This dissertation investigates the effects of changes in the accounting environment on the capital markets. Included are three manuscripts, each of which, make an important contribution to the accounting literature. The first two manuscripts investigate the impact and importance of analystsâ...

Despite countless efforts to elucidate market participantsâ understanding of the implications of earnings quality, empirical accounting research has rendered two distinct perspectives. The first perspective considers market participants naïve users of accounting information who fail to grasp...

An auditor performing analytical review must typically diagnose material variances of observed client data from his/her own expectations. The auditor may utilize a decision aid to help in generating potential explanations for a variance; it has, however, the capacity to provide many more...

This dissertation explores three current issues relevant to the accounting and business communities by empirically examining the effect these issues have on the bond credit market. The first study examines the effect earnings predictability has on both the initial bond rating and the initial...

In this study, we argue that data pertaining to a firm's reputation for satisfying stakeholder demands is informative on how both earnings and net book values are associated with firm value. We test our hypotheses on four key stakeholder groups: customers, employees, the community, and the...