Prior research provides mixed results on the capacity of American shareholder activists to improve managerial behavior. In Japan, however, alternative means of external control (e.g. take-over, litigations) are not as effective as in the U.S. Challenging the management during the annual meeting...

We provide evidence that the financing decisions of companies that are audited by a Big Six auditor are less affected by information asymmetry. Specifically, these companies enjoy greater financial flexibility and depend less on favorable market conditions for their equity issuance decisions...