Taking advantage of the implementation of the European Commission directives on the financial reporting of private firms, we explore the impact of mandatory financial disclosure on mergers and acquisitions. We find robust evidence that the volume of private firms becoming the target in M&A deals...

Mandated financial reports allow industry participants to learn about liquidity risk factors and growth opportunities. While learning about liquidity risk factors reduces uncertainty and thus discourages cash accumulation, learning about new profitable projects leads to the opposite prediction...

Inheritance law is a family-oriented legal institution shaping how families transfer wealth across generations. This review discusses the main components of inheritance law (inheritance tax rate, and testamentary freedom), and how they impact business families. It also explores common strategies...

We find that firms that meet or just beat last’s year earnings (henceforth, MBE firms) have a lower post-filing stock return volatility in the month following the 10-K filing. We also find that this negative relation is stronger for the MBE firms providing more readable 10-K. Furthermore, we...