This study examines characteristics and valuation of claim loss reserves of property casualty insurers. Using SEC disclosures of revisions (development) in loss reserve estimates, we document substantial serial correlation in loss reserve development, indicating that reported loss reserves do...

A disinformative signal is defined as a signal that results in equity traders revising their distributions over some pricing-relevant variable such that their expectations become less precise. A hypothesis is developed, based on Scharfstein and Stein's (1990) herd behavior model, that...

Using a model of corporate investment in which the deferred tax liability never reverses, I show that deferred taxes are a real economic burden whose value is the amount recognized multiplied by a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the tax depreciation rate, and the denominator of the...

This study investigates whether banks manage the disclosed fair value of their major asset, the loan portfolio. Using two cross-section samples, I find evidence that suggests banks manage the fair value of loans. The estimated extent of overstatement of loans' fair value is negatively related to...

The relationship between disclosure quality and cost of equity capital is an important topic in today's economy and generally, economic theory and anecdotal evidence suggest a negative association. Empirical work on this link, however, is confronted with major methodological drawbacks - neither...

In this paper, we derive a measure of diluted EPS that incorporates the economic implications of the dilutive effects of employee stock options. We show that the existing FASB treasury-stock method of accounting for the dilutive effects of outstanding options systematically understates the...

This paper investigates whether a firm's disclosure practices affect the composition of its institutional investor ownership and, hence, its stock return volatility. The findings indicate that firms with higher AIMR disclosure rankings have greater institutional ownership, but the particular...

This paper investigates whether the quality of a firm's disclosure practices affects the composition of a firm's institutional investor base and whether this association has implications for a firm's stock return volatility. The findings indicate that firms with higher disclosure quality, as...

Using a sample of publicly traded savings and loan associations, this paper provides evidence that off-balance sheet derivatives activities are positively associated with lower stock-price interest rate sensitivity. Similar to the results for derivatives, on-balance sheet exposures to interest...

In this paper I examine the incentives for voluntary disclosure of advertising expenditures for a sample of US firms for the period 1994-2003. I estimate proxies for the proprietary costs and valuation benefits of advertising with data from the mandatory disclosure period. My proxy for...