We re-examine the seminal persuasion model of Dye (1985), focusing on the contracting power of current shareholders. Current shareholders determine the disclosure policy of a manager, who may be informed about the firm's value. Current shareholders desire higher future stock prices and dislike...

This paper examines whether issuing management earnings guidance motivates a firm to raise its level of performance. The failure of management to attain a forecast may reflect poorly on its industry understanding, knowledge of the firm, and management capability. Accordingly, we hypothesize and...

Using U.S.-based multinational firm data gathered over more than two decades, we examine factors associated with the location of decision-rights within these firms, whether the inappropriate assignment of decision-rights is associated with poor firm performance, and whether these firms relocate...

Using U.S.-based multinational firm data gathered over more than two decades, we examine factors associated with the location of decision-rights within these firms, whether the inappropriate assignment of decision-rights is associated with poor firm performance, and whether these firms relocate...

We consider a dynamic model featuring two firms that test a regulator’s enforcement propensity through their misconduct and a regulator that disciplines them to build a reputation for strict enforcement. We show that when the regulator has full discretion over the enforcement criterion, peer...

We study the determinants of auditor industry specialization, the impact of specialization on fees and audit quality, and a regulator's optimal choice of audit standards in the presence of specialization. In industries with correlated firm values, a specialist auditor enjoys synergies from...

We analyze the effect of external financing concerns on managers' financial reporting behavior prior to management buyouts (MBOs). Prior studies hypothesize that managers intending to undertake an MBO have an incentive to manage earnings downward to reduce the purchase price. We hypothesize that...