This paper examines accounting and non-accounting factors behind accounting losses over a fifty-year period. Using multivariate time-series analysis, we report evidence that the annual percentage of losses for U.S. firms is significantly related to accounting conservatism, Compustat coverage of...

Little is known about the economic environments and determinants of the compensation arrangements for outside board members. As delegated monitors of corporate management, board members act as shareholders' agents. Thus, a potential for misaligned interests exists, requiring in turn incentive...

This paper examines and finds systematic economic factors behind variations in audit committee composition. Specifically, audit committee independence is positively related to the informativeness of accounting data in valuation and negatively related to the degree of bargaining power that the...

In this study, I examine possible reasons behind observed differences in audit committee composition and activity. Although 97.9% of all audit committees for large U.S. firms have at least one outside, independent director, more than one-half of the sampled firms also have at least one...

This paper examines if non-management director pay packages are set in ways consistent with the optimal contracting theory. Under this theory, directors issue stock option grants as a means for providing non-management directors incentives to monitor adequately the risk-taking and investment...

This paper demonstrates a linkage between the composition of the boards of directors and firm productivity by examining the committee structures of boards for firms listed on the Samp;P 500. First, a vast majority of boards have set up audit, compensation and nominating committees, committees...

This paper investigates the relationship between nonprofit board composition and organizational efficiency. Overall, we find a significant statistical association between the presence of major donors on the board and indicators of organizational efficiency. While proof of a causal link is beyond...

Using the Freedom of Information Act, hedge funds receive records from the Food and Drug Administration about new product approvals, factory inspections, and complaints. We use the funds' receipt of this information to empirically test implications of theories about investors with bounded...