Mispricing and risk have both been suggested as explanations for the cross-sectional relation between stock returns and firm characteristics such as accruals. As emphasized by Ferson and Harvey (1998) and Berk, Green and Naik (1999), it is difficult to evaluate these competing explanations...

We evaluate the viability of credit default swaps (CDS) spreads as substitutes for credit ratings. We focus on CDS spreads based on the obligations of financial institutions, particularly fifteen large financial institutions that were prominently involved in the recent financial crisis. Our...

We model and estimate the term structure of implied costs of equity capital (and implied risk premia) at the firm level for the years 1996-2015 from forward looking option contracts. Empirical tests reject the assumption that the term structure of implied firm-level costs of equity is constant...

In fundamental analysis, it is often the case that financial/accounting variables, price multiples and risk premium are either knowingly or inadvertently treated as free parameters without any restriction. However, there exist endogenously determined relations among them in market equilibrium....

We examine the impact of earnings management uncertainty (EMU) on bond yield spreads in China. In the process, we decompose the bond yield spread into liquidity and default yield spreads. The findings suggest that EMU primarily drives the default yield spread of a corporate bond and that its...

We document that historical patterns of accruals seasonality predict future stock returns. Firms with historically larger accruals in a given quarter of the year earn lower stock returns when those accruals are expected to be announced. The accruals seasonality spread is significant only in the...

This paper shows how the outputs of the accounting measurement process can be translated into terms that can be used in economic decisions. We introduce the notion of Term Structure of Capital Values (TSCV), uniquely associated to a Term Structure of Interest Rates (TSIR). We show that the state...

Creativity is a certain feature of human nature, and one can expect it to be very complex issue determined by social environment and organizational context. Economic measurement, which results are reported in money terms, creates natural impediments, however acquired results provide useful...

Evidence of extensive fraud in LIBOR submissions has fueled international calls for reform. A common theme is that the current rate setting process, in addition to being subject to manipulation, relies on conjecture as to rates that might prevail in markets that can often be illiquid, and should...

The law and finance literature characterizes debt covenants as a means to manage agency conflicts between creditors and shareholders. While both banks and bondholders make use of these covenants, they do so in quite different ways. Banks typically monitor their debtors closely and rely on...