I review evidence produced by prior literature on CEO horizon problems and show that prior empirical findings are correlated with the research design employed. I find that evidence of R&D curtailment by CEOs as they approach retirement stems predominantly from cross-sectional correlations...

This study provides evidence regarding executive compensation and retention outcomes associated with banks' participation in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). I find that TARP participation is associated with lower levels of total compensation, consistent with TARP's regulations...

We utilize new income tax reserve disclosures required under FIN 48 to examine whether managers use discretion over this accrual to manage earnings to meet the consensus analyst forecast. We find that firms with pre-managed earnings (i.e., earnings before the change in the tax reserve) that are...

This study examines the association between disclosures of unrecognized tax benefits made under FASB Interpretation No. 48 and existing measures of tax avoidance. Prior research suggests managers use discretion in accounting for income tax contingencies to meet key earnings targets. It is not...

The SEC has recently raised renewed concerns about firms' reporting of adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings metrics. Regulators have significant interest in understanding the factors that help constrain non-GAAP reporting. We first provide evidence on the relation between securities litigation risk and...

Prior research finds that firms' qualitative disclosures subject firms to shareholder lawsuits. However, federal securities laws provide a safe harbor intended to shield firms' forward-looking statements from legal liability. One implication of this safe harbor is that litigation risk...

Although formal guidance instructs firms to avoid issuing lengthy and boilerplate risk factor disclosures, regulators and users of financial statements note these disclosures continue to be excessively long and boilerplate. The persistence of these characteristics is particularly surprising...