We re-examine the motivation to manage earnings in US M&As, by investigating whether the enactment of SOX has affected pre-merger earnings management. Using a sample of over 700 completed M&As of US public firms during 1999-2008. Using quarterly reports, we track-down earnings management during...

In this paper, we present a review of tax research in accounting. We outline U.S. GAAP accounting rules for the following four income tax notes and survey the area of research literature dealing with the information content provided by U.S. GAAP: (1) unrecognized tax benefits, (2) valuation...

After a lengthy and protracted debate, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) adopted Rule 3211 (commonly referred to as “Form AP”) and related amendments to its auditing standards regarding the identification of audit engagement partner and other accounting firms who take...

Asymmetric persistence of accounting income is often tested in a regression of changes in earnings on lagged changes in earnings, including an interaction term for negative changes (see Basu [1997] or Ball et al. [2009] for a recent overview). In this note we propose an alternative, but closely...

Asymmetric persistence of accounting income is often tested in a regression of changes in earnings on lagged changes in earnings, including an interaction term for negative changes (see Basu [1997] or Ball et al. [2009] for a recent overview). In this note we propose an alternative, but closely...

This study presents empirical evidence concerning the effect of different accounting standard on earnings management. Prior studies have shown that accounting standards influence earnings management. Tighter accounting standards regime restricts management's descretion to manipulate accruals,...

In this paper, we investigate earnings management surrounding forced CEO turnover for U.S. property-casualty insurance companies with differing organizational forms. We analyze the three principal organizational form types in the industry – publicly-traded stocks, closely-held stocks, and...

Using a large sample of domestic and foreign IPOs in the US, we investigate how threats of enforcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and private litigation influence earnings management in IPO prospectuses. We propose that perceptions of foreign institutions may influence SEC...

This paper examines the selective trading of available-for-sale (AFS) securities by U.S. banks after the implementation of fair value accounting under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 115, Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 320. Our findings suggest firms still engage...

U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs) need to allocate decision rights between parent companies and subsidiaries to manage global operations. This paper examines how the allocation of decision rights affects foreign earnings management of MNCs. I find that the extent of foreign earnings...