In this study, we investigate whether companies with better reputations enjoy a lower cost of equity financing. Using a sample of 9,276 large U.S. companies from 1987 through 2011 and the reputation rankings from Fortune's “America's Most Admired Companies List”, we find strong evidence that...

Within the last decade there has been much written about the possible link between the quality of a firm's external financial reporting and its cost of equity capital. In this paper I provide my personal observations about the literature. I make the following points. I find the Francis et al....

Based on Lambert, Leuz, and Verrecchia (2007)'s derivation of the cost of equity capital in terms of expected cash flows, we generate a testable hypothesis that relates tax avoidance to a firm's cost of equity capital. Using three broad measures of tax avoidance — book-tax differences,...