Although ten years had passed since the bubble economy burst, and [yen] 7.2 trillion in public funds were poured into most of the Japanese banks in 1999 in order to beef up their net worth capital, the profit figures of 131 major banks in 2003 did not show signs of the financial market's...

This paper examined the key issues related to the effects of introduction of fair value in a stakeholder-oriented accounting system. In particular, it discussed how the decision of the Italian policymaker to limit the distribution to shareholders of fair value gains is rooted on the importance...

The paper discusses the economic impact of legal, corporate governance, tax, disclosure, and incentive issues arising from revelation of dating games with regard to executive option grant dates. It provides an estimate of the value loss incurred by shareholders of firms implicated in backdating...

Lang, Raedy and Wilson (JAE 2006) compare the properties of U.S. GAAP accounting numbers across cross-listed and U.S. firms. Using a wide range of properties, LRW show that accounting data are not comparable, even though sample firms use the same accounting standards. I discuss how these...

This study examines recent regulatory and practitioner concerns that managers provide more (less) information to analysts with more (less) favorable stock recommendations. We examine the relative forecast accuracy of analysts before and after a recommendation issuance under the assumption that...

The paper has described and examined the most relevant corporate governance developments in Italy, taking into account both the normative developments, such as laws and codes of conducts, as well as actual developments in corporate practices. Taking into accounting the ownership and control...

Evidence contrasting U.S. insider trades in high- and low-jeopardy periods and across firms at high and low risk for 10b-5 litigation indicates that insiders condition their trades on foreknowledge of price-relevant public disclosures, but avoid profitable trades when the jeopardy associated...

This paper analyzes the impact of Regulation FD on the accuracy and dispersion of earnings forecasts made by sell-side equity analysts. Using a large sample of forecasts made over a nearly ten-year period surrounding FD's adoption, we uncover two main sets of findings. First, earnings forecasts...

We study the restructuring process of small and medium-sized firms in financial distress. We have a unique dataset with firms in the Netherlands that are guided in their restructuring effort by banks. Part of our dataset consists of firms that successfully restructure their operations and...

We draw on the investor protection literature to identify structural factors in the financial reporting environment that are likely to explain cross-country differences in the information content of annual earnings announcements. Using data from over 50,000 annual earnings announcements in 26...