AAER Dataset Description
Since 1982, the SEC has issued Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) during or at the conclusion of an investigation against a company, an auditor, or an officer for alleged accounting and/or auditing misconduct. These releases provide varying degrees of detail on the nature of the misconduct, the individuals and entities involved and their effect on the financial statements. The dataset currently consists of 4,278 SEC AAERs (1,816 firm misstatement events) issued between May 17th 1982 and December 31st 2021. It contains 1,087 firm misstatement events that affect at least one of the firms’ quarterly or annual financial statements.
The dataset consists of three data files: the Details, Annual and Quarterly files
The Detail file contains:
Firm name and its identifiers
AAER numbers (e.g., 1 – 4,278) pertaining to each firm
A description of the reason the AAER was issued
The balance sheet and/or income statement accounts affected by the violation
One observation per firm misstatement event.
The Annual and Quarterly files are compiled from the Detail file and are formatted by reporting period when the misstatement occurred.
The Annual and Quarterly files contain:
AAERs with alleged financial misstatements
Firm name and identifiers
The year and/or quarter-end when the misstatements occurred
Information on whether earnings or revenues are under or overstated stated
One observation for each year or quarter affected by the violation
The original AAERs are obtained from the SEC website:
http://www.sec.gov/divisions/enforce/friactions.shtml
A detailed description of the data collection is available in:
Dechow, Ge, Larson and Sloan (2011) Predicting Material Accounting Misstatements. Contemporary Accounting Research, 28: 17–82.
Published version: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1911-846.2010.01041.x/abstract
SSRN version: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=997483
Please cite Dechow, Ge, Larson and Sloan (2011) as the source of the dataset in your research.