Recent studies have documented that auditor industry specialization is associated with higher audit fees for public firms in Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. This paper uses a unique dataset that consists of all audit engagements for the year 2004 to examine this issue in Belgium. We document...

Impaired assets such as non-performing loans (“NPLs”) continue to pose significant problems across the EU. When possible solutions are being considered, “bad banks” or similar impaired asset relief measures are oſten discussed. However, if they involve support by the State such measures...

This thesis provides one of the first (to the author's knowledge, the first) micro-economic analyses of audit regulation and auditor liability. The analysis draws on insights from the economics and law literature that liability and regulation affect behaviour of individuals and organisations....

In this paper, we investigate whether business start-ups in need for external financing manage their earnings in the years prior to obtaining a first bank loan. Newly established firms typically face valuable growth opportunities whereas their external financing sources usually are limited to...

Due to the increased competition on capital markets and given the global importance of US markets, IFRS and US GAAP are competing to become the world standards set. Although comparable in many aspects, IFRS and US GAAP still differ in accounting for some transactions. This paper addresses the...