The aim of the paper is to analyse the association between the use of accrual-based and real earnings management practices before the company goes public and the decision of institutional investors on buying or refraining from buying shares offered in initial public offering (IPO). The sample...

We investigate how the availability of traded credit default swaps (CDSs) affects the referenced firms' voluntary disclosure choices. CDSs enable lenders to hedge their credit risk exposure, weakening their incentives to monitor borrowers. We predict that reduced lender monitoring in turn leads...

The definition of EBITDA is among the most important parts of a credit agreement. This concept matters to borrowers and creditors because it frequently determines whether a borrower is in breach of its covenants in the loan, and it matters to regulators because it determines the amount of...

Employing a panel dataset of Vietnamese non-financial listed firms, we find that firms with greater foreign shareholdings are aligned with higher quality of financial disclosure. More specially, we find that greater foreign shareholdings are associated with (i) lower earnings management; (ii)...

Private equity investors require accurate estimates for the market value of their investments to perform optimal fund allocations and correctly diversify their portfolios. Since private equity investments are mostly privately held and do not have an active market valuation, these estimates rely...

We investigate whether a firm's accruals quality is affected by its transient and dedicated institutional ownership. Measured as the absolute value of accrual estimation errors, accruals quality is found to be negatively associated with transient institutional ownership and positively associated...

This study investigates whether common institutional blockholders (common owners) affect the accounting comparability of their portfolio firms. We document that accounting comparability between a pair of industry peers increases with common ownership presence and intensity. Common owners’...

The allegation that activist investors demand changes that increase short-term stock prices at the expense of long-term shareholder value (“short-termism”) has led to extensive research on interventions by hedge funds. Few studies include other private (non-hedge fund) activists, even though...

We define accounting engagement as stakeholders’ actions taken with the intention of influencing corporate reporting. Using this definition, we review the literature on such activism and discuss avenues for research. The evidence reviewed suggests accounting engagement is rare. We reflect on...

We examine how shareholder financial difficulties affect firms’ risk-shifting behavior. Using the 2003 mutual fund scandal as a financial shock to institutions’ risk-shifting incentives, we find that lenders charge higher loan spreads after the scandal. The results are more evident when the...