Whistleblowers and Outcomes of Financial Misrepresentation Enforcement Actions Academic Article

abstract

• Copyright , University of Chicago on behalf of the Accounting Research Center, 2017 Whistleblowers are ostensibly a valuable resource to regulators investigating securities violations, but whether there is a link between whistleblower involvement and the outcomes of enforcement actions is unclear. Using a data set of employee whistleblowing allegations obtained from the U.S. government and the universe of enforcement actions for financial misrepresentation, we find that whistleblower involvement is associated with higher monetary penalties for targeted firms and employees and with longer prison sentences for culpable executives. We also find that regulators more quickly begin enforcement proceedings when whistleblowers are involved. Our findings suggest that whistleblowers are a valuable source of information for regulators who investigate and prosecute financial misrepresentation.

authors

• Sharp, Nathan

published proceedings

• JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH

altmetric score

• 18.402

author list (cited authors)

• Call, A. C., Martin, G. S., Sharp, N. Y., & Wilde, J. H.

citation count

• 97

complete list of authors

• Call, Andrew C||Martin, Gerald S||Sharp, Nathan Y||Wilde, Jaron H

publication date

• March 2018

publisher

• Wiley  Publisher

published in

• Journal of Accounting Research  Journal

keywords

• Enforcement Actions
• Financial Reporting
• Fraud
• Penalties
• Securities And Exchange Commission
• Whistleblowers

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1111/1475-679X.12177

start page

• 123

end page

• 171

volume

• 56

issue

• 1

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-679x.12177