Several recent papers assume that private information (PIN), proposed by Easley, Hvidkjaer and O'Hara (2002, 2004), is a determinant of stock returns. We replicate Easley, Hvidkjaer and O'Hara (2002) and show that while PIN does predict future returns in the sample they analyze, the effect is...

In this paper, we examine the importance of contagion in earnings management, proxied by 2,376 earnings restatements announced during the years 1997-2008. Controlling for industry and firm-level characteristics, we find that firms are more likely to begin managing earnings after the public...

The final working paper version: 'http://ssrn.com/abstract=2103384' http://ssrn.com/abstract=2103384.Presentation slides: "http://ssrn.com/abstract=2347428" http://ssrn.com/abstract=2347428.We provide insights into earnings quality from a survey of 169 CFOs of public companies and in-depth...

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 provide a comprehensive overview of shareholder litigation against auditors since the passage of the PSLRA. The number of lawsuits per year has declined, dismissals have increased, and settlements in recent years have declined. Our study asks why. Because we find that the likelihood an...

We recently conducted a comprehensive survey that analyzes how senior financial executives make decisions related to performance measurement and voluntary disclosure. In particular, we ask CFOs what earnings benchmarks they care about and which factors motivate executives to exercise discretion,...

We consider stock markets in 20 countries to investigate whether the accruals anomaly (Sloan 1996), characterized by U.S. stock prices overweighting the role of accrual persistence, is a local manifestation of a global phenomenon. In addition, we structure our analysis to determine if the...

Sloan (1996) and several follow up papers show that the stock market behaves as though it cannot understand the implications of accruals for future earnings. We propose and find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that risk-averse arbitrageurs are unable to eliminate accrual related...

A number of recent studies assume market efficiency and hence interpret an association between stock returns and leading indicators as evidence of the contribution of such indicators to future earnings. We explicitly examine (i) whether one leading indicator - order backlog - has predictive...

Using a sample of petroleum refining firms, this paper provides evidence that earnings sensitivity measures analogous to those mandated by the SEC's (1997) new market risk disclosure rules are positively associated with stock market determined oil price exposures. We also find that earnings...