The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has long asserted that earnings management practices result in adverse consequences for investors. We examine whether SEC oversight affects firms' accounting quality in terms of earnings management trade-offs. We expect that increased firm-specific...

Prior research on SEC comment letters has almost exclusively focused on reviews of periodic filings, such as 10-Ks. Transactional filing reviews, such as those related to mergers and acquisitions (M&A), are a fundamental priority of the SEC and to which it dedicates significant resources. We...

An emerging literature shows that shareholders benefit from the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) filing reviews in terms of improved disclosures and reduced information asymmetry. However, these reviews also impose significant costs on companies because comment letter remediation...

In fundamental analysis, increases (decreases) in the ratio of selling, general and administrative (SG&A) costs to sales (SG&A ratio) are perceived as negative (positive) signals regarding future firm performance. However, this interpretation focuses on the overall change in the SG&A ratio and...

Because Chief Operating Officers (COOs) are responsible for internal operations and because the use of real earnings management (REM) can have negative consequences on longterm operating performance, we posit that COO firms will be less likely to use REM to inflate near-term earnings. Consistent...

Although some view the hiring of interim executives as evidence of poor governance, this practice is becoming increasingly common. Because interims represent 15 to 20 percent of all chief financial officer (CFO) appointments and because CFOs are central to financial reporting and strategic...