This study aims to identify characteristics of firms reporting multiple years of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (MWICFR), labeled “Repeat Offenders”, and examine their characteristics and the types of material weaknesses they report using both broad and COSO-based classification schemes. The analysis compares these firms with firms reporting only one year of MWICFR and examines the differences between Repeat Offenders reporting consecutive and non-consecutive weaknesses.,Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted on a sample of 1,793 firm-year observations, split into Repeat Offenders and non-Repeat Offenders, and collected from AuditAnalytics and Compustat from 2007 to 2015.,On average, 40% of adverse opinions in ICFR each year can be attributed to Repeat Offenders. Compared to one-time MWICFR firms, Repeat Offenders are significantly more likely to report general material weaknesses and, within the COSO framework, are significantly more likely to report issues with Segregation of Duties and Processes and Procedures. Repeat Offenders reporting consecutive years of MWICFR are significantly more likely to have general weaknesses than non-consecutive Repeat Offenders and are also significantly more likely to report issues with Segregation of Duties and Personnel.,Prior studies have examined unremediated ICFR issues in the periods immediately following SOX implementation. This study extends this literature with a longer, more current sample period, focusing on both broad and COSO-specific control issues, as well as examining consecutive and non-consecutive MWICFR and firms with more than two years of MWICFR.,This study underpins recent Securities and Exchange Commission and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board concerns regarding pervasive ICFR issues. This study identifies some of the characteristics of firms associated with weaker ICFR and pinpoints more specific areas within internal controls that frequently lead to adverse opinions.

中文翻译：

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重犯：审查内部控制薄弱环节多年的案例

这项研究旨在确定报告了财务报告内部控制中多年严重弱点的公司的特征（标记为“重复犯规者”），并使用广泛的分类和基于COSO的分类来检查其特征以及所报告的实质性缺陷的类型计划。该分析将这些公司与仅报告MWICFR一年的公司进行比较，并检查了报告连续和非连续漏洞的重复犯罪者之间的差异。对1,793个公司年观察样本进行了单变量和多变量分析，分为重复犯罪者和重复犯罪者。非重复犯，并于2007年至2015年从AuditAnalytics和Compustat收集。平均而言，每年ICFR中40％的负面意见可归因于重复犯。与一次性MWICFR公司相比，屡犯者更有可能报告一般性的实质性弱点，并且在COSO框架内，更有可能报告职责分离以及流程和程序方面的问题。连续多年报告MWICFR的重复犯比非连续重复犯更有可能具有一般性弱点，并且也更有可能报告职责分离和人员分离问题。先前的研究已经检查了紧随其后的时期未纠正的ICFR问题SOX实施。这项研究以更长的，更当前的采样周期扩展了该文献，重点关注广泛的和特定于COSO的控制问题，并研究了连续的和非连续的MWICFR以及拥有MWICFR两年以上的公司。这项研究支持了最近的证券交易委员会和上市公司会计监督委员会对普遍存在的ICFR问题的担忧。这项研究确定了与较低的ICFR相关的公司的某些特征，并指出了内部控制中更具体的领域，这些领域经常会引起负面意见。