We use machine learning methods to create a comprehensive measure of credit risk based on qualitative information disclosed in conference calls and in management's discussion and analysis section of the 10- K. In out-of-sample tests, we find that our measure improves our ability to predict...

I document the variation in measurement of financial covenants, focusing on three measurement rules: earnings (EBITDA vs. EBIT), firm value (including or excluding intangible assets) and inclusion of escalator clauses (provisions that increase the threshold of net worth covenants). I find that...

We propose a measure of managerial ability, based on managers' efficiency in generating revenues, which is available for a large sample of firms and outperforms existing ability measures. We find that our measure is strongly associated with manager fixed effects, and that the stock price...