The scandals surrounding questionable accounting practices and corporate wrongdoing during 2000-2008 have often been attributed to the lack of effective internal controls. We examine the relations between national culture and the incidence and the number of reported internal control material...

Using an international sample of banks and country-level measures for several dimensions of religion, we study how differences in religiosity across countries affect earnings management. Given that religiosity is a major source of morality and ethical behavior, it may reduce excessive risk...

This study examines the impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on IPO underpricing and the relative amount of IPO capital raised in foreign markets. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find a decrease in IPO underpricing and an increase in the relative proceeds from foreign markets following...

We examine whether initial loan sales in the secondary loan market relate to borrowing firms' accounting conservatism. We find that borrowing firms exhibit a significant decline in accounting conservatism after the initial loan sales. We show that the decline in borrower conservatism is more...

We identify two research design issues that explain the inconsistency between the theoretically predicted negative relation between audit effort and misstatements (measured using restatements) and empirical findings. First, auditor risk adjustment behavior induces an upward bias in the...

We examine the impact of differential incentives arising from proximity to debt covenant violation on earnings management. We reason that firms with loans close to violation or in technical default of their debt covenants have greater incentives to engage in earnings management than firms that...

In October 2008, the International Accounting Standards Board amended IAS 39 to allow banks to retroactively reclassify financial assets that previously were measured at fair value to amortized cost. By reclassifying financial assets, a bank can potentially avoid recognizing the unrealized fair...

In October 2008, the International Accounting Standards Board amended IAS 39 to allow banks to retroactively reclassify financial assets that previously were measured at fair value to amortized cost. By reclassifying financial assets, a bank can potentially avoid recognizing the unrealized fair...

We study whether bank managers' use their discretion in estimating the allowance for loan losses (ALL) for efficiency or for opportunistic reasons. We do so by examining whether the use of this discretion relates to bank stability and bank risk taking, or whether it relates to earnings...

Starting in 2010, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) mandated that between 40% and 50% of the annual variable compensation of senior commercial bank managers be paid over the subsequent 3 years or longer. We examine the implications of the CBRC deferred compensation regulation for...