While tax avoidance strategies result in greater after-tax cash flows, they can involve uncertain future outcomes, which can impose significant costs on firms. Thus, the extent to which tax avoidance increases firm risk is unclear. This paper re-examines the relation between tax avoidance and...

We examine the issue of auditor independence in a unique setting. Specifically, we test for auditor independence impairment among (1) private client firms, for which the risk of auditor reputation loss is lower than for publicly traded firms, and (2) in a low litigation environment (i.e.,...

The purpose of this paper is to present a history and an evolution of concepts of risk and risk management in economic, respectively financial fields, highlighting the usefulness (or not) and complexity of tools for risk assessment developed over time. The main objective of risk management is to...

Most firms covary more positively with downmarkets than upmarkets—a phenomenon I refer to as “risk asymmetry.” I predict and find that risk asymmetry is caused, at least in part, by a firm's ability to selectively obfuscate poor performance. Risk asymmetry decreases significantly when...

The overall market for derivative securities is often estimated as more than ten times the World's GDP and many decry the complexity of derivatives as a main contributor to the subprime financial crisis. In this paper, we investigate whether and why complexity is used as a proxy for risk when...

We examine whether companies voluntarily disclose additional information about tax loss carryforwards when the recoverability is more uncertain. With this study, we aim to explain part of the huge cross-sectional variation in the tax footnote. To assess disclosure behavior, we hand-collect data...

In this study we examine whether higher levels of tax risk are associated with increased firm risk, as perceived by capital market participants. Given the difficulties of measuring tax risk, we utilize four different proxies that prior research indicates capture greater tax-related uncertainty,...

The purpose of the current study is to examine the extent to which audit risk and litigation risk cause auditors to increase reliance on decision aids. These are particularly relevant issues in the era of Sarbanes-Oxley and abundant audit litigation, as decision aids hold the potential to...

This paper reports the results of experimental economic markets that examine whether accounting uncertainty impacts an auditor's objectivity in a setting where the auditor also has an incentive to build and maintain a reputation for objectivity. In particular, we explore if an auditor's...

We investigate compliance by the largest 20 Australian listed firms with regulatory requirements to disclose key assumptions and major sources of estimation uncertainties. These relate to accounting estimates that require management's judgement in measuring the carrying amount of the entity's...