FIN 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes (FASB 2006), requires firms to disclose tax reserves and to record changes in tax reserves at adoption of FIN 48 as cumulative effect adjustments in stockholders' equity. We predict that between the enactment and adoption of FIN 48, relative to...

Prior studies attribute the turn-of-the-year effect whereby small capitalization stocks earn unusually high returns in early January to tax-loss-selling by individual investors and window-dressing by institutional investors. My results suggest that a significant portion of the effect on...

The recent economic downturn resulted in firms generating significant tax losses, which they risked losing if they experienced an ownership change. In response, a number of loss firms adopted poison pill plans. We document a significant negative market reaction to the announcement of 62 poison...

Recent advances in information technology allow firms to provide broader access to their disclosures. We examine the determinants and effects of the decision to provide unlimited real-time access to conference calls (i.e., quot;openquot; conference calls). Our evidence suggests that the decision...

This paper examines whether institutional investors exhibit preferences for near-term earnings over long-run value and whether such preferences have implications for firms' stock prices. First, I find that the level of ownership by institutions with short investment horizons (e.g.,...

This paper investigates whether a firm's disclosure practices affect the composition of its institutional investor ownership and, hence, its stock return volatility. The findings indicate that firms with higher AIMR disclosure rankings have greater institutional ownership, but the particular...

This paper examines whether institutional investors create or reduce incentives for corporate managers to reduce investment in research and development (Ramp;D) to meet short-term earnings goals. Many critics argue that the frequent trading and short-term focus of institutional investors...

We examine institutional investors' preferences for corporate governance mechanisms. We find little evidence of an association between total institutional ownership and governance mechanisms. However, using revealed preferences, we identify a small group of ldquo;governance-sensitiverdquo;...

A substantial body of academic literature provides evidence of stock market trading strategies that generate appreciable abnormal returns. However, there are a number of factors that could partially or fully mitigate the ability of market participants to implement these trading strategies, such...

Corporate spin-offs create new firms with characteristics markedly different from the original firm. Consequently, institutional investors pre-committed to certain investment styles and/or subject to fiduciary restrictions have incentives to rebalance their portfolios at the time of the...