We examine real-activity based earnings management, i.e., cuts in discretionary spending to report small profits, across introductory, growth and mature stage firms. We use the cash flow components to classify a firm's life cycle. We predict and find that firms in the mature stage, on average,...

In this study, we examine the relationship between a firm’s lobbying activities and financial reporting quality using a U.S. setting where public scrutiny of corporate political activities is high. More importantly, we examine whether and how a firm’s visibility shapes the relationship...

We examine the causal effects of corporate governance on earnings management using shareholder-sponsored proposals that pass or fail by a small margin of votes in annual shareholder meetings. This setting provides a causal estimate that overcomes concerns of endogeneity. Specifically, compared...