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Shareholder rights and the market reaction to Sarbanes-Oxley

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  • Choi, Seung Hee
  • Frye, Melissa B.
  • Yang, Minhua

Abstract

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was aimed at enhancing corporate governance, financial reporting, and audit functions. This study compares the market reaction of firms with weak and strong protection of shareholder rights to the passage of SOX. We find that firms with weak shareholder rights experienced positive abnormal returns when SOX was passed. This is consistent with the market perceiving that such firms would benefit from the governance reforms. In contrast, firms with strong shareholder rights did not experience a significant positive market reaction. We also find a significant increase in risk for firms with weak shareholder rights following the passage of SOX. In addition, we find that strong shareholder rights firms decreased shareholder protection after SOX, while weak shareholder rights firms did not change significantly from their pre-SOX protection levels. We find no evidence of abnormal long-run performance for firms that altered their shareholder protection following SOX.

Suggested Citation

  • Choi, Seung Hee & Frye, Melissa B. & Yang, Minhua, 2008. "Shareholder rights and the market reaction to Sarbanes-Oxley," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 756-771, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:48:y:2008:i:4:p:756-771
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    1. Dah, Mustafa A. & Frye, Melissa B. & Hurst, Matthew, 2014. "Board changes and CEO turnover: The unanticipated effects of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 97-108.
    2. Abdolmohammadi, Mohammad J. & DeSimone, Steven M. & Hsieh, Tien-Shih & Wang, Zhihong, 2017. "Factors associated with internal audit function involvement with XBRL implementation in public companies: An international study," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 45-56.
    3. Salim Chahine & Mohamad Zeidan & Hala Dairy, 2012. "Corporate governance and the market reaction to stock repurchase announcement," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(4), pages 707-726, November.
    4. Wang, Weishen & Graefe-Anderson, Rachel & Pyles, Mark K. & Kim, Dongnyoung, 2014. "How entrenched managers beat earnings expectations before and after SOX," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 82-91.

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