We propose that regulation increases the demand for industry-expert auditors. We hypothesize that this increase in demand will be reflected in the degree of reliance investors place on financial information certified by industry-expert auditors. We evaluate the return-earnings relation for...

This paper examines the association between institutional ownership and income smoothing through bank loan loss provisions for a sample of Japanese banks during the period 1991-1999. We find that as the percentage of institutional ownership of banks increases, income smoothing via loan loss...