In this study, we replicate and extend Dichev and Skinner’s [DS: 2002] study on the debt covenant hypothesis (DCH). We start by replicating DS and find results consistent with theirs. We then extend their work by changing three aspects of the research design: histogram bin width, calculation...

We provide updates to and perspectives on the enduring topic of debt and taxes. The recent decade brought us new empirical strategies, accounting rules, and tax laws. We discuss how these and other developments change our understanding of leverage and taxes. Overall, tax incentives still do not...

We derive consistent valuation models in accordance with the flow to equity and adjusted present value approaches, which allow accounting for the firm's dividend policy and passive debt management in light of differentiated personal taxes at the equity investor level. Specifi-cally, we establish...

Due to the possible deferral of capital gains taxes, retaining earnings provide a tax advantage compared to distributing them. Because of this, the calculation of the terminal value is often based on the assumption of an exogenously determined payout ratio. The present study considers this...

We analyse to what extent the accrual anomaly is related to the choice of the accounting system as well as firm-level heterogeneity in corporate governance mechanisms. Using a unique dataset of listed German firms over the period 1995 to 2005 we first corroborate former results indicating that...

Using a large hand-collected sample of all blockholders (ownership ≥ 5%) of S&P 1500 firms for the years 2002–2009, we first document significant individual blockholder effects on earnings management (accrual-based earnings management, real earnings management, and restatements). This...

This study examines the value relevance of book value, earnings and dividends for a sample of all non-financial firms listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) over the period 2003–2009. After controlling for the impact of the global financial crisis, empirical results provide evidence on the...

The sharp distinction drawn between firms rated narrowly above (BBB-) and below (BB+) the investment-grade cutoff provides variation in debt financing availability unrelated to firm fundamentals. We exploit this market segmentation to identify an asymmetric effect of debt capital supply on...

This paper studies the role of voluntary disclosure in crowding out independent research about firm value. In the model, when inside firm owners make it easier for outside investors to obtain inexpensive biased information from the manager, investors rely less on costly unbiased research. As a...

This article provides a comprehensive assessment of private firms' financing sources and their relation with financial reporting practices. We consider debt financing (bank financing, leasing, and government guarantees), equity financing (family ownership, government ownership, employee...