Protection as a form of Management for Estuarine Wetlands: The Section 404 Regulatory Program and its Impacts on Estuarine Wetlands

Following 15 years of data collection, field studies, and modeling efforts, the State of Florida in 1987 legislatively mandated the South Florida Water Management District, a regional water management agency, to create and implement a plan to reduce average annual inputs of total phosphorus to Lake Okeechobee by 40 percent. One element of the resulting plan was the creation and implementation of a performance-based regulatory program that set phosphorus discharge limitations for all parcels of land equal to or greater than 1/2 acre in size in almost all of the 1,735,000 acres of the lake's 31 tributary drainage basins. Owners of non-complying parcels are required to take measures to bring the parcels into compliance. This regulatory program, coupled with concurrent cost-share incentive programs and ongoing research efforts, has resulted in a decrease in phosphorus concentrations from individual properties and at some tributary discharge locations to the lake. This effort demonstrates that where there is sufficient historical information, scientific application of state-of-the-art modeling techniques, a political will, and appropriate powers vested in the institutions to take and enforce actions, such programs can be implemented and have positive effects on reducing non-point source pollutants.

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Accelerated Filing Deadlines, Internal Controls, and Financial Statement Quality: The Case of Originating Misstatements

Accounting Horizons ◽

10.2308/acch-51075 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 551-575 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Colleen M. Boland ◽

Scott N. Bronson ◽

Chris E. Hogan

Keyword(s):

Internal Control ◽

Internal Controls ◽

Data Availability ◽

Financial Statement ◽

Similar Increase ◽

Section 404 ◽

Regulatory Changes ◽

Rule Change ◽

Initial Decrease

SYNOPSIS We examine whether regulations requiring accelerated filing deadlines and internal control reporting and testing affect financial statement reliability. Unlike prior research, we examine whether these regulatory changes are associated with an increase in the likelihood that misstatements originate in the period following the respective change. If the implementation of these rules causes a misstatement, then the misstatement would most likely occur in the period immediately following the rule change. We provide evidence that accelerated filers (AFs) experience an increase in the likelihood of an originating misstatement following the acceleration of filing deadlines from 90 to 75 days. Large accelerated filers (LAFs), however, do not experience a similar increase following this acceleration or the subsequent acceleration from 75 to 60 days. After the implementation of the SOX Section 404 internal control requirements, we find that the likelihood of an originating misstatement declined for AFs but not for LAFs. Taken together, the findings suggest that, although AFs experienced an initial decrease in financial statement reliability, this decrease was temporary. Data Availability: Data are publicly available from the sources identified in the text.

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Unexpected Consequences: The Effects on Non-Accelerated Filers of an Accelerated Filing Deadline and SOX Section 404

Accounting Horizons ◽

10.2308/horizons-18-066 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 87-112

Author(s):

Bei Dong ◽

Stefanie L. Tate ◽

Le Emily Xu

Keyword(s):

Resource Allocation ◽

Financial Statements ◽

Financial Statement ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Section 404 ◽

Auditor Change ◽

Time Required ◽

Allocation Decisions ◽

Jel Classifications ◽

Resource Allocation Decisions

SYNOPSIS Regulations implemented by the SEC in 2003 and 2004 simultaneously shortened the financial statement filing deadlines and increased the time required for both the preparation of financial statements and the related audit of accelerated filers (AFs). However, there were indirect, unintended negative consequences for companies not subject to the regulations, namely, non-accelerated filers (NAFs). The new regulations imposed strains on auditor resources requiring auditors to make resource allocation decisions that negatively affected NAFs. We find that NAFs with an auditor who had a high proportion of AF clients (high-AF) had longer audit delays after the regulations were implemented than NAFs of an auditor with a low proportion of AF clients (low-AF). Further, we document that NAFs with high-AF auditors were more likely to change auditors than NAFs with low-AF auditors. Finally, NAFs that switched to auditors with less AFs experienced shorter audit delays after the auditor change. JEL Classifications: M42; M48.

