Corporate choice is expected to reflect rational behavior and yet there is much anecdotal evidence suggesting the opposite. Often the accounting system plays a major part in such stories. Aligning incentives has always been one of the main concerns of the accounting system. Accounting control...

We analyze a principal-agent setting with multiple sources of contracting information in which the signal from each source can be unmistakably interpreted as "good" or "bad" news. We then ask whether it is best to condition the acquisition of one of the information sources on whether the earlier...