We study whether the financial analysts' concern to maintain friendly relationships with firms' managers in order to preserve their access to ‘soft' qualitative information entice them to issue pessimistic (“earnings surprise management” hypothesis) or optimistic (“management access”...

We analyze the determinants of financial analysts' forecast accuracy. The empirical literature has enlightened variables related to analysts, to firms or both, in explaining the magnitude of forecast accuracy. But this literature does not explain in a common framework two opposite theoretical...

We endeavour to understand how the analysts' consensus can constraint the forecasts of a given analyst. Analysts are interested in generating trading volume, and do not necessarily release their most precise forecast. We show that forecast release depend upon consensus dispersion and upon the...