Previous studies state that the value relevance of earnings information has declined over time, based on decreasing ERCs and R2s. This paper demonstrates that measurement error bias is a major factor that drives these results when using earnings changes as a proxy for unexpected earnings. The...

Prior studies fail to find that dedicated institutional investors (those characterized by long trading horizons and high ownership stakes in portfolio firms) trade in anticipation of future performance. In this study, I find that dedicated institutions sell shares of bankrupt firms at least one...

This paper investigates the relationship between commercial banks accrual choices and the likelihood of their takeover. I study a sample of 2,414 commercial bank holding companies (banks) over the period of 1987 through 1998. The sample consists of 14,574 bank-years. I perform two complimentary...

Firms enjoy wide discretion in their disclosure of patent-related events, which investors generally view as "good news" announcements. This study examines patent disclosure behavior before earnings announcements in light of managers incentives to avoid the stock price-related consequences of...

The synthetic lease is a hybrid financing structure that allows a company to have many of the benefits of asset ownership, including capital lease treatment for tax purposes, while treating lease payments as operating expenses on the firms income statement. Proponents of these transactions argue...

This study assesses the unintended effects of recent accounting regulation (SFAS 144) on a specificform of real activities earnings management, namely the timing of asset sales to smooth income. Thispaper finds that, by changing the qualifying criteria for discontinued operations, SFAS 144...

This study reexamines the evidence underlying the prior conclusion that investors overreact to accruals accruals are negatively associated with subsequent abnormal returns (i.e., the accrual anomaly). This study shows that the two features of the research design used to document the accrual...