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Direct And Indirect Effects Of Internal Control Weakness And External Audit Effort On Accruals Quality: Evidence From A Unique Canadian Regulatory Setting, Hai Lu, Gordon D Richardson, Steven Salterio

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Public disclosure about effectiveness of internal control systems is subject to much controversy in Canada, resulting in Canadian disclosures being made in Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A). These disclosures are provided to investors without a definition of the weaknesses to be reported, without implementation effectiveness testing, no direct management certification and no external audit of such disclosures. Though the cost of such SOX North disclosures are lower than in the U.S setting, the credibility of these disclosures is far from assured, posing an important empirical issue for regulators interested in the cost versus benefit trade-off of various disclosure regimes. We …