This study models a manager who privately reports earnings to an independent audit committee that, after its own due diligence, modifies the report for public release to investors. The audit committee alters the reporting and valuation dynamics by attempting to remove the manager's reporting...

We examine the cross-sectional relation between leverage and future returns while considering the dynamic nature of capital structure and potentially delayed market reactions. Prior studies find a negative relation between leverage and future returns that contradicts standard finance theory. We...

We examine how alternative accounting measures of fair value impact the ability of debt covenants to mitigate inefficient investment decisions. In our setting, shareholders make a non-contractible project choice after signing a debt contract. At a later date, the project can be abandoned and new...

Recent studies show that regression-based estimates of accounting conservatism reflect both differences in the asymmetric recognition of bad news and differences in asset composition. In particular, a firm’s market value and returns reflect both assets-in-place and expected future rents, while...

This first chapter develops an economic model of the firm linking current financial and non-financial measures to future earnings for retail banks. The data support the associations among current financial and non-financial measures predicted by model, suggesting that the economic model is...

Arguing that GAAP is ill suited for estimating the future profitability of intangibles, the accounting literature (e.g., Kaplan and Norton 1996, Lev 2001) has recently proposed alternative measurement models. These models view intangibles as comprised of a set of fundamental business activities,...

We investigate whether corporate managers' stock repurchase decisions are affected by their incentives to manage diluted earning-per-share (EPS). We find that managers increase the level of their firms' stock repurchases when: (1) the dilutive effect of outstanding employee stock options (ESOs)...