Revenues and expenses are fundamentally proportional to one another, but are likely to be disproportionally affected by transitory items or economic shocks. We build on this observation and propose a new measure of sustainable earnings based on deviations from normal profit margins. While some...

This study explores motivations underlying managers' resource adjustments. We focus on the impact of incentives to meet earnings targets on resource adjustments and the ensuing cost structures. We find that when managers face incentives to avoid losses or earnings decreases, or to meet financial...

Extensive theoretical research demonstrates the pivotal role uncertainty plays in shaping a firm's cost behavior. Our study contributes to this literature by conducting a comprehensive multivariate analysis of the inherent tension between the effects of price and demand uncertainty on cost...

Though ample empirical evidence alludes to the importance of disaggregated accounting data in the context of earnings management, extant accounting theory considers biases in reporting earnings mostly at the aggregated level of the reported earnings. By analyzing reporting manipulations at the...

This study examines investor reaction to return on common equity (ROCE) and its components around the announcement of quarterly earnings. It is an issue that the accounting literature has not examined, notwithstanding the importance of ratio analysis in general and the DuPont decomposition in...