Following the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a great opportunity exists for research โท the area of internal control over financial reporting^ For example, we find that profitability and material weakness disclosures are strongly negatively associated. Future research could explore why this association exists. Does this finding reflect the cost of implementing a quality internal control system, which might be prohibitive for poorly performing firms? Or are auditors more diligent when firms are performing poorly? Future research might help explain our finding that companies with large auditors are more likely to disclose a material weakness, after controlling for complexity, firm size, and profitability. Is this due to auditor diligence? If so, then is this diligence because larger auditors are exposed to greater legal liabilities? Or is it because their searches for material weaknesses are more effective?