Extant theoretical research posits that information asymmetry and agency issues affect the cost of external financing and hence impact firms' ability to finance its growth opportunities. In contrast, the literature on disclosure policy posits that an expanded and credible disclosure lowers the...

In an environment where expected litigation costs are relatively low (Australia), we provide evidence strongly consistent with signaling considerations influencing the choice of auditor by initial public offering (IPO) firms. When our analysis is confined to smaller IPOs and/or IPOs using less...

Ball Robin and Wu (2003) investigate the relationship between accounting standards and the structure of other institutions on the attributes of the financial reporting system. They find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that beyond accounting standards, the structure of other institutions,...

This paper investigates the effect of different mood statesiquest;specifically positive, neutral, and negative moodiquest;on inventory valuation decisions. Psychological research suggests that different mood states can lead to different professional judgments in the performance of an ambiguous...

I study the evolution of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) # 142, which uses unverifiable fair-value estimates to account for acquired goodwill. I find evidence consistent with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issuing SFAS 142 in response to political pressure over...

Finance theory proposes that firms' cost of capital increases when market makers set wider spreads due to perceived higher information asymmetry across traders. Using a sample of UK investment property firms and controlling for firms' non-random selection of external monitors, we find evidence...

This paper examines whether auditor independence is compromised resulting in poor quality audit when auditors provide substantial non-audit services to their clients. Prior studies have used abnormal discretionary accruals, financial restatements, the likelihood of issuing a qualified opinion,...

I use market-based measures to investigate the perceived reliability of fair value amounts reported in bank financial statements. Fair values as a measurement basis in accounting are becoming more predominant. This growth increasingly requires fair value estimation. I develop a hypothesis based...

Previous evidence of conservatism in Australian financial reporting, as in other countries, is constrained by the absence of a reliable firm-year specific measure. This paper calibrates such a measure using the procedure outlined by Khan and Watts (2007). We show that the C_Score they propose...