We test for changes in investment efficiency around a shock to financial reporting quality—the adoption of SFAS No. 123R, which requires that employee stock option (ESO) costs be recognized rather than disclosed at fair value. We predict and find a reduction in underinvestment for firms...

This study examines the relation between performance covenants in private debt contracting and conservative accounting under adverse selection. We find that under severe adverse selection (i.e., high information asymmetry), accounting conservatism and performance covenants act as complements to...

Health-insurance premiums account for a significant portion of the cost base of U.S. corporations. A recent study finds that health-insurance premiums increase for firms that experience positive profit shocks (Dafny 2010), suggesting that the U.S. health-insurance market is not perfectly...

Exploiting differential interstate branching deregulation across contiguous counties of adjacent states, we investigate the effect of entry threat on incumbent banks' loan loss provisions. Incumbents exposed to entry threat have offsetting incentives; lower provisions make their loan...

Recent theoretical and empirical studies suggest that blockholders (shareholders with ownership ≥ 5%) exert governance through the threat of exit. Blockholders have strong incentives to gather private information and sell their shares when managers are perceived to underperform. To prevent...

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...

Effective in 2009, SFAS 161 requires enhanced disclosures about derivative use and hedging activities. We test for changes to the information environment of firms whose disclosure policy is unaffected by this standard directly. Using a sample of non-users of derivatives, we find an increase in...

SFAS 166 and 167 require banks to consolidate certain off‒balance sheet securitization entities. I investigate how this consolidation spills over to banks' supply of small business loans, which are rarely securitized in the United States. This spillover operates through two channels. (1) In...

Understanding the role of bank lending in corporate innovation is important to policymakers, practitioners, and academics. We provide new evidence on such a role by exploiting the implementation of SFAS 166/167, which removed the off–balance sheet status of certain securitized assets of banks....

We conduct a fundamental analysis of detailed financial information to predict earnings. Since 2012, all U.S. public companies must tag quantitative amounts in financial statements and footnotes of their 10-K reports using the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). Leveraging machine...