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Full-Text Articles in Business

Going-Concern Opinions: Broadening The Expectations Gap, Michael D. Akers, Meredith A. Maher, Don Giacomino Oct 2003

Going-Concern Opinions: Broadening The Expectations Gap, Michael D. Akers, Meredith A. Maher, Don Giacomino

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

A rash of high-profile bankruptcies has led to a search for answers. Many hold auditors responsible for not detecting the potential for bankruptcy during the most recent audit. The Weiss Report, a study of several dozen bankrupt companies submitted to the U.S. Senate during its deliberations on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, found a "broad and massive failure" on the part of auditors to raise "yellow flags" that indicate potential bankruptcy. The authors examined Weiss' methodology and found that, applied to a broader group of companies, Weiss' criteria would have incorrectly predicted bankruptcy for nearly half of the non-bankrupt companies studied. This …


A Profile Of Consumer Bankruptcy Petitioners, Jean Lown, Barbara Rowe Jan 2003

A Profile Of Consumer Bankruptcy Petitioners, Jean Lown, Barbara Rowe

All Archived Publications

Utah ranks first in the nation in the number of consumer bankruptcies per household. This study describes 2,567 Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Utah in 1997. Median debt level was $31,981 for Chapter 7 and $41,626 for Chapter 13 cases. While Utah boasts a high proportion of Chapter 13 repayment plans, only 10.8% of these cases were successfully completed. Debtors tended to be young, single earners, with short job tenure. Evidence also pointed to Utah’s low per capita income and large families as other contributors to bankruptcy.