by all companies and annual reports by companies with less than $75 million public float (non-accelerated filers) do not require auditor’s attestation while annual reports by companies with $75 million or more public float (accelerated filers) do require such auditor attestations. Quarterly reports should provide early warning of any impending material weakness (MW) to be disclosed in subsequent annual filings. This dissertation explores three types of “surprise” MW disclosures—positive, negative and no surprise—and consequences of such surprise disclosures.

In part one, I document …

How Does The Nature Of Accounting Standards Affect Audit Quality And Earnings Attributes?, Ran Ling

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to provide evidence on the effects of the nature of accounting standards (i.e. principles- versus rules-based accounting standards) on audit quality and earnings attributes. I construct a comprehensive instrument to effectively measure rules-based characteristics in the U.S. GAAP following Mergenthaler (2011). I then construct a firm-level instrument to capture firms' reliance on principles-based accounting standards using the textual analysis approach developed by Folsom et al. (2017). Using data from S&P 500 companies during 2009-2014, I first examine whether principles- (or rules-) based standards in the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) system affect both the …

The Effect Of Uncertain And Weak Modal Words In 10-K Filings On Analyst Forecast Attributes, Myung Sub Kim

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the determinants of the use of uncertain and weak modal words in 10-K filings and the effect of these words on analyst forecast attributes. I find that the use of uncertain and weak modal words in 10-K filings is positively (negatively) associated with firm size, volatility of business and operations (firm age and number of business segments). More importantly, after controlling for readability and management tone, I find that the use of uncertain and weak modal words in 10-K filings is associated with greater analyst following, lower forecast dispersion, greater forecast accuracy, and lower uncertainty in analysts’ …

Three Essays On Financial Statement Comparability, Mohammad Nazrul Islam

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Comparability is a central feature of financial reporting systems. Comparability is defined by FASB (2010, 19) as “the qualitative characteristic that enables users to identify and understand similarities in, and differences among, items.” The Accounting Principles Board ranked comparability as one of the most important objectives of financial reporting and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles have underscored the importance of comparability for the past four decades. Using empirical measures of financial statement comparability, studies confirm that comparability plays an important role in analyst following, audit fees, credit risk, acquisition decisions, stock price volatility, the cost of debt, the cost of equity, …