We examine whether SEC effort to review state sponsors of terrorism (SST) disclosure negatively influences financial reporting oversight. Using comment letter inquiries about SST to measure effort, we find the likelihood that the SEC fails to identify a financial reporting error increases when...

I examine whether post-acquisition consolidated financial statements fail to reflect all available information, possibly because of information gathering and processing constraints faced by the acquiring firm. Using two business combination samples, I investigate whether acquirers adjust the...

The ability to detect misreporting is an important aspect of financial reporting regulation. I derive a measure of SEC error detection rates using information from comment letter reviews. Conditional on the SEC issuing a comment letter, I find that the review team detects an error resulting in a...

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff review registrant filings for compliance with accounting and reporting standards to deter misconduct and facilitate investor access to high quality information (SEC 2020). Using a novel approach to identify all SEC staff who work on a review, we...

We hand-collect true covenant realizations and thresholds from SEC filings and show that covenant slack estimated using covenant realizations based on GAAP numbers and covenant thresholds specified at contract origination, the benchmark approach used in the literature, introduces measurement...

We examine whether the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Codification reduced financial reporting complexity by making it easier for preparers to locate and apply relevant accounting guidance. We find that areas of U.S. GAAP with more dispersed and voluminous guidance before the...

We examine how Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement varies at fiscal year- end. Using a sample of over 12,000 SEC enforcement actions, we find that the number of case filings in September, the final month of the SEC’s fiscal year, is approximately double the average of other...