This study examines the effects of financial reporting complexity on investors' trading behavior. I find that more complex (longer and less readable) filings are associated with lower overall trading, and that this relationship appears due to a reduction in small investors' trading activity....

This study investigates whether a shock to financial reporting has a differential impact on debt and equity markets. Using macroeconomic data and a pre-post design centered in 2005, we find that IFRS adoption has a significantly greater effect on foreign debt than on foreign equity investment...

The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has a long-standing policy to keep formal investigations confidential. In this study, we examine the extent to which compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides investors with information about on-going SEC investigations. We exploit a...

We propose a new measure of readability, the Bog Index, which captures the plain English attributes of disclosure (e.g., active voice, fewer hidden verbs, etc.). We validate this measure using a series of controlled experiments and an archival-based regulatory intervention to prospectus filing...

This study documents a spillover effect of accounting fraud by showing that after the revelation of accounting misconduct there is an increase in financially motivated neighborhood crime (robberies, thefts, etc.) in the cities where these misconduct firms are located. We find that more visible...

Research on the credit rating process has primarily focused on how rating agencies incorporate firm characteristics into their rating opinions. We contribute to this literature by examining the impact of managerial ability on the credit rating process. Given debt market participants' interest in...

Prior research on the determinants of credit ratings has focused primarily on rating agencies' use of quantitative accounting information, but the impact of financial disclosures, particularly textual attributes, on the bond rating process has gone relatively unexplored. This study examines the...

Research on the credit rating process has primarily focused on how rating agencies incorporate firm characteristics into their rating opinions. We contribute to this literature by examining the impact of managerial ability on the credit rating process. Given debt market participants' interest in...

We exploit survey data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics to investigate the roleof accounting in the likelihood that a small business more quickly achieves and maintains positiveoperating cash flow (profitability). We examine several potential aspects of accounting includingthe...