This paper investigates the driver of asset growth to explain the cross-country variation of the asset growth effect. We find that institutional restrictions on equity financing constrain firms' abilities to grow assets, and the degree of such restrictions is associated with the observed...

Using a battery of look-ahead-bias free measures of accruals quality (AQ), we find a strong and long lasting negative relation between future returns and AQ. In decile portfolios that rank on AQ, a hedge portfolio that goes long in the lowest decile and short in the highest decile generates an...