We investigate whether senior officers use accrual-based earnings management to meet voluntary earnings disclosure (i.e., management earnings forecasts) before selling or buying their own shares when they have private information. This study is the first to use the differences in timing of...

This paper studies insider trading quantities and dollar profits to measure the benefits insiders extract from their superior information. We find that several empirical results depend critically on using dollar profits instead of percentage returns. Dollar profits are economically small for a...

This paper examines whether high-ability managers’ earnings smoothing is motivated by the need to mitigate the adverse effects of heightened information asymmetry triggered by mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on managers’ reputation capital (job loss) and firm value. We document that...

This study tests the hypothesis that the target firms are involved in earnings management activities in quarters leading to a takeover announcement. Using a sample of 3,455 Chinese listed firms that are targets of successful acquisitions over the period 2007-2020, and for a matched sample of...

This paper examines whether high-ability managers’ earnings smoothing is motivated by the need to mitigate the adverse effects of heightened information asymmetry, triggered by mergers and acquisitions (M&As), on managers’ reputation capital (job loss) and firm value. We document that...