Although the choice of an IPO offer price level would seem to have little economic significance, firms do not decide this arbitrarily. Our findings suggest that firms select their IPO offer prices to target a desired ownership structure, which in turn has implications for underpricing and...

We examine the "marketability hypothesis," which states that stock splits enhance the attractiveness of shares to investors by restoring prices to a preferred trading range. We examine splits of mutual fund shares because they provide a clean testing ground for the marketability hypothesis,...

In this paper, we empirically examine the relationship between two audit committee characteristics - the composition (expertise and independence) and size of the audit committee - and the quality of financial reporting. We show that after controlling for firm size, board composition, a measure...

Concerns over size in banking arise from the potential for a megabank to harm competition and extract safety net subsidies. With the worrisome increases in size having been achieved through megamergers, this paper examines whether gains in such mergers trace to efficiency improvements or market...

Concerns over size in banking arise from the potential for a megabank to harm competition and extract safety net subsidies. With the worrisome increases in size having been achieved through megamergers, this paper examines whether gains in such mergers trace to efficiency improvements or market...

We study the behavior of short sellers around earnings restatements. We find that short sellers accumulate positions in restating firms several months in advance of the restatement and subsequently unwind these positions after the drop in share price induced by the restatement. The increase in...

We document that investment banker directorships are mutually beneficial to the investment bank and the firm. Investment bankers serve on boards of larger, higher growth firms. These firms benefit from lower gross spreads and smaller underpricing when issuing equity, and raise more external...

In this paper, we study a comprehensive sample of Andersen clients and investigate whether the deterioration of Andersen's reputation after its criminal indictment on March 14, 2002 adversely impacted the perceived credibility of their audit quality. Since these reputational concerns are more of...

We examine the quot;marketability hypothesis,quot; which states that stock splits enhance the attractiveness of shares to investors by restoring prices to a preferred trading range. We examine splits of mutual fund shares because they provide a clean testing ground for the marketability...