In this paper we investigate the tone used by newspapers in reporting information on a company, which is in a conflict of interest regarding ownership ties with the publishing firm. We investigate this issue using Italy as empirical setting, a country characterized by a newspaper industry highly...

Evidence from a wide sample of Italian private firms shows that cash holdings are significantly related with smaller size, higher risk and lower effective tax rates, therefore supporting predictions from the trade-off model. More cash is also held by firms with longer cash conversion cycles and...

Results from about 17,000 Italian private companies and 152,000 firm-year observations in the 1996-2005 period show that cash holdings in private firms support both the trade-off model and the financing hierarchy theory. In fact, more cash holdings are a feature of riskier companies and firms...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the factors that motivate private firms to follow a conservative financial policy. Using a new definition of financial conservatism, we investigate a sample of 21,959 Italian private firms for the 1998-2006 period and look for the determinants of financial...