This study investigates the impact that ownership structure and board composition have on performance in a sample of Finnish SMEs. Our study is one of few that shed light on how corporate governance and ownership structures affect performance of small firms. Our results suggest that the...

This paper investigates whether there are differences in cosmetic earnings management between firms audited by male vs. female auditors. A number of previous studies have documented that listed firms around the world engage in cosmetic earnings management. This paper is the first one to document...

The authors present empirical evidence of how family ownership and control affect the demand for audit quality measured by audit firm size in a sample of small private firms. The results indicate that family-held or family-controlled firms are less likely to use Big 4 auditors than non-family...

Tax aggressiveness is defined as downward management of taxable income through tax planning activities which can be legal or illegal or may lie in between. Given that taxes are an important cost for each firm, tax aggressiveness may be desired by its shareholders. In this paper, we investigate...

This paper focuses on the effect of managerial ownership on cash holdings in a sample of private family firms. Our results suggest that managerial ownership has a significant impact on cash holdings. Cash holdings are largest in the firms with no managerial ownership and lowest in the firms in...

This study investigates the role that board structure has on the demand for audit quality in connection with family ownership in a sample of private firms. In addition to this, we also shed light on whether ownership structure and board structure are substitute mechanisms in resolving agency...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether auditor gender has an impact on the magnitude of corporate earnings management in small and medium-sized private Finnish firms. Our results concerning gender differences in audit practices are twofold. First, when we regress the absolute...

This study examines the use and determinants of covenants in Finnish small firms' loans. The results show that 72 of the 642 loan contracts examined include at least one covenant. Negative covenants are more common than affirmative covenants in our sample. We use loan characteristics, firm...