This paper investigates how information uncertainty, measured through variation in the informativeness of the public information environment, shapes the organizational design choices of firms. I posit that, when faced with higher uncertainty about demand and supply, managers are more likely to...

I identify three sources of risk for the tax shields: two of them associated to the risk of debt and one associated to the operating risk. I present a set of conditions for defining risky debt associated to cash flow and not to accounting earnings. I explain why realization of tax shields for...

This article (1) identifies three sources of risk for tax shields (TS): Two of them are associated with debt risk and one is associated with operating risk. (2) A set of conditions for defining risky debt associated with cash flow, not with earnings, is presented. (3) It further shows that...

Let us suppose that presently unimagined is possible, that “the unexpected may happen” (Marshall, 1920, p. 347). Then “human decisions affecting the future, whether personal, political or economic, cannot depend on strict mathematical expectation since the basis for making such...

I study the consequences of a random exposure to common risk for the purpose of relative performance evaluation (RPE) and find that it significantly affects the usefulness and the empirical measurement of RPE. According to my analysis, the magnitude of the exposure risk not only determines how...

Prior research establishes that boards of directors can encourage risk-averse managers to take risky actions by providing stock options and severance pay. We demonstrate that the ability of these incentives to encourage risk-taking hinges on the level of uncertainty facing the manager, and that...

Uncertainty is the core variable in any contingency theoretical framework (Chapman, 1997; Donaldson, 2001). Many reviews however have claimed that the accounting literature lacks a comprehensive framework for analysis of the relationship between uncertainty and MCS (Otley, 1980; Dent, 1990; Chapman, 1997;...

To address agents' moral hazard over effort, incentive contracts impose risk on the agents. As performance measures become noisier, the conventional agency analysis predicts that principals will reduce the incentive weights assigned to such measures. However, prior empirical results (Prendergast...

This study examines whether clients’ business strategies are a factor in determining the occurrence of financial reporting irregularities and the level of audit effort. We use the organizational strategy theory of Miles and Snow (1978, 2003) to develop a comprehensive measure of business...

This study examines whether clients’ business strategies are a factor in determining the occurrence of financial reporting irregularities and the level of audit effort. We use the organizational strategy theory of Miles and Snow (1978, 2003) to develop a comprehensive measure of business...