Investors, regulators, academics, and researchers all emphasize the importance of financial statement comparability. However, an empirical construct of comparability is typically not specified. In addition, little evidence exists on the benefits of comparability to users. This study attempts to...

We examine the strategic choice of peer comparables in fairness opinions (FOs) used in M&A valuations. Using a hand-collected sample of peer comparable analyses and a regulatory shock to appraisal lawsuit risk, we show that target-sought FOs employ lower-valued peers when litigation risk is...

We study whether private firm public financial statements influence the probability of raising venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) financing. We hypothesize that private firms' public financial statements can help the VC/PE search process by providing a less costly screening tool to...

We examine the effect of economic integration on accounting comparability. Using the adoption of the euro as a shock to economic integration, we document two effects. First, we show a direct effect around the adoption of the euro – accounting comparability increases among industries in...

This paper examines the effect of transaction costs on the post-earnings-announcement drift (PEAD). Using standard market microstructure features we show that transaction costs constrain the informed trades that are necessary to incorporate earnings information into price. This leads to weaker...