We show that investors acquire more public information about firms to which they are more socially proximate. On average, a standard deviation increase in the Social Connectedness Index (Bailey et al., 2018) between a firm's headquarter county and a searcher county is associated with 30% more...

In this paper we explore the role of accruals in determining “earnings quality” from both a stewardship and a valuation perspective. We show that the valuation and stewardship qualities of accrual accounting are maximized by either an “aggressive” or a “conservative” accrual...

Because uncertainties around innovative technologies resolve over time, investments in such technologies are often made in stages so that organizations can use the knowledge gained from earlier stages to decide the next step. Previous studies usually assume that once some uncertainty is...

Sell-side fundamental analyst reports are highly valued in the financial industry and include three main quantitative components: earnings forecasts, target prices, and buy/sell recommendations. An important question for investment managers is then, how accurate are the forecasts of fundamental...

In the midst of a time plagued by corporate scandals, Tyco has captured headlines and undoubtedly shocked and appalled many inside and outside the business world. While there is little doubt of Tyco's absence of morality and ethics, blame cannot be simply placed on the organization itself....

We experimentally examine determinants of the transferability and durability of an assurer's flagship-service reputation for competence in a multi-service context. Economic and psychology theories agree that transferability will increase when a new service and a flagship service require...

Standard setters put much effort into the development of 'better' financial reporting standards, i.e. standards that more accurately capture the economic substance of business activities. However, the more sophisticated accounting treatments caused by new standards, and growing complexity of...

I examine the implications of corporate annual reports' risk sentiment for future earnings and stock returns. I measure the risk sentiment of annual reports by counting the frequency of words related to risk or uncertainty in the 10-K filings. I find that an increase in risk sentiment is...

This paper investigates the relationship between a firm's cost stability and the frequency with which it acquires data in planning its operations. We first consider a benchmark model of a profit maximizing monopolist whose marginal costs follow an AR(1) process over time. The firm uses forecasts...