... control opinions internal control material weakness audit opinions The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 required auditors to provide direct disclosure of clients' internal control weaknesses through adverse internal control opinions (adverse ICOs). Since the implementation of SOX, the demand...

... strain the auditor-client relationship absent concerns about the client's financial statements. Using a sample of 30,825 financial statements issued with unqualified audit opinions during 2000–2009, we find that financial statements with audit reports containing explanatory language are significantly...