Top executives of the parent company often take positions as the directors and officers (D&Os) of subsidiaries. These parent-subsidiary common D&Os have better access to subsidiary information and can exert more influence over subsidiary operations. Therefore they can better identify tax...

Soil mercury (Hg) and its bioaccumulation in food crops have attracted widespread concerns globally due to its harmful effects on biota. However, soil mercury fractionation, bioavailability, and the major factors predicting its transfer and accumulation in soil–wheat-systems have not been...

We provide the first evidence that conflicts of interest arising from commercial ties lead to ESG rating optimism. After the acquisitions of Vigeo Eiris and RobecoSAM by Moody’s and S&P, respectively, the ESG rating agencies issue higher ratings to existing paying clients of Moody’s or S&P,...

This paper explores the likelihood and consequences of voluntary disclosure (proxied by management earnings forecasts) for a sample of 1005 cross-listed firms in the US from 40 countries over the period 1996–2005. Our study is grounded in a three-tiered conceptual framework that relies on...

This study investigates whether and how the information values of reported earnings and their components changed around the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998. Regression analyses on a sample of 10,406 firm-years from nine Asian countries from 1995 to 2000 reveal the following. First, the...

This study examines whether insiders' incentives for private control benefits affect investment sensitivity to stock price. While Chen et al. (2007) link stock price informativeness to firms' learning from the stock market, we offer an alternative agency-cost based explanation. Using a total of...

This study predicts and finds that chief executive officer (CEO) risk-taking incentives induced by stock option compensation increase a bank's contribution to systemic distress risk and systemic crash risk. We also predict and find that this CEO incentive systemic risk relation operates through...

Using a large sample of U.S. bank loan data from 1996 to 2008, we investigate the relation between two auditor characteristics, namely, auditor size and tenure, and loan interest rates. Our results show the following: First, we find that the loan interest rate is significantly lower for...

Using a sample of 21,608 firm-years from 34 countries during 1998–2004, this study evaluates the impact of voluntary adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on a firm’s implied cost of equity capital. We find that the implied cost of equity capital is significantly...