The practice of reporting earnings measures that deviate from generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP measures) has received negative attention in the media. Regulators argue in favour of reporting GAAP earnings measures and utter their concerns that investors may be misled by the use...

This paper investigates whether industry valuation impacts firms’ earnings management decisions. Existing accounting literature assumes that industry valuation has a constant impact on this decision. We argue that a higher industry valuation increases the perceived benefits of earnings...

Royal Ahold (Koninklijke Ahold NV) was one of the major success stories in the 1990s and is one of the major failures in corporate governance, suffering a complete meltdown in 2003. This clinical study analyzes Ahold’s growth strategy through acquisitions and isolates the cause of the failed...

We study annual general meetings of shareholders in the Netherlands. The Dutch corporate governance system is characterized by relatively concentrated shareholdings and large stakes owned by pension funds, banks and insurance companies. The legal protection of shareholders is poor due to...

This paper assesses the effectiveness of self-regulation to promote investor interests. The Netherlands provides an excellent opportunity to gather such evidence for two reasons. First, characteristics of the Dutch corporate governance structure have made it the recent focus of attention by the...