This study examines whether firms manage earnings to meet analyst forecasts to signal superior future performance. Prior research finds that firms use earnings management to just meet analyst forecasts and that these firms have a positive association with future performance (Bartov et al.,...

After a lengthy and protracted debate, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) adopted Rule 3211 (commonly referred to as “Form AP”) and related amendments to its auditing standards regarding the identification of audit engagement partner and other accounting firms who take...

We examine whether contractors with cost plus contracts earn a higher profit, and whether the higher profit is associated with cost shifting behavior, using a unique set of data of federal procurement contracts between the years 2005 and 2010. Prior research often examines government contractor...

We compare earnings for the last twelve months ending in quarter four (i.e., fiscal year earnings), three, two and one. Prior literature offers two competing explanations for why fourth quarter earnings exhibit higher volatility than other interim quarters. Under the first explanation, GAAP...

We examine stock market effects related to news of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) sanctions against PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PWC) in 2019. PWC provided prohibited non-audit services (NAS) to audit clients and mischaracterized the nature of the services to the audit...

We examine differences in political ideology between audit partners and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and the impact of these differences on financial reporting quality. These individuals cooperate to jointly produce the audited financial statements, and yet there is limited archival...

This paper examines whether component auditor use changes following audit partner rotation. For U.S. multinationals, the audit partner must determine whether and to what extent audit procedures, and therefore component auditors, are needed in foreign locations. A new audit partner may not change...

Proponents of insider trading argue that informed trading benefits shareholders and could have a positive effect on firm value, however opponents counter that insider trading could be detrimental to firm value. We measure the extent of strategic informed trading by the fraction of insider trades...