We study the determinants of losses and their increased frequency over time to understand their implications for the use of financial statements in valuation. We find the properties of losses change between 1971-2000 both in terms of the cash flow and accruals components. Departing from prior...

Previous research suggests legal liability as a strong determinant of corporate disclosure policies and the content of corporate disclosures. We study the influence of pre-earnings announcement quiet periods on legal liability and the affect of Regulation FD on corporation's use of quiet...

We hypothesize that when confronted with a loss, investors price earnings conditional on the expected probability of the firm's return to profitability. We show a parsimonious model of one year-ahead loss reversal is useful in predicting the firm's return to profitability. Using the estimated...

We examine the dividend-signaling hypothesis in a sample of firms for which dividend increases are particularly costly, namely loss firms with negative cash flows. When compared to loss firms with positive cash flows, we find the predictive power of dividend increases for future return on assets...

Recent corporate scandals and subsequent regulatory actions have heightened both the academic communities and the public's interest in corporate governance issues. Academics have long argued that voting rights constitute a critical component of a system of corporate governance. We provide...