The Effect of SOX Section 404: Costs, Earnings Quality, and Stock Prices
利用自然实验，发现SOX第404条导致企业报告盈余更保守，但增加了实际成本，并降低了小公司的市场价值。
ABSTRACT This paper exploits a natural quasi‐experiment to isolate the effects that were uniquely due to the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX): U.S. firms with a public float under $75 million could delay Section 404 compliance, and foreign firms under $700 million could delay the auditor's attestation requirement. As designed, Section 404 led to conservative reported earnings, but also imposed real costs. On net, SOX compliance reduced the market value of small firms.