Using a large sample of audit client firms over the 2002-2005 period, this paper investigates whether and how the locality of auditor or the geographic proximity between auditors and clients affects audit quality and audit pricing. We use two measures of abnormal accruals to draw inferences...

Using a sample of 9,820 firm-year observations over the 2000-2003 period, this paper examines whether, and how, audit quality proxied by unsigned discretionary accruals is associated with the abnormal audit fee, i.e., the difference between actual audit fee and auditors' expectation on the...

We study the effect of a mandatory improvement in public disclosure due to the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the stock return predictability of shorting activity. To assess the impact of the disclosure shock, we measure monthly changes in the demand for and...

We examine the consequences of local laws modeled on the American Anti-Corruption Act (“AACA”), which aims to constrain corporate political activities. Consistent with these laws significantly increasing the costs of forging local political connections, we find a reduction in the likelihood...

This study examines whether marriage, as a social construct and cultural norm, could affect firm-level stock price crash risk. We find that firms managed by married CEOs are associated with lower future stock price crash risk, after controlling for a set of firm characteristics and CEO traits....

Unlike prior research that focuses on determinants of firm-specific stock price crashes (SPCs), we study the consequences of SPCs on market information efficiency. The tension underlying our research question stems from two competing explanations. As an unanticipated shock, a SPC could stimulate...

This paper presents large-sample evidence that firms consider labor unemployment risk when setting their resource adjustment policies. Prior studies find that costs rise more in response to sales increases than they fall in response to sales decreases. Anderson, Banker, and Janakiraman (2003)...

We examine the impact of corporate tax avoidance on the price and non-price terms of bank loans. We predict and provide evidence that banks charge lower loan spreads and impose fewer covenant restrictions when firms exhibit greater tax avoidance. These favorable effects are more pronounced for...

This study investigates whether and how a firm's voluntary adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) influences stock price synchronicity or the extent to which firm-specific information is capitalized into stock prices. We also study the role of analyst following and...

This paper documents that policy uncertainty reduces future stock price crash risk. Our tests show that this negative relation is more pronounced among firms with more short-sale constraints, with no actively traded credit default swap contracts, or with higher firm-level political risks. The...