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Investor Perceptions of Government Deregulation: Evidence from Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Accounting Horizons ◽

10.2308/horizons-17-176 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin W Hoffman ◽

John L. Campbell ◽

Jason L. Smith

Keyword(s):

Financial Reporting ◽

Government Regulation ◽

Abnormal Returns ◽

Reporting Quality ◽

Internal Controls ◽

Litigation Risk ◽

Section 404 ◽

Fraud Risk ◽

Sarbanes Oxley ◽

Public Company

We investigate the stock market's reaction to events leading up to the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) 2007 regulatory changes that reduced the scope of and documentation requirements for assessments of firms' internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR), as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The stated goal of these regulations was to reduce firms' and auditors' compliance costs with mandatory ICFR assessments, while maintaining the effectiveness of these assessments. We examine abnormal returns surrounding key dates leading to the passage of these regulations and offer two main findings. First, investors reacted negatively on key event dates, suggesting that investors viewed the regulations as likely to reduce financial reporting quality rather than to drive firm and audit efficiencies. Second, this negative market reaction is larger when ICFR effectiveness should matter most - when firms are more complex, have higher litigation risk, and greater fraud risk. In additional analysis, we find that restatements increase in the post-regulation time period, consistent with investors' concerns that the effect of the legislation would be a reduction in ICFR effectiveness. Overall, our results may imply that investors prefer stronger government regulation when it comes to the assessments of a firm's internal controls over financial reporting.

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A Case Study of the Effects of Management Interventions on the Phosphorus Dynamics at a Coastal, Eutrophic, Caribbean lagoon (Laguna Cartagena, Puerto Rico)

Water ◽

10.3390/w13040449 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 449

Author(s):

Yashira Marie Sánchez Colón ◽

Fred Charles Schaffner

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rico ◽

Water Column ◽

Water Levels ◽

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Freshwater Wetland ◽

Water Level Fluctuations ◽

Phosphorus Loading ◽

Estuarine Wetlands ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Management Recommendations

Laguna Cartagena is a coastal, eutrophic, shallow lake and freshwater wetland in southwestern Puerto Rico, managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This ecosystem has been impacted by phosphorus loading from adjacent agricultural areas since the 1950s, causing eutrophication and deteriorating wildlife habitats. Herein, we describe phosphorus input and export during September 2010–September 2011 (Phase One) and October 2013–November 2014 (Phase Two). These two phases bracket a period of intensified management interventions including excavation and removal of sediment and vegetation, draining, and burning during the summers of 2012 and 2013. Results indicate that Laguna Cartagena retains a phosphorus (sink) in its sediments, and exhibits nutrient-releasing events (source, mainly total phosphorus) to the lagoon water column, which are associated with rainfall and rising water levels. External factors including water level fluctuations and rainfall influenced phosphorus export during Phase One, but after management interventions (Phase Two), internal processes influenced sink/source dynamics, releasing elevated phosphorus concentrations to the water column. When exposed sediments were re-flooded, phosphorus concentrations to the water column increased, releasing elevated P concentrations downstream to an estuarine wetlands area and the Caribbean Sea. Herein we offer management recommendations to optimize wildlife habitat without elevating phosphorus concentrations.

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Construction of a Near-Natural Estuarine Wetland Evaluation Index System Based on Analytical Hierarchy Process and Its Application

Water ◽

10.3390/w13152116 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 2116

Author(s):

Jiajun Sun ◽

Yangyang Han ◽

Yuping Li ◽

Panyue Zhang ◽

Ling Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecological Restoration ◽

Water Purification ◽

Analytical Hierarchy Process ◽

Index System ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Estuarine Wetland ◽

Estuarine Wetlands ◽

Hierarchy Process

Nutrients carried in upstream rivers to lakes are the main cause of eutrophication. Building near-natural estuarine wetlands between rivers and lakes is an effective way to remove pollutants and restore the ecology of estuarine areas. However, for the existing estuarine wetland ecological restoration projects, there is a lack of corresponding evaluation methods and index systems to make a comprehensive assessment of their restoration effects. By summarizing a large amount of literature and doing field research, an index system was constructed by combining the characteristics of the near-natural estuarine wetlands themselves. It covered environmental benefits, technical management and maintenance, and socio-economic functions, and contained 3 systems, 7 criteria, and 16 indicators. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine the weights of each indicator. The top 5 indicators in order of importance were habitat diversity, total phosphorus (TP), coverage of aquatic plants, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and adaptation to the surrounding landscape. The above evaluation system was used for the comprehensive evaluation of the water purification project in the Fuhe estuarine wetland, Hebei Province, as an example. The results showed that the comprehensive score of the Fuhe estuarine wetland at this stage was 4.1492, and the evaluation grade was excellent. The effect of water purification and ecological restoration was good, and the selected technology was suitable and stable in operation. It had a greater positive impact on the surrounding economy and society and can be promoted and applied. The research results were important for clarifying the advantages and defects of the project and developing efficient and advanced restoration technologies.

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