We document that firms have greater earnings similarity, relative to same-city industry peers, as the number of local peers increases. However, we also show that this mimicking behavior creates a false similarity and is achieved by firms reporting higher levels of unexpected accruals. These...

We find that non-Big 4 audit offices with greater awareness of SEC enforcement are more likely to issue first-time going concern reports to distressed clients; where SEC “awareness” is measured using (1) audit office proximity to SEC regional offices, and (2) proximity to specific SEC...

This study examines whether the increased availability of bank loans affects borrowers’ voluntary disclosures. Exploiting the staggered deregulation of interstate bank branching across states in the U.S., I find that bank-dependent firms decrease their voluntary disclosures following bank...

Financial transparency can affect labor markets directly by mitigating information asymmetries and optimizing the matching of heterogeneous firms and employees (matching efficiency channel) and indirectly through the effect of transparency on firms' capital inputs (capital utilization channel)....

Corporate financial transparency can affect labor markets directly by mitigating information asymmetries and optimizing the matching of heterogeneous firms and employees (matching efficiency channel) and indirectly through the effect of transparency on firms' capital inputs (capital utilization...

We analyze whether information asymmetry affects three major aspects of the audit process using an instrumental variables research design that exploits exogenous increases in information asymmetry stemming from brokerage house mergers and closures. Consistent with our predictions, we find that a...

As part of planning and performing financial statement audits, auditors must assess their clients' risk. Assessed risk permeates the audit process, driving decisions regarding client retention, audit pricing, the extent of audit testing, and the nature of auditors' written opinions. Although...