Prior research shows that companies repurchase stock during quarters with low returns, presumably because the stock is undervalued. We focus on repurchase increases and investigate another motive: Are repurchases increased to provide price support for a stock that, despite recent low returns,...

Fail-to-deliver (FTD) short sales occur when shares sold on trade day t are not delivered on settlement day t+3. FTDs can occur for a variety of reasons but generally indicate that short seller demand for shares exceeds the supply of shares available for loan. This study investigates whether the...

Fails-to-deliver (FTDs) place non-existent shares in circulation, and the SEC is concerned that FTDs, especially those by short sellers, are used to create a crisis of confidence “without a fundamental underlying basis.” To minimize FTDs, the SEC passed close-out rules during the financial...

When a short seller sells shares on day t (trade date) but fails to deliver those shares on day t+3 (settlement date), non-existent (electronic) shares are in circulation. Corporate executives and regulators often contend that high “fail-to-deliver” (FTD) levels indicate that short sellers...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between regional institution and accounting quality. Design/methodology/approach: This study investigates whether and to what extent the convergence to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) improves Chinese firms’...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine restrictions placed by the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) on executive compensation during the financial crisis. Since it remains unclear if TARP restored public confidence in financial institutions, the authors also analyze what effect...

This study investigates if hiring auditors with Chinese reverse-merger expertise affected 182 Chinese companies that executed reverse mergers with U.S. shell companies from 2003 to 2011 to become U.S. publicly traded companies (Chinese Reverse-merger companies, or CRM companies). We find that...

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are perceived to have negative consequences for society at large by contributing to potential climate change and represent a potential cash drain from firms from exposure to future regulatory, abatement, and compliance costs. Beginning in 2010, US companies are...