We examine the association between board independence and the characteristics of non-GAAP earnings. Our results suggest that companies with less independent boards are more likely to opportunistically exclude recurring items from non-GAAP earnings. Specifically, we find that exclusions from...

We examine whether firms with managers that have prior internal audit experience are less likely to manage earnings. We find that firms with managers that have internal audit experience are associated with less overall earnings management, driven by lower real earnings management. Importantly,...

A key objective of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA) was the restoration of public confidence in the integrity of audited financial statements. One section of SOA (Section 302) requires the chief executive officer(s) and the principal financial officer(s) to certify in each quarterly or annual report...

Using a large sample of multinational corporations (MNCs), we examine the location of earnings management within the firm. We posit and find that MNCs manage their consolidated earnings through an orchestrated reporting strategy across subsidiaries over which they exert significant influence....

We examine whether the information content of the earnings report, as captured by the earnings response coefficient (ERC), increases when investors' uncertainty about the manager's reporting objectives decreases, as predicted in Fischer and Verrecchia (2000). We use the 2006 mandatory...

We investigate the impact of corporate governance characteristics, and IFRS on earnings quality in Borsa Istanbul (BIST). Our contribution stems from the fact that we study moderating effects of mandatory IFRS adoption on the relationship between ownership concentration and earnings quality in a...

We study the causal effects of short selling on real earnings management by exploiting an exogenous shock to short selling costs under the pilot program of Regulation SHO. We find the removal of short selling constraints leads to a reduction of real earnings management in pilot firms relative to...

I examine whether managers use discretion in revenue recognition to avoid three earnings benchmarks. I find that managers use discretion in both accrued revenue (i.e., accounts receivable) and deferred revenue (i.e., advances from customers) to avoid negative earnings surprises, but find little...

The association of a country's investor protection regime with the quality of reported earnings is examined for a large sample of firms from 42 countries. Three attributes of earnings are evaluated: the magnitude of the association of a country's investor protection regime with the quality of...

Using a large sample of domestic and foreign IPOs in the US, we investigate how threats of enforcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and private litigation influence earnings management in IPO prospectuses. We propose that perceptions of foreign institutions may influence SEC...