We examine how Big N auditors' changing incentives impact their comment-letter lobbying on U.S. GAAP over the first thirty-four years of the FASB (1973-2006). In particular, we focus on the influence of auditors' lobbying incentives arising from two basic factors: managing expected litigation...

This paper investigates whether the initiation of trading in credit default swaps (CDSs) on a borrowing firm's outstanding debt is associated with a decline in that firm's reporting conservatism. CDS investments can modify lenders' payoffs on their loan portfolios by providing insurance on...

Regulatory capital guidelines allow for loan loss reserves to be added back as capital. The evidence in this paper suggests that the influence of loan loss reserves added back as regulatory capital (hereafter referred to as “add-backs”) on bank risk cannot be explained by either economic...