This paper examines the relation between corporate tax avoidance and debt policy using a large sample of firms from 1988 to 2006. We use modified measures of book-tax difference and long-run cash effective tax rate to proxy for tax avoidance. Using both measures we find consistent evidence that...

This study tests for abnormal returns as-sociated with firms that incorporate Eco-nomic Value Added (EVATM). Claims made by Stern Stewart & Company are that firms which use EVA performance measures yield higher annual returns than peer groups. In our study the impact of adjusting annual returns...

This paper examines the relation between earnings management and the marginal cost of debt to the firm using a sample of traded corporate bonds for the period 1994-2005. The marginal cost of debt is captured by market determined yield spreads, while earnings management is proxied by three...

This paper provides new evidence that tax clienteles exist and that they influence ex-dividend stock price behavior. We test the tax model of ex-day pricing over a continuous sample period spanning all U.S. tax law changes since 1926. Our results indicate that actual ex-dividend price drop...

A wealth transfer from bondholders to stockholders is one of several hypotheses used to explain stockholder gains on the announcement of a spin-off. However, previous empirical research has not found systematic evidence supporting the wealth expropriation hypothesis. Using a larger sample with...

The aim of this paper is to explore the efficacy of monitoring by the board of directors, and especially independent outside directors, in New Zealand. The Companies and Financial Reporting Acts of 1993 provide a unique opportunity to examine if legislation directly designed to increase the...

This study addresses the empirical question, quot;Of what value are shareholder proposals sponsored by public pension funds?quot; and finds that the primary function of a proposal is to act as a signaling mechanism in alerting the market that management is unwilling or unable to negotiate a...

We test the hypothesis that the information content of dividend change announcements, as reflected in stock prices, is directly related to the degree of pre-announcement information asymmetry in the stock. The dividend change announcements include initiations, large increases, large decreases,...

Rising shareholder activism following poor corporate performance and a subsequent drop in shareholder value at many major U.S. corporations has rekindled interest in duality and corporate governance. Despite limited empirical evidence, duality (chairman of the board and CEO are the same...

This paper revisits recent investigations into the role credit ratings play in the marginal financing behavior of firms. While it has long been documented that credit ratings may be an important determinant of firm capital structure policy, academics have only recently subjected this motivation...