We examine real-activity based earnings management, i.e., cuts in discretionary spending to report small profits, across introductory, growth and mature stage firms. We use the cash flow components to classify a firm's life cycle. We predict and find that firms in the mature stage, on average,...

We perform a comprehensive analysis on the relation between a firm's life cycle and its financial reporting quality. Using abnormal accruals, abnormal revenues, restatements, and others, we provide evidence that there is considerable variation in financial reporting quality across the life...

In this study, we examine how changes in credit risk around CEO turnover announcements are affected by the nature of the succession (forced vs. voluntary), outgoing CEO’s legacy, and concentration of job titles. We find that firms whose incumbent is forced out experience a greater increase in...