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Journal of Banking & Finance Vol. 32 No. 10 2008

Influence of disclosure and governance on risk of US financial services firms following Sarbanes-Oxley

Aigbe Akhigbe1; Anna D. Martin2

1 University of Akron · 2 St. John's University

Abstract

This study finds significant changes in capital market measures of risk following the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley for US financial services firms. Shorter-term measures of risk shifts are positive, on average, and consistent with the mandatory nature of the disclosure and governance provisions. Longer-term total and unsystematic risk shifts are negative, on average, and consistent with reductions in investor uncertainty as transparency improved. We find that the changes in shorter-term and longer-term risk measures vary inversely with the strength of disclosure and governance characteristics. The financial market rewarded (punished) firms with stronger (weaker) disclosure and stronger (weaker) governance.

DOI
10.1016/j.jbankfin.2007.12.037
Volume
32
Issue
10
Pages
2124-2135
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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