Understanding and the interpretation of financial statements is an important factor for economic entities, for making the right decisions. Nowadays, more and more is noticed the general tendency of the harmonization of the Directive IV of the European Committee with International Financial...

We investigate whether firms' tax planning affects the accuracy of analysts' forecasts. Tax planning can exacerbate the complexity of firms' operations through strategic choices to exploit tax laws. Because of its effect on firms' operations, tax planning can influence analysts' efforts to...

This study provides evidence on the performance and labor market trajectories of sell-side equity analysts with prior experience or education in accounting. Analysts with work experience in accounting issue both more accurate earnings per share (EPS) forecasts and more profitable sell...

We examine whether financial analysts strategically time the announcement of their recommendation revisions consistent with their incentives to maintain relations with management. We provide evidence that investor and media attention to recommendation revisions is reduced on weekends, which...

This paper investigates whether and how the initiation of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) trading affects analyst optimism. First, we document that analyst forecasts become less optimistic after the initiation of CDS trading. Second, we find that the dampening effect of CDS on analyst optimism is...

Prior research finds that sell-side analysts are generally willing partners with company management in facilitating the consistent meeting or beating of earnings expectations. We examine analysts who demonstrate the opposite behavior: issuing an unusually optimistic earnings forecast at the end...

Using a sample that post-dates important regulatory changes in Europe, we show that a buy recommendation from an analyst on a “consensus sell” stock is, on average, sufficient to cause the stock to start to rise in value. Similarly, a sell recommendation on a “consensus buy” stock can...

We analyze the quality of forward-looking information in the management reports (MR) of listed German corporations and the impact of differences in that quality on analysts' behaviour. For several years, German corporations are bounded to provide forward-looking information separately for the...

We examine how the information produced by analysts when they initiate coverage contributes to the mix of firm-specific, industry-, and market-wide information available about the firm. We hypothesize that the first analyst to initiate coverage provides low cost market and industry information...

Sell-side equity analysts often work in hierarchical teams. Lead analysts manage a team of associate and junior analysts, who take part in the team's tasks. We hypothesize a division of labor between lead and associate analysts where lead analysts focus on higher-importance tasks and delegate...