The immediate expensing of Ramp;D expenditures is often justified by the conservatism principle. However, no accounting procedure consistently applied can be conservative throughout the firm' life. We ask the following questions: (a) When is the expensing of Ramp;D conservative and when is it...

The fact that auditors are paid by the companies they audit creates an inherent conflict of interest with investors who rely on the audit report in their capital allocation decisions. We analyze how the provision of financial statement insurance could eliminate this conflict of interest and...