IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ijoais/v48y2023ics1467089522000471.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How can firms repair their reputations when they discover information technology control material weaknesses?

Author

Listed:
  • Rose, Anna M.
  • Rose, Jacob M.
  • Obermire, Kara M.
  • Strand Norman, Carolyn
  • Frydenlund, Nicole

Abstract

We examine the effects of information technology material weaknesses on a firm’s reputation by examining how management’s actions before and after disclosure influence investors’ trust in management and perceptions of investment risk. Specifically, we look at the influence of: 1) management taking responsibility for an information technology material weakness, and 2) replacing the CFO with someone with technology expertise. We find that management taking responsibility for a material weakness does not lead to increased trust in management before or after remediation. However, investors perceive more favorable market reactions to remediation when management had previously taken responsibility for the control weakness. Further, we find that replacing the CFO with someone who has technology expertise results in increases in investor trust and improvements in perceptions of investment risk after control weakness remediation. This suggests the importance of sending clear signals to investors that the company is hiring managers with appropriate technology expertise.

Suggested Citation

  • Rose, Anna M. & Rose, Jacob M. & Obermire, Kara M. & Strand Norman, Carolyn & Frydenlund, Nicole, 2023. "How can firms repair their reputations when they discover information technology control material weaknesses?," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijoais:v:48:y:2023:i:c:s1467089522000471
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accinf.2022.100595
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1467089522000471
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.accinf.2022.100595?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "Trusting the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2557-2600, December.
    2. Hollis Ashbaugh‐Skaife & Daniel W. Collins & William R. Kinney Jr & Ryan Lafond, 2009. "The Effect of SOX Internal Control Deficiencies on Firm Risk and Cost of Equity," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 1-43, March.
    3. Li, Chan & Sun, Lili & Ettredge, Michael, 2010. "Financial executive qualifications, financial executive turnover, and adverse SOX 404 opinions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 93-110, May.
    4. Goh, Beng Wee & Li, Dan, 2013. "The Disciplining Effect of the Internal Control Provisions of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act on the Governance Structures of Firms," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 248-278.
    5. Haislip, Jacob Z. & Masli, Adi & Richardson, Vernon J. & Watson, Marcia Weidenmier, 2015. "External reputational penalties for CEOs and CFOs following information technology material weaknesses," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 1-15.
    6. Rani Hoitash & Udi Hoitash & Karla M. Johnstone, 2012. "Internal Control Material Weaknesses and CFO Compensation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 768-803, September.
    7. Stoel, M. Dale & Muhanna, Waleed A., 2011. "IT internal control weaknesses and firm performance: An organizational liability lens," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 280-304.
    8. Karla Johnstone & Chan Li & Kathleen Hertz Rupley, 2011. "Changes in Corporate Governance Associated with the Revelation of Internal Control Material Weaknesses and Their Subsequent Remediation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 331-383, March.
    9. Hirst, De & Koonce, L & Simko, Pj, 1995. "Investor Reactions To Financial Analysts Research Reports," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 335-351.
    10. Kim, Peter H. & Dirks, Kurt T. & Cooper, Cecily D. & Ferrin, Donald L., 2006. "When more blame is better than less: The implications of internal vs. external attributions for the repair of trust after a competence- vs. integrity-based trust violation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 49-65, January.
    11. Audrey Wen-Hsin Hsu & Chih-Hsien Liao, 2012. "Do Compensation Committees Pay Attention to Section 404 Opinions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(9-10), pages 1240-1271, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haislip, Jacob Z. & Masli, Adi & Richardson, Vernon J. & Watson, Marcia Weidenmier, 2015. "External reputational penalties for CEOs and CFOs following information technology material weaknesses," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 1-15.
    2. Chalmers, Keryn & Hay, David & Khlif, Hichem, 2019. "Internal control in accounting research: A review," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 80-103.
    3. Juan Mao & Zhongxia (Shelly) Ye, 2023. "Internal control material weakness disclosure and misstatement duration," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1-2), pages 118-151, January.
    4. Navarro, Patricia & Robb, Sean W.G. & Sutton, Steve G. & Weisner, Martin M., 2020. "The cost stickiness of information technology material weaknesses: An intertemporal comparison between it-related and other material weaknesses," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    5. DeFond, Mark & Zhang, Jieying, 2014. "A review of archival auditing research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 275-326.
    6. Inder K. Khurana & Hoyoun Kyung, 2021. "Internal control material weakness and CEO recruitment," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1940-1987, October.
    7. Cho, Myojung & Chung, Kwang-Hyun, 2016. "The effect of commercial banks' internal control weaknesses on loan loss reserves and provisions," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 61-72.
    8. Bolton, Brian & Lian, Qin & Rupley, Kathleen & Zhao, Jing, 2016. "Industry contagion effects of internal control material weakness disclosures," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 27-40.
    9. Chen, Zhenhua & Loftus, Serena, 2019. "Multi-method evidence on investors’ reactions to managers’ self-inclusive language," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Shelagh Campbell & Yingqi Li & Junli Yu & Zhou Zhang, 2016. "The Impact of Occupational Community on the Quality of Internal Control," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 271-285, December.
    11. Baolei Qi & Liuchuang Li & Qing Zhou & Jinghui Sun, 2017. "Does internal control over financial reporting really alleviate agency conflicts?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(4), pages 1101-1125, December.
    12. Arnold, Vicky & Bedard, Jean C. & Phillips, Jillian R. & Sutton, Steve G., 2011. "Do section 404 disclosures affect investors' perceptions of information systems reliability and stock price predictions?," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 243-258.
    13. Siyi Liu & Daoguang Yang & Nian Liu & Xin Liu, 2019. "The Effects of Air Pollution on Firms’ Internal Control Quality: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-28, September.
    14. Caglio, Ariela & Dossi, Andrea & Van der Stede, Wim A., 2018. "CFO role and CFO compensation: an empirical analysis of their implications," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 88296, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Sungchang Kang & Jeongseok Bang & Doojin Ryu, 2024. "Female CEOs’ risk management and earnings performance during the financial crisis," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(1), pages 110-138, February.
    16. Qiang Li & Wenjuan Ruan & Tiantian Sun & Erwei Xiang, 2020. "Corporate governance and corporate environmental investments: Evidence from China," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(6), pages 923-942, September.
    17. Feng, Yuan & Mao, Yihuan & Cai, Jing & Xu, Nan, 2024. "Can board IT expertise improve corporate internal control?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    18. Gerrit Sarens & Giuseppe D’Onza, 2017. "The perception of financial analysts on risk, risk management, and internal control disclosure: Evidence from Belgium and Italy," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(2), pages 118-138, May.
    19. Cheng, Mei & Dhaliwal, Dan & Zhang, Yuan, 2013. "Does investment efficiency improve after the disclosure of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 1-18.
    20. Mounia Boulhaga & Abdelfettah Bouri & Ahmed A. Elamer & Bassam A. Ibrahim, 2023. "Environmental, social and governance ratings and firm performance: The moderating role of internal control quality," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 134-145, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ijoais:v:48:y:2023:i:c:s1467089522000471. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-accounting-information-systems/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.