We examine how severity of financial constraints influences firms' choices of accounting policies. This paper shows that firms with mild financial constraints choose an aggressive accounting policy and those with severe financial constraints choose a conservative accounting policy.

This paper compares three valuation models – discounted dividends, discounted cash flow, and residual earnings – using financial and accounting data from Brazilian companies, during the period of 1995 to 2004. These approaches should be theoretically equivalent when the respective companies'...

This study proposes an application of two models based on non-classical logic, the paraconsistent logic and the fuzzy logic, in company profitability analysis. We conduct interviews with market specialists in order to identify the main explanatory variables related to company profitability and...

We use survey data on individual risk attitude and discount rates to test the impact of individual risk profile on the firm innovation activity and firm performance. Empirical evidence from 163 Italian entrepreneurs shows that risk-loving individuals and individuals with smaller than average...

Using a moral hazard framework with limited liability with discrete effort levels we show that status incentives help in partially reducing the burden on monetary incentives. Yet, the disutility accruing from failure to achieve status dampens the efficiency of status as an incentive. The optimal...

In a repeated interaction between a principal and two agents with inter-agents externalities and asymmetric information, we show that optimal decentralization within the organization is limited to the first period and across agents.

We analyze the choice between a one-tier and a two-tier board structure in a firm with a large shareholder sitting on the board. The board has two tasks: project selection and monitoring the ability of the manager. In a one-tier structure, the sole board performs all tasks. In a two-tier...

Stock option contracts provide managers with dual incentives, motivating both effort and fraud. We show that although there exists an infinity of stock option contracts that induce a given level of effort, no contract behaviorally dominates another in the sense that it induces relatively greater...

This research explores whether management by family members creates or destroys firm value. We estimate the impact of family pervasiveness in top management (family members as executive officers or board members) on firm value as measured by Tobin's Q. Results indicate that family members acting...

This paper examines the influence of large creditors in determining the likelihood of debt defaults due to creditor coordination failure. We develop a model in which a large creditor and a group of small creditors independently decide, based on private signals of fundamentals, whether to...