美國國會2002年通過了沙賓法案，該法案404條款規範了外部審計人員必須評估客戶公司之內部控制與簽證管理者所提出之公司內部控制評估報告，且公司管理者與外部審計人員必須將重大內部控制缺失揭露於其報告中。沙賓法案404條款之主要目的是為了提升公司財務資訊揭露之準確性與可靠性。
本研究主要目的為，探討沙賓法案404條款下，管理者揭露內部控制缺失之公司是否比其他公司有更明顯的盈餘管理行為。本研究以裁決性應計數絕對值衡量公司盈餘管理行為，研究結果顯示，裁決性應計數絕對值在管理者揭露內部控制缺失之公司顯著大於無內部控制缺失之公司。進一步將內部控制缺失依COSO內部控制整合架構分類後發現，管理者揭露控制環境類型缺失會顯著提高盈餘管理行為；而控制活動類型缺失之「資訊科技控制缺失」、「重編報告相關缺失」則顯著降低盈餘管理行為，過去文獻推論審計人員對於可被查核之內部控制缺失會進行額外測試並予以修正，而抑制盈餘管理行為。另一方面，控制活動類型缺失之「會計文件、政策和程序相關缺失」依過去文獻定義應屬於可被查核之內部控制缺失，然而結果顯示其會顯著提升盈餘管理行為，顯然並未被審計人員有效的修正，過去文獻推論原因可能為 (1) 審計人員可能對於這些大量的應計數無明確了解(隱含有誤述的產生而未被查覺)； (2) 審計人員可能已發現誤述情形，但和公司管理者串通而未記載於評估報告中； (3) 審計人員在審計工作範圍內，可能沒考慮到這些異常應計數之意涵與後果；或 (4) 審計人員獲得了足夠的證據來推論這些應計數之數量符合客戶公司之狀況。

U.S. Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. Under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, companies and external auditors independently document and test internal control over financial reporting. Management must provide an assertion regarding internal control effectiveness and the auditor presents a separate opinion. Material weaknesses in internal controls must be disclosed in the auditor and management reports. The one of the main objectives of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is to improve the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosure.
The objective of this study is to examine whether firms reporting material internal control weaknesses under Section 404 have more earnings management compared to other firms. We used absolute discretionary accruals as earnings management measure. The results provide evidence that there are more absolute discretionary accruals for firms reporting material internal control weaknesses than for other firms. When classifying internal control weaknesses into nine types by COSO internal control-integrated framework, we find that Control Environment weaknesses is positively associated with earnings management, and that both of “Information Technology Control” and “Restatement” weaknesses in Control Activities are negatively related to earnings management. Prior research indicated that auditors’ detecting and correcting auditable weaknesses through increased substantive testing prior to the issuance of the financial statements would restrained earnings management. However, “Accounting documentation, policy and / or procedure” weakness in Control Activities belongs with auditable weaknesses but causes the increase of earnings management, indicating that auditors are unable to detect and correct the weaknesses. The possible reasons provided by prior research may be : (1) the auditor may not understand the implications of large accruals (implying that misstatements are not detected); (2) auditors may recognize the misstatements but collude with management to not book them; (3) auditors may not consider the consequences of inflated accruals to be within the scope of the audit; or (4) the auditor’s obtains enough evidence to conclude that the level of accruals is appropriate given client conditions.

中文部分
陳樹，2002。我國企業盈餘操縱問題之誘因、影響與因應對策，當代會計，第三卷第二期，231-242。

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