Using Benford's (1938) law, this study documents pervasive evidence that managers of publicly listed Taiwanese firms tend to engage in earnings manipulative activities, rounding earnings numbers to achieve key reference points. Consistent with prior studies on rounding behavior in other...

We investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the cost of capital. In general, our results suggest that firms with CSR awards have lower cost of capital. In terms of firms' common risk factors, both book-to-market ratio and leverage are positively related to...

This study investigates the effect of window dressing by Taiwanese firms on investors' stock returns. The second digit of the earnings reported as earnings before interest and tax, earnings after interest and tax, or earnings per share is found to occasionally serve as the reference point. In...

We examine the rounding phenomenon (called <i>window dressing</i>) in financial reporting of U.S. high-tech and low-tech firms. By requiring that investments in research and development be expensed as incurred, the generally accepted accounting principles provide low-tech firms with a larger set of...