We document that firms held by mutual fund managers who worked in public accounting earlier in their careers exhibit higher quality financial reporting. In cross-sectional evidence consistent with expectations, we find that the role that fund manager public accounting experience plays is...

We examine the impact of social ties between mutual fund managers and auditors of public firms on mutual fund stockholdings. We find that mutual funds whose managers are socially connected with firm auditors hold more shares of these firms. In cross-sectional results consistent with...

We find that mutual funds whose managers are socially connected with firm auditors hold more shares of these firms and generate superior portfolio returns. Cross-sectional results reveal that the relation between social connections and mutual fund stockholdings is more pronounced: when the...

We examine the impact of managerial mood on corporate tax avoidance—a ubiquitous corporate decision. Using variation in local sunshine as exogenous shocks to managerial mood, we report strong, robust evidence that negative mood induced by cloudy weather leads firms to undertake more aggressive...

There is tension underlying whether asset redeployability, which refers to the salability of corporate capital assets, shapes crash risk. On one hand, asset redeployability enables managers to opportunistically exploit asset sales to manage earnings upwards to hoard bad news, which, in turn,...

We examine the role and economic consequences of emotions in influencing the judgment of corporate executives. Analyzing a large sample of U.S. public firms, we find that sunshine-induced good mood leads managers to make upwardly biased earnings forecasts. Importantly, our evidence implies that...

We examine whether managers’ activities in striving to reach earnings targets affect their firms’ product quality. We find that firms suspected of manipulating real activities in trying to meet earnings benchmarks exhibit a higher likelihood and frequency of product recalls. Other evidence...

Completeness and timeliness are two properties of firm disclosures valued by investors and promoted by standard setters in their conceptual frameworks of financial reporting. Nevertheless, prior studies suggest that these two properties may have opposing effects in that completeness could...