We survey 401 financial executives, and conduct in-depth interviews with an additional 20, to determine the key factors that drive decisions related to performance measurement and voluntary disclosure. The majority of firms view earnings, especially EPS, as the key metric for an external...

We analyze several hundred firms that expand via acquisition and/or increase their reported number of business segments. The average combined market reaction to acquisition announcements is positive but, according to the Berger and Ofek (1995) method for valuing conglomerates, the excess values...

We study a period of severe disequilibrium to investigate whether board characteristics are related to corporate investment, debt usage, and firm value. During the 1920s and the post-Depression years, we find no relation between firm performance and board attributes. During the 1930-1938...

We study a period of severe disequilibrium to investigate whether board characteristics are related to corporate investment, debt usage, and firm value. During the 1930-1938 Depression era, when the corporate sector was shocked by an unprecedented downturn, we document a relation between board...

The value of tax shields is the difference between the present values of two different cash flows, each with their own risk: the present value of taxes for the unlevered company and the present value of taxes for the levered company. For constant growth companies, the value of tax shields in a...

We value a company that targets its capital structure in book-value terms. This capital structure definition provides us with a Value of Tax Shields that lies between those of Modigliani-Miller (fixed debt) and Miles-Ezzell (fixed market-value leverage ratio). If a company targets its leverage...

This paper corrects some equations of Farber, Gillet and Szafarz (2006). The WACC is a discount rate widely used in corporate finance. However, the correct calculation of the WACC rests on a correct valuation of the tax shields. The value of tax shields depends on the debt policy of the company....

We develop valuation formulae for a company that maintains a fixed book-value leverage ratio and claim that it is more realistic than to assume, as Miles-Ezzell (1980), a fixed market-value leverage ratio. The value of tax shields depends only on the present value of the net increases of debt....

The value of tax shields depends only on the nature of the stochastic process of the net increases of debt. The value of tax shields in a world with no leverage cost is the tax rate times the current debt plus the present value of the net increases of debt. By applying this formula to specific...

The value of tax shields depends only on the nature of the stochastic process of the net increases of debt. The value of tax shields in a world with no leverage cost is the tax rate times the current debt plus the present value of the net increases of debt. We develop valuation formulae for a...