In this paper, we examine whether mandatory adoption of IFRS reduces firm opacity and contributes to stock price informativeness. Using data from EU countries, we document a V-shaped pattern in stock return synchronicity around IFRS adoption which is consistent with IFRS disclosures revealing...

Due to the increased competition on capital markets and given the global importance of US markets, IFRS and US GAAP are competing to become the world standards set. Although comparable in many aspects, IFRS and US GAAP still differ in accounting for some transactions. This paper addresses the...

With the successful completion of the IASC's standards, IFRS and US GAAP were placed as the two pre-eminent world financial reporting frameworks. For years, however, US GAAP was accepted widely as the international set of standards to ensure high quality financial statements. Especially in the...

We investigate the comparability of accounting earnings for 14 EU countries in the period 1990-2005. Although prior studies have documented international differences in financial reporting properties, there is hardly any large-scale international evidence on the underlying fundamentals driving...

This study examines how the price-earnings relation varies with the uncertainty about and the quality of a firm's investments. We develop a real option valuation framework to capture optimal investment and abandonment options in a research-intensive emerging technology, the biotechnology...

This study investigates whether differences in accounting standards across countries create information costs that inhibit firms from investing in foreign markets. Using the frequency and dollar magnitude of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) from 32 countries over the period 1998-2004,...

We examine the impact of hedge fund interventions on target firms' strategic behavior, specifically their voluntary disclosure and earnings management strategies. We find a decrease in both the likelihood and the frequency of management earnings forecasts conveying bad news and an increase in...

Extant theoretical research posits that information asymmetry and agency issues affect the cost of external financing and hence impact firms' ability to finance its growth opportunities. In contrast, the literature on disclosure policy posits that an expanded and credible disclosure lowers the...

Prior research has posited that market imperfections and the lack of institutions which protect investor interests create a divergence between the cost of internal and external funds, thereby constraining firms' ability to fund investment projects through external financing. One consequence of...