We show that the agency theory of overvalued equity (see Jensen, 2005) rather than investors' fixation on accruals explains the accrual anomaly, i.e., abnormal returns to an accrual trading strategy (see Sloan, 1996).Under the agency theory of overvalued equity, managers of overvalued firms are...

In this study, we examine whether managers delay disclosure of bad news relative to good news. If managers accumulate and withhold bad news up to a certain threshold, but leak and immediately reveal good news to investors, then we expect the magnitude of the negative stock price reaction to bad...

Accounting for employee stock options (ESOs) is controversial, with many arguing that it has substantial economic consequences. Such arguments rely on the assumption that one or more interested parties fixate on accounting numbers and fail to understand the real costs and benefits of ESOs. We...

Previous research offers little large-sample evidence on the magnitude of non-financial firms' risk exposure hedged by financial derivatives. Among 234 large non-financial derivatives users, if the median firm simultaneously experiences a three standard deviation change in interest rates,...

In this paper, we derive a measure of diluted EPS that incorporates the economic implications of the dilutive effects of employee stock options. We show that the existing FASB treasury-stock method of accounting for the dilutive effects of outstanding options systematically understates the...

GAAP provides management with discretion over accounting accruals. Management might use the discretion to improve earnings as a measure of firm performance, or engage in opportunistic management of discretionary accruals. Empirical research on accrual management requires a model to identify...

We find evidence that conflicts of interest arising from Mamp;A relations influence analysts' recommendations, corroborating regulators' and practitioners' suspicions in a setting, i.e. Mamp;A relations, not previously examined in research on analyst conflicts. In addition, the Mamp;A context...

We document frequent and large selling of equity by CEOs. Such selling is designed not simply to offset the current year grant of options and stock. We find that the tax burden associated with the sale and (various measures of CEO) overconfidence both decrease CEOs' propensity to sell their...

The number of published event studies exceeds 500, and the literature continues to grow. We provide an overview of event study methods. Short-horizon methods are quite reliable. While long-horizon methods have improved, serious limitations remain. A challenge is to continue to refine...

Prior research shows that extant discretionary accrual models are misspecified when applied to firms with extreme performance. Nonetheless, use of such models in tests of earnings management and market efficiency is commonplace in the literature. We examine the specification and power of the...