We study the ex ante stock market reactions to events leading up to China's convergence to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The literature consistently shows that the benefits of mandatory IFRS convergence are concentrated in countries with stronger legal enforcement and...

We study the ex ante stock market reactions to events leading up to China's convergence to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The literature consistently shows that the benefits of mandatory IFRS convergence are concentrated in countries with stronger legal enforcement and...

Using a sample of firms from France, where the law requires the use of two auditors, we study the effect of auditor pair composition on audit quality by examining a specific account, goodwill impairment. We document that firms audited by a Big 4-non-Big 4 auditor pair (BS) are more likely to...

We examine the relationship between audit committee directors' unequal allocation of attention to multiple directorships and firms' earnings management. We find that firms with a greater proportion of audit committee directors for whom the directorship is more important than their other...

We investigate the relation between tax risk and the cost of private debt. Tax risk can lead to significant negative outcomes, including penalties, interest and additional tax payments, which in turn can increase the uncertainty of future cash flows and make it costlier for a firm to borrow....

This study investigates whether firms with aggressive tax planning strategies have less readable financial reports. In theory, tax-planning increases firm value through tax savings but can lead to a discount if applied too aggressively. Therefore, managers have an incentive to obfuscate their...

We investigate the moderate effect of the CEO knowledge-based background on goodwill impairment and abnormal return, and its direct effect on the likelihood of goodwill impairment announcement. We apply the educational background, financial background, and overseas background to represent the...

Using proprietary information about Chinese audit firms’ Professional Risk Fund (PRF) and Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) and their publicly traded clients’ audit adjustments, we examine whether and how audit firms’ PRF and PII relate to audit adjustments. We find that audit...

Section 301 of SOX implicitly assumes that audit committees can independently determine audit fees. Critics of Section 301 have questioned this assumption, in particular, and the efficacy of Section 301, more generally. In response, the SEC issued a concept release in 2015 calling for public...

Under IFRS, managers can use two approaches to increase the estimated fair value of goodwill in order to justify not recognizing impairment: (1) make overly optimistic valuation assumptions, and (2) increase future cash flow forecasts by inflating current cash flows. Because enforcement...