We examine the occurrence of ethics-related terms in 10-K annual reports over 1994-2006 and offer empirical observations on the conceptual framework of Erhard, Jensen, and Zaffron (2007). We use a pre-Sarbanes-Oxley sample subset to compare the occurrence of ethics-related terms in our 10-K data...

We create a database of company codes of ethics from firms listed on the Standard amp; Poor's 500 Index and, separately, a sample of small firms. The SEC believes that ldquo;ethics codes do, and should, vary from company to company.rdquo; Using textual analysis techniques, we measure the extent...

In October 1998, the SEC implemented a rule requiring firms to use plain English in their prospectus filings. In addition to the rule, the SEC encouraged the use of plain English in all filings and communication with shareholders. Did the SEC rule significantly impact managers' disclosure style?...

Previous research uses negative word counts to measure the tone of a text. We show that word lists developed for other disciplines misclassify common words in financial text. In a large sample of 10 Ks during 1994 to 2008, almost three-fourths of the words identified as negative by the widely...

Companies issuing stock during 1970 1990, whether an initial public offering (IPO) or a seasoned equity offering (SEO), have been poor long run investments for investors. During the five years after the issue, investors have received average returns of only 5% per year for companies going public...

This paper examines the stock market performance of a large sample of new issues (IPOs and SEOs) following an extreme price movement during the first three years after the offering. Strong underperformance follows either a positive or negative (at least +/ 15%) one day return event. This poor...

Fama and French (1992) report that size and the book-to- market ratio capture the cross-sectional variation of average stock returns for the universe of NYSE, Amex, and Nasdaq securities. This paper, in providing an exhaustive exploration of book-to-market across the dimensions of firm size,...

Recent studies have documented that firms conducting seasoned equity offerings have inordinately low stock returns during the five years after the offering, following a sharp run-up in the year prior to the offering. This paper documents that the operating performance of issuing firms shows...

One of the puzzles regarding initial public offerings (IPOs) is that issuers rarely get upset about leaving substantial amounts of money on the table, defined as the number of shares sold times the difference between the first-day closing market price and the offer price. The average IPO leaves...

Defenders of market efficiency argue that anomalies involving long-term abnormal returns are not robust to alternative methodologies. We argue that because various methodologies use different weighting schemes, the magnitude of abnormal returns should differ, and in a predictable manner. Three...