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Publications (29)
A number of studies have examined the change over time in the information content of accounting numbers to stockholders. However, the stockholders’ perspective is not necessarily identical to that of debt holders. The two groups face different risks and rewards, and thus their informational needs are not the same. We examine the change in the infor...
We provide evidence showing that prominent anomalies documented by past accounting research, particularly those attributed to investor biases and lack of sophistication, are limited to small firms which collectively represent a small fraction (typically less than 10%) of the market value of the equity markets. When firm observations are weighted by...
We examine the change over time in the information content of accounting numbers from the perspective of bondholders and the causes for this change. Using proprietary longitudinal data, we find that, in contrast to the decline in the information content of accounting numbers to equity holders over time, the information content to bondholders has he...
Call, Chen and Tong (2013) claim that the conclusion we reached in Givoly, Hayn and Lehavy (2009) that analysts’ forecasts of cash flow from operations are unsophisticated (in the sense that they can be replicated by a naïve extension of analysts’ own earnings forecasts) is wrong. They conclude that these forecasts are, in fact, sophisticated. Call...
Call, Chen and Tong (2013) claim that the conclusion we reached in Givoly, Hayn and Lehavy (2009) that analysts’ forecasts of cash flow from operations are unsophisticated (in the sense that they can be replicated by a naïve extension of analysts’ own earnings forecasts) is wrong. They conclude that these forecasts are, in fact, sophisticated. Call...
The recent influx of foreign companies to the U.S. capital markets through the mechanism of a reverse merger, which bypasses the scrutiny of an IPO and results in a company whose ownership, management, employees and auditors are typically foreign, has raised concerns about the quality of financial reporting by these companies. These concerns have b...
We examine whether analysts include the managed earnings component in their forecasts or are surprised by the managed earnings component. We also investigate whether analysts’ earnings forecasts for future periods and their stock recommendations are affected by earnings management in the current period. The results, based on a sample of 583 restate...
Risk Management Research Report (RMRR) surveys and screens the flow of academic articles on risk management and presents extended scholarly summaries of today’s most important scholarly work in a convenient format on a timely basis. Each issue features approximately 15 of the most important scholarly articles in risk management published within the...
We compare the quality of accounting numbers produced by two types
of public firms—those with publicly traded equity and those with privately held equity
that are nonetheless considered public by virtue of having publicly traded debt. We
develop and test two hypotheses. The ‘‘demand’’ hypothesis holds that earnings of
public equity firms are of hig...
We compare the quality of accounting numbers produced by two types of public firms - those with publicly-traded equity and those with privately-held equity that are nonetheless considered public by virtue of having publicly-traded debt. We develop and test two hypotheses. The "demand" hypothesis holds that earnings of public equity firms are of hig...
This paper examines properties of analysts' cash flow forecasts and compares these properties with those exhibited by analysts' earnings forecasts. Our results indicate that analysts' cash flow forecasts are of a considerable lower quality than their earnings forecasts. They are less accurate and improve at a slower rate during the forecast period....
This paper examines whether currently available financial disclosures on acquired entities allow investors to effectively predict goodwill impairment, a task that has become more important following the recent abolishment of goodwill amortization. We track the performance of acquired companies through time from the year of the acquisition, using pe...
The paper examines whether analysts behave as if they attempt to predict the firm's correct or unmanaged earnings or whether, instead, they forecast the earnings that management is most likely to report regardless of whether these earnings are incorrect (GAAP-wise) or managed. The results, based on both a sample of 285 restatements and a much large...
The paper examines the power and reliability of the differential timeliness measure (DT) developed by (Basu (1997) to gauge reporting conservatism. We identify certain characteristics of the information environment unrelated to conservatism that affect the DT measure and find that the measure is sensitive to the degree of uniformity in the content...
We provide evidence that is consistent with an increase in reporting conservatism by U.S. companies in the past few decades. Using a constant sample of almost 900 companies, we examined several measures of accounting conservatism, including the level and rate of accumulation over time of negative nonoperating accruals, the differential timeliness o...
This paper finds that firms that meet or beat current analysts’ earnings expectations (MBE) enjoy a higher return over the quarter than firms with similar quarterly earnings forecast errors that fail to meet these expectations. Further, such a premium to MBE, although somewhat smaller, exists in the cases where MBE is likely to have been achieved t...
This paper documents changes in the patterns of earnings, cash flows and accruals over the last four decades. In the absence of a generally accepted definition of conservatism, a number of measures of reporting conservatism are identified and examined. These measures rely on the accumulation of nonoperating accruals, the timeliness of earnings with...
This paper assesses the measurement errors inherent in segment reporting. Measurement errors are gauged by comparing the correlation
of segment results with their industry to the corresponding correlation for single line-of-business firms operating in the
same industry. The findings show that the measurement errors in segment information, particula...
This paper assesses the quality of segment reporting using a measure based on the correlation between the performance of the segment and its industry. The findings show that the quality of segment information particularly earnings is lower than that of stand-alone firms. The difference is attributed both to measurement errors as well as to the oper...
This study hypothesizes that because shareholders have a liquidation option, losses are not expected to perpetuate. They are thus less informative than profits about the firm's future prospects. The results are consistent with the hypothesis. They also show that the documented increase in the earnings response coefficent as the cumulation period in...
The authors examine the aggregate and distributional effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 on equity values of publicly traded corporations. The results show that the effect of the act on the aggregate equity value of corporations was consistent with the present value of the projected added tax collection from the corporate sector. The cross-sectio...
The paper provides evidence that tax attributes of target firms are significant in explaining the abnormal returns to shareholders of both target and acquiring firms following acquisition announcements. The most prominent tax attribute in tax-free acquisitions is the amount of net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits due to expire. The most...
Numerous studies of the wealth effects of acquisition announcements find that target firms experience large, positive abnormal stock price changes during this period; acquiring firms also appear to benefit although the gains are much smaller in magnitude. Knowledge about the source of these gains is limited. Several studies have examined whether ta...
This study explores the change in earnings management and conservatism as firms transition between private and public ownership. Using a unique sample of U.S. firms, a private phase, in which firm equity is privately held while firm debt is publicly held, is compared to a public phase, in which firm equity is also publicly held. As a large portion...
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1987. Photocopy.