The use of equity incentives is significantly greater in countries with stronger insider trading restrictions, and these higher incentives are associated with higher total pay. These findings are robust to alternative definitions of insider trading restrictions and enforcement, and to panel...

Negative net cash flows have become substantially more pervasive, persistent, and greater in magnitude within US publicly-traded companies since 1971. Companies with negative cash flows, particularly those that also have high intangible capital, account for most of the rise in average cash...

Corporate spinoffs present a unique opportunity to analyze the choice of directors from a pool of potential candidates. We find that post-spinoff unit and remaining parent firms are more likely to select pre-spinoff parent directors who have: i) relevant industry expertise; and ii) pre-spinoff...

Coincident with a rise in intangible investment, operating losses have become substantially more prevalent, persistent, and greater in magnitude since 1970. Loss firms now make up over 30% of the Compustat universe and such losses continue for a median of four years. Firms with negative...

Professor David J. Denis presented the session transcribed here at the October, 2014 FMA meetings in Nashville, TN. Prof. Denis is the Roger S. Ahlbrandt, Sr. Chair and Professor of Business Administration at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh

Following corporate spinoffs, unit boards are formed from scratch. We find that these ‘de novo' boards are smaller, more independent, include more outside directors with relevant industry expertise, and derive more industry expertise from outsiders than do industry and size-matched peers....

We analyze capital structure decisions of U.S. firms during 1905-1924, a period characterized by two shocks that provide a unique experiment for studying the primary determinants of financing choices: (i) the introduction of corporate and individual taxes, and (ii) the onset of World War I,...

We find that firms are more likely to manage earnings upward when their earnings would otherwise fall short of expected dividend levels. This earnings management behavior appears to significantly impact the likelihood of a dividend cut. Firms whose discretionary accruals cause reported earnings...