Is there incremental information content in the going concern explanatory paragraph?

Reporting going concern uncertainty is a matter of debate among auditors, users, and standards-setters. This study investigates whether the required going concern explanatory paragraph under SAS No. 59 conveys information beyond that provided in the required footnote disclosure. The information content is measured through responses to a line of credit request from a company with a modified audit report due to going concern uncertainty. A national sample of 285 commercial loan officers were asked to indicate the likelihood of granting a line of credit, their confidence in the decision, the interest rate for the loan, and their perception of the company's potential bankruptcy. Responses indicate no significant information content difference attributable to the explanatory paragraph for a company with a modified audit report and the same company with only a footnote disclosure of the going concern uncertainty based on any of the above measures.