We analyze the changes in cash holding policies of S&P 500 firms from before to after their inclusion in the index. One year after inclusion, their mean industry-adjusted cash holdings decline by nearly 32% from the year before inclusion. Several factors explain this decline. The precautionary...

Using a comprehensive sample of securities litigation, we examine the effect of financial fraud on the subsequent use of external financing. We find that firms with a recent history of securities litigation, particularly more severe litigation, are less likely to seek external debt and equity...

We investigate the relation between seasoned equity issuers' stated intended use of proceeds and their subsequent long-run stock and operating performance. Stated intended uses of proceeds are: investment, recapitalization, and general corporate purposes. We find that issuers stating...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the initial public offerings (IPOs) of the firms that are eventually included in one of the S&P 400, the S&P 500, or the S&P 600 Indices. Do these firms have very different IPO features than the rest of the IPOs? Design/methodology/approach...

Country-level institutional quality is positively correlated with the underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs). The association is strong for IPOs issued in developed markets, but absent for emerging-market IPOs. We hypothesize that extra-legal institutions, including financial reporting...

We find that seasoned equity issuers who pay more in underwriting costs are associated with larger improvements in investor recognition, greater contemporaneous increases in firm value, and larger declines in illiquidity risk. We identify increased analyst following as an important channel...

We investigate the intertemporal relation between information asymmetry and equity issues, and particularly focus on which firms drive this relation. We find that when information asymmetry for a particular firm is low compared to the recent past, the firm is more likely to issue equity as...

We report that traditional seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) are no longer firms' preferred choice for raising seasoned public equity. Traditional offerings have recently been surpassed by shelf-registered offerings in terms of both annual frequency and total capital raised. This represents a...

This paper explores the relationship between information uncertainty and auditor reputation revealed by the failure of Arthur Andersen (AA). AA's reputation deteriorated considerably when it announced on January 10, 2002, that it had shredded documents related to its audit of Enron. AA's demise...

We examine whether sell-side analyst recommendations reflect shareholder rights. Our rationale is that analysts should be influenced by external governance only if market participants do not efficiently price its value. We find that stronger shareholder rights are associated with more favorable...