Federal and state laws do not currently require companies to seek ratification from shareholders on auditor selection, but some companies do so. Previous studies document the determinants of voting behavior when such voting is solicited by the management, but do not examine why some companies...

Real earnings management (REM) is an increasingly common method of manipulating financial results, yet little research examines auditors' perceptions of and responses to REM. Using the auditor comfort framework (Pentland 1993; Carrington and Catasús 2007), we examine the extent to which REM impacts...

Differentiating real earnings management (REM) from normal business decisions poses a unique challenge for auditors, researchers, and investors. The ambiguity associated with REM, and the fact that REM does not violate GAAP, may explain why its use is on the rise. While some assert that auditors...