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作者:Cheng, Mei; Neamtiu, Monica
作者单位:University of Arizona
摘要:In recent years, credit rating agencies have faced increased regulatory pressure and investor criticism for their ratings' lack of timeliness. This study investigates whether and how rating agencies respond to such pressure and criticism. We find that the rating agencies not only improve rating timeliness, but also increase rating accuracy and reduce rating volatility. Our findings support the criticism that, in the past, rating agencies did not avail themselves of the best rating methodologie...
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作者:Dhaliwal, Dan; Erickson, Merle; Heitzman, Shane
作者单位:University of Rochester; University of Arizona; University of Chicago
摘要:We investigate the backdating of stock option exercises. Before SOX, we find evidence that some exercises were backdated to days with low stock prices. Consistent with a tax-based incentive, these suspect exercises are more likely when the personal tax savings from backdating are higher. However, suspect CEO exercises generate average (median) estimated tax savings of $96,000 ($7,000). These savings appear modest relative to the costs insiders and firms face. We find that the likelihood of a s...
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作者:Brown, Stephen; Hillegeist, Stephen A.; Lo, Kin
作者单位:University of British Columbia; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; INSEAD Business School
摘要:We examine the effect of earnings surprises on changes in information asymmetry. We hypothesize and find that asymmetry is lower (higher) in the quarter following positive (negative) earnings surprises compared to firms that meet the consensus analyst earnings forecast. The relations between earnings surprises and information asymmetry are stronger when the surprises are more likely to capture investors' attention. Examining the source of these changes, we show that decreased information searc...
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作者:Biddle, Gary C.; Hilary, Gilles; Verdi, Rodrigo S.
作者单位:University of Hong Kong; Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) Paris; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
摘要:Prior evidence that higher-quality financial reporting improves capital investment efficiency leaves unaddressed whether it reduces over- or under-investment. This study provides evidence of both in documenting a conditional negative (positive) association between financial reporting quality and investment for firms operating in settings more prone to over-investment (under-investment). Firms with higher financial reporting quality also are found to deviate less from predicted investment level...
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作者:Dedman, Elisabeth; Lennox, Clive
作者单位:Nanyang Technological University; University of Bath
摘要:We investigate the relation between perceived competition and voluntary disclosure in the absence of capital market incentives by examining private UK companies, which have the option to withhold sales and costs of sales information from their publicly-filed accounts. We survey managers about their companies' competitive environments and we calculate archival measures of industry competition. We find that managers are more likely to withhold information about sales and costs if they perceive t...
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作者:Goex, Robert F.; Wagenhofer, Alfred
作者单位:University of Graz; University of Fribourg
摘要:We study the optimal accounting policy of a financially constrained firm that pledges assets to raise debt capital for financing a risky project. The accounting system provides information about the Value of the collateral, Absent accounting regulation, the optimal accounting system is conditionally conservative: it recognizes an impairment loss if the asset value is below a certain threshold, but never reports unrealized gains. We describe the optimal impairment rule and the optimal precision...
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作者:Jackson, Scott B.; Liu, Xiaotao (Kelvin); Cecchini, Mark
作者单位:University of South Carolina System; University of South Carolina Columbia; Northeastern University
摘要:This study identifies several interrelated reasons why firms' depreciation method choice is likely to influence managers' capital investment decisions. We find that firms that use accelerated depreciation make significantly larger capital investments than firms that use straight-line depreciation. Further, we find that there has been a migration away from accelerated depreciation to straight-line depreciation over the past two decades. Firms that make such accounting changes make smaller capit...
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作者:Dichev, Ilia D.; Tang, Vicki Wei
作者单位:University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Georgetown University
摘要:Survey evidence indicates widely held managerial beliefs that earnings volatility is negatively related to earnings predictability. In addition, existing research suggests that earnings volatility is determined by economic and accounting factors, and both of these factors reduce earnings predictability. We find that the consideration of earnings volatility brings substantial improvements in the prediction of both short- and long-term earnings. Conditioning on volatility information also allows...
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作者:Rogers, Jonathan L.; Van Buskirk, Andrew
作者单位:University of Chicago
摘要:We examine changes in the disclosure behavior of firms involved in 827 disclosure-related class-action securities litigation cases filed between 1996 and 2005. We find no evidence that the firms in our sample respond to the litigation event by increasing or improving their disclosures to investors. Rather, we find consistent evidence that firms reduce the level of information provided post-litigation. Our results suggest that the litigation process encourages firms to decrease the provision of...
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作者:Feng, Mei; Li, Chan; McVay, Sarah
作者单位:Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); University of Pittsburgh
摘要:We examine the relation between internal control quality and the accuracy of management guidance. Consistent with managers in firms with ineffective internal controls relying on erroneous internal management reports when forming guidance, we document less accurate guidance among firms reporting ineffective internal controls. This relation extends to a change analysis, and the impact of ineffective internal controls on forecast accuracy is three times larger when the weakness relates to revenue...