Interpreting accruals as working capital investment, we hypothesize that firms optimally adjusttheir capital investment in response to discount rate changes. Consistent with the discount-ratehypothesis, we document that (i) the predictive power of accruals for future returns increaseswith the...

This research is motivated by the fact that there is a paucity of research on the earnings management practices of banks in Australia. Research on the practices of North American, European and Asian banks provided conflicting evidence. In this study, we examine whether Australian banks engage in...

In this paper, we model earnings management as a consequence of the interaction among self-interested economic agents -- namely, the managers, the shareholders, and the regulators. In our model, a manager controls a stochastic production technology and makes periodic accounting reports about his...

Earnings and book value are commonly used as the basis for firm valuation. However, the reliability of earnings, as indicated by earnings management, may affect its relevance in determining firm value. This thesis investigates the link between earnings management and firm valuation by assessing...

This study adds to the earnings guidance debate by investigating whether quarterly guidance is related to two forms of earnings management: (1) benchmark beating and (2) accounting irregularities. Using a post-Regulation Fair Disclosure sample, I find that firms regularly issuing earnings...

This thesis comprises of three essays. The first essay is titled 'Do Acquiring Firms Manage Earnings?' and is co-authored with Professor Anand M. Vijh. The second essay is titled 'Do Firms Have a Target Leverage? Evidence from Credit Markets' and is joint work with Professors Anand M. Vijh and...

In this article we investigate the behavior in asset sales of publicly traded U.S. hotel firms in relation to earnings management. Asset disposition has been regarded as one of the most efficient methods for controlling accounting income. Given a heavy weight of fixed assets in the asset...

Prior literature suggests two competing theories regarding the role of venture capitalists (VCs) in their portfolio companies. The VC monitoring hypothesis argues that VCs effectively resolve the managerial agency problem through close monitoring and restraining managers' earnings management...

This paper examines when firms manage reported cash from operations in the statement of cash flows (CFO) and the mechanisms through which CFO can be managed. CFO management as investigated in this paper is distinct from earnings management. Unlike the manipulation of accruals, firms cannot...

This study provides empirical evidence on how the association between the economic importance of a client to the auditor and earnings management is moderated by the audit committee. We employ city office-level client importance fee-based measures, both performance-adjusted discretionary total...