Breaking from a long stretch of using largely standard language in unqualified audit opinions, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) expanded audit reports to disclose Critical Audit Matters (CAMs) and the audit procedures used to address them. The first wave of CAM disclosures...

In contrast to past auditor opinions, which were largely unqualified and uniformly written, a new disclosure requirement expands auditors' opinions to include a description of Critical Audit Matters (“CAMs”) and the audit steps necessary to form an opinion about them. The expanded disclosure...

We examine gender differences in the language of CFOs that participate in quarterly earnings calls. Female executives are more concise, less optimistic, are clearer, use fewer idioms or clichés, and provide more numbers in their speech. These differences are particularly strong in the more...

Theory suggests that relatively inefficient firms should have lower and more uncertain future cash flows, which should lead to lower current equity values and higher future equity returns. However, the literature provides contradictory evidence on the relationship between operational efficiency...