This paper extends prior work on the linkage between politically connected (PCON) firms and capital structure in developing countries. Specifically, this paper focuses on the association between Malaysian PCON firms and leverage, and is motivated by the results of Fraser et al. (2006) who report...

This study examines whether political connection to firms affects the association between audit committee independence and demand for higher quality audits. In line with Carcello et al. (2002), our findings show that there is a positive association between audit committee independence and audit...

This study uses merger and acquisitions (M&A) activities as a proxy for managers' aggressive style and shows that firms with a higher degree of acquisitions (dollar value of acquisitions and number of acquisition announced in a given year) are associated with more tax avoidance. This finding is...

This study examines the effect of the passing of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 as well as managerial entrenchment characteristics of corporations on the value-relevance of earnings. Our sample of observations is partitioned into three sub-periods: the Pre-Scandal (Pre-SCA) period, the Enron...

Short-term debt and credit ratings have benefits for financial reporting quality that may be associated with lower audit fees. Using U.S. data for 2003 through 2006, we find that short-term debt is negatively related to audit fees for firms rated by Standard & Poor's, consistent with more...