This paper examines whether the quality of stock analysts' forecasts is related to conflicts of interest from investment banking and brokerage. We consider four aspects of forecast quality: accuracy, bias and revision frequency of quarterly earnings per share (EPS) forecasts, and relative...

We provide evidence of an association between audit partner rotation and the quality of earnings. It is a requirement for Australian firms that the engagement partner be identified by name in the annual report. Using a sample of 3,621 firm-years between 1998 and 2003, we show that audit partner...

Numerous findings in the literature suggest that paying cash dividend mitigates agency problem between majority shareholders and minority shareholders. Many common law countries require mandatory cash dividend policy to protect minority shareholder's interest. This paper provides opposite...

We develop a classification to score the potential of corporate audit committees to be financially literate, as defined in this paper, based on listing requirements of the NYSE, promulgated late in 1999. We score audit committees of approximately 300 large companies in 2000 and 2004, and of a...

The East-Asian crisis and the Enron debacle have drawn the attention of the scientific community on the issues of financial disclosures and corporate governance. Transparency and good governance is essential to strengthen the financial system and to withstand the any crisis, both internal and...

This study addresses the role of audit committees and auditors in the reporting of internal control deficiencies after the passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX). We find that a higher number of meetings of the audit committee, lesser proportion of quot;financial expertsquot; in the audit...

We examine related party (RP) transactions using agency and contracting theory as guides. Agency theory suggests opportunistic behavior can generate RP transactions; however, RP transactions can also result from or be managed via contracting. We therefore investigate associations between RP...

This paper examines how the quality of stock analysts' forecasts is related to conflicts of interest from investment banking and brokerage. We consider four aspects of forecast quality: accuracy, bias and frequency of revision of quarterly earnings forecasts, and relative optimism in long-term...

We investigate firms' going-private decisions in response to the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). The Act has the potential to bring both benefits, in terms of more transparent disclosure and improvements in corporate governance, and costs, in terms of complying with the new...

I analyze the effect of auditor choice on acquirers' market values around merger announcements and the factors affecting the interaction between auditor size and the market reaction to the merger announcements. Surprisingly, I find that acquirers audited by the largest accounting firms...