We investigate the risk choices of risk averse CEOs. Following recent theoretical work, we expect CEO risk aversion to be more pronounced in firms with high leverage, or high default probability. We find that the CEOs of these firms reduce firm risk, even in the presence of strong risk taking...

This paper shows that institutional sell-side herding increased bid-ask spreads and liquidity risk during the 2007-8 financial crisis. Such an impact on liquidity is most pronounced in firms with large numbers of institutions that sold the same stocks, that is, have correlated trades. For the...

This paper investigates the motives for disclosing an alternative Earnings per Share (EPS) figure. In particular, we extend prior findings for the UK (Choi, Lin, Walker & Young, 2007) by highlighting the role of managerial contracting in the alternative EPS disclosure choice. We examine a...

This paper investigates the effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) on the relation between institutional ownership (IO) and firm innovation. We find that US firms investing in innovation attract more institutional capital post-SOX. Prior literature identifies two SOX effects on the average US...

The Split Share Structure Reform in China enables state shareholders of listed firms to trade their restricted shares. This renders the wealth of state shareholders more related to share price movements. We predict this reform will create remuneration arrangements that increase the relationship...

This paper examines the investment preferences of foreign institutional investors investing in the U.S. market. We analyse both firm and country-level determinants that influence the foreign institutional investors' allocation choices. At the country level, we find that the governance quality in...

We examine whether UK managers exploited the discretion provided in the UK GAAP to IFRS reconciliation process to manage earnings and whether this earnings management is associated with the structure of the managers' compensation contracts. Using a comprehensive dataset, mainly hand-collected...

During the financial crisis in 2007-8, the quoted spread for the average S&P 1500 firm increased by 50%, while the systematic liquidity risk increased by 34%. We find that the trading of a firm's equity by institutional investors increased the firms' quoted spreads, and led to a higher liquidity...

Since the 1990s there has been a surge in the mutual fund industry across the world. Mutual funds offer individual investors both the diversification of investment risk and the expertise to monitor corporate decisions. We find the effect of mutual fund ownership in reducing corporate fraud...

This paper provides new evidence on the effect of compensation consultants on CEO pay. We show that the use of a compensation consultant has an increasing effect on the level of total CEO compensation, which is consistent with the “ratcheting up” effect of consultants on CEO pay argued by...