In the wake of the backdating scandal, many firms began awarding options at scheduled times each year. Scheduling option grants eliminates backdating, but creates other agency problems. CEOs that know the dates of upcoming scheduled option grants have an incentive to temporarily depress stock...

In this study, we examine whether CEOs' stock-based compensation has any relationship with the disclosure of highly proprietary information. While prior studies suggest that stock-based compensation provides managers with an incentive to enhance their voluntary disclosures in general, we argue...

Traditional stock option grant is the most common form of incentive pay in executive compensation. Applying a principal-agent analysis, we find this common practice suboptimal and firms are better off linking incentive pay to average stock prices. Among other benefits, averaging reduces...

This paper studies the first day return of 227 carve-outs during 1996-2013. I find that the first day return of newly issued subsidiary stocks is explained by the reporting distortions in the pre IPO period, conditioned on whether the executives and directors of the subsidiary received stock...

Traditional stock option grant is the most common form of incentive pay in executive compensation. Applying a principal-agent analysis, we find this common practice suboptimal and firms are better off linking incentive pay to average stock prices. Holding the cost of the option grant to the firm...

Research into group decision-making suggests that any optimal managerial compensation incentive design should incorporate synergistic interrelationships among top executives within a firm. This paper investigates whether the equity incentive structure of a management team affects firm-level...

In this case study, the former CEO of a large telecommunication company filed a lawsuit against her former employer that alleged that the company's contract breach resulted in the loss ESO grants and diminished the value of the vested ESOs that she held at the time of the alleged contract...

Using the details of vesting terms, we document that stock options granted in high investor sentiment periods tend to have shorter vesting periods and durations, and are more likely to vest completely or have a significantly larger fraction vested within one year of the grant date, relative to...

Using the details of vesting terms, we document that stock options granted in high sentiment periods tend to have shorter vesting period/duration, and are more likely to vest completely or have a significantly larger fraction vested within one year of the grant date relative to low sentiment...

A small literature has shown that individual wellbeing varies with the price of company stock, but it is unclear whether this is due to wealth effects among those holding stock, or more general effects on sentiment, with individuals taking rising stock prices as an indicator of improvements in...