A last set of studies bears on how well auditors performed in the financial crisis as one
measure of whether SOX accomplished the goal of improving accounting and auditing. By that
measure, the results are mixed. On the one hand, within a short time of receiving clean audit
reports (and section 404 control attestations) from their auditors, many financial institutions
failed in contexts calling into question their prior accounting. As reviewed in Sikka (2009),
Bear Stearns received a clean report from Deloitte on January 28, and failed on March 14;
Thornburg received a clean report from KPMG on February 27, which was withdrawn on
March 4, prior to Thornburg’s failure; Northern Rock received a clean report on July 25, only
to suffer a bank run on September 14; and U.S. Bancorp received a clean report from E&Y on