This study analyses the association between the competence of audit committee members and earnings management in a sample of 142 non-financial firms from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom over the 2006–2013 period. We measure members' competence through their dedication and...

The economic recession in the European countries during the current financial crisis and the worsening of the financial situation in a number of countries have resulted in an increase of the sovereign debt risk. In this paper we use the method of self-organizing maps to propose a European...

We study the legal provisions of 92 European systemic banks from 18 countries over the years 2008-2017. Since legal provisions may be viewed as a mechanism for disclosing information to capital markets, the creation of legal provisions is determined by the risk taken by the bank and the...

This paper tests the hypothesis that stress tests are primarily a function of the fundamental financial condition and operating environment of individual banks, rather than alternative adverse economic and financial scenarios imposed by regulators. We develop a novel early warning system based...

In this paper, the influence of large shareholders on earnings management in family-owned firms is analyzed using a sample of firms from nine European countries. How contests for control for the largest shareholder and the existence of a controlling coalition in family-owned firms affect...

We analyze the influence of firm ownership structure on corporate social responsibility (CSR) as measured by the Dow Jones Sustainability STOXX Index and the Ethibel Excellence Index. Using data from 1,248 firms from five major European Union countries (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy,...

This study examines the influence of labour market conditions on corporate capital structure in a sample of 2,892 firms from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. After considering the effect of unemployment and inflation, we analyse the impact of two market imperfections: employees’...

We analyse the trend among 79 banks from 20 European countries towards scrip dividends. Whereas banks do not seem to smooth cash dividends, they do smooth total dividends, which include both cash and scrip dividends. We also find that the new legal requirements (resulting from the Basel Accords...