In this paper we study the bias a manager introduces into reports of firm performance when the market is uncertain about the manager's objectives. Comparative static results suggest that the information content of the manager's report falls as the cost of biasing reports falls, or uncertainty...

We document that the quality of public and private information available to investors improves before seasoned equity offerings (SEO) but deteriorates shortly thereafter. As firms improve their financial communication, analyst earnings forecasts become more accurate and less biased. However,...

We explore how the readability of annual reports varies with earnings management. Using the Fog Index to measure readability (Li 2008), and focusing on the management discussion and analysis section of the annual report (MD&A), we predict and find that firms most likely to have managed earnings...

We examine whether rational investor responses to information uncertainty explain properties of and returns to accounting-based trading anomalies. We proxy for information uncertainty with two measures of earnings quality: the standard deviation of the residuals from a Dechow and Dichev [2002]...

This study describes a quot;cheap-talkquot; model in which sellers can credibly convey unverifiable information by choosing whether or not to exaggerate verifiable information. We find that unexaggerated claims can communicate favorable unverifiable information if buyers are not too likely to...

This paper examines the impact of the management of reported earnings on the returns-earnings relationship. Two alternative types of earnings management behavior are modeled: myopic earnings management and income smoothing.In each setting, the manager of a firm privately observes the realized...

The adverse consequences of poor earnings quality have been the subject of significant debate among academics, practitioners and regulators. However, the empirical evidence on pricing implications of earnings quality is sparse and controversial. We examine one potential consequence of poor...

We examine competing explanations of the accruals anomaly, fixation and agency, using insider trading patterns and valuation measures. Quadratic regressions which control for confounding effects confirm an asymmetric relationship between trades and accruals concentrated on the selling side,...

In the context of the statutory tax rate reductions enacted in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, this paper investigates the degree to which capital market participants anticipate and correctly interpret temporary income effects of tax-motivated income shifting. We find evidence consistent with...

We present a multiperiod agency model of stock based executive compensation in a speculative stock market, where investors have heterogeneous beliefs and stock prices may deviate from underlying fundamentals and include a speculative option component. This component arises from the option to...