This study examines the impact of cash holdings on firm value before and during the 2008 financial crisis. In answering this question, our analysis assesses the conditioning effect of financial constraints and corporate governance. In our core analysis we show that the equity market places a...

Employing daily data over the period 1987-2010, we examine the diversifying, hedging and safe haven properties of gold bullion, gold stocks, gold mutual funds and gold exchange traded funds (ETFs). First, with regard to gold bullion, we document a clear and strong hedging role over a mere...

In contrast to the double taxation system prevailing in the U.S., Australian firms operate within an imputation tax environment with respect to dividend payments. We argue that the dividend imputation tax system increases the signaling potential of dividend reductions and our empirical findings...

Fund families are centrally managed, and can directly control resource allocations between funds. We quantify multiple manageable fund family attributes, and examine their combined effects upon returns and investor flows. We focus upon five attributes that are exclusively manageable by fund...

This paper investigates and compares the determinants of fund flows for socially responsible investment (SRI) funds and conventional funds. We consider the impact of current and past measures of monthly and annual return on fund flow. The results suggest SRI fund flows are less sensitive to...

This paper examines the effects of audit firm mergers and the demise of Andersens on market concentration, competitiveness and audit pricing in the UK. Our results indicate that the large audit firms increased their market share between 1985 and 2002 by merging and expanding into new sectors....

This paper reports evidence on cross-border accounting information transfers associated with profit warning announcements. Using a sample of firms from 29 European countries, we find that negative earnings surprises disclosed by firms in one country affect investors’ perceptions of comparable...

The literature on cross-sectional stock return predictability has documented over 450 factors. We take the perspective of an institutional investor and navigate this zoo of factors by focusing on the evidence relevant to the practicalities of factor-based investment strategies. Establishing a...

The range of non-EPS forecast types provided by individual analysts to I/B/E/S has increased dramatically over time but varies considerably across firms. We propose that in providing a broader range of forecast types analysts can signal superior research ability and research effort. Consistent...