This paper examines the role of liquidity risk in explaining the cross-section of asset returns using a new measure of liquidity that captures its multi-dimensional nature. This new measure earns a robust liquidity premium that the CAPM and the Fama-French three-factor model cannot explain. I...

This paper fills a void in the market efficiency literature by testing for the presence of post-earnings announcement drift in the non-US market. We test for drift using alternative earnings surprise measures based on: (i) the time-series of earnings; (ii) market prices; and (iii) analyst...

Labor productivity, measured as the industry-standardized ratio of sales to number of employees, has an ability to predict average stock returns. In the portfolio sort, firms with high labor productivity earn higher expected returns than those with low productivity. The difference in returns is...

Asset turnover, an inside component of profitability in the Dupont analysis, has an ability to predict average stock returns. In the portfolio sort, firms with high asset turnover earn high expected returns, which is unexplained by risk-adjusted asset pricing models. In the cross-section, asset...

Financial Reporting Standard No3 (FRS 3): Reporting Financial Performance, which came into force in 1993, increased UK firms' discretion in classifying exceptional items. We examine how this increased discretion affected their use of classificatory smoothing and inter-temporal smoothing through...

We examine whether UK firms engage in earnings management or forecast guidance to ensure that their reported earnings meet analyst earnings expectations. We explore two earnings management mechanisms: (a) positive abnormal working capital accruals; and (b) classification shifting of core...

We contribute to the earnings management literature and provide insights for accounting regulatorsby investigating the impact of FRS3 on accruals management by UK firms. FRS3 mandated net incomeper share, whilst allowing the release of incremental information on sustainable profitability....

We examine whether UK firms engage in earnings management or forecast guidance over theperiod 1994−2002 in order to ensure that their reported earnings meet analyst earnings expectations.We explore two earnings management mechanisms: a) the use of positive abnormal working capitalaccruals and...

We explore the capital market consequences of achieving analyst earnings expectations,distinguishing between expectations achieved genuinely or through earnings guidance ormanagement. We examine an inclusive set of earnings management tools: real earningsmanagement, working capital accruals...