{"manuscript_title":"<b>Corporate Relocations, Social Capital Disruptions, and Employee Attention to Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting</b>","abstract":"Relocations can engender substantial disruption for firms’ employees. This study examines how corporate relocations, and the associated changes in psychosocial characteristics (social capital) from the old to new locations (which disrupts the lives of employees), impact the quality of firms’ internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR), a critical underpinning of firms’ financial reporting quality to stakeholders. Using a sample of 894 U.S. corporate relocations between 2005-2017, this study examines changes in firms’ internal control quality measured using their auditors’ assessment of internal control ineffectiveness. This study finds (1) internal controls effectiveness suffers after relocation, (2) the greater the change in social capital associated with relocation, the more ineffective internal controls are in the year after relocation, and (3) internal controls that are particularly dependent on employee-experience are ineffective after relocation. This study contributes to our understanding of how corporate decisions, social environment, and internal controls interact.","keywords":["Social capital","internal control quality","employees","SOX 404","psychosocial characteristics","headquarters relocation"]}