We examine whether the readability of financial statement footnotes in the annual report is informative about audit engagement risk. Using various readability measures, we predict and find that firms with less readable footnotes have longer audit report lag, incur higher audit fees, and are more...

We explore the possibility that SEC oversight influences disclosure practices in a manner that reduces the likelihood of individual stock price crashes. Firms located farther from the SEC have greater stock price crash risk and this result is more pronounced for firms with financial statements...

We use a regulatory shock to examine the extent to which the prospect of short selling affects tax disclosure. From May 2005 to August 2007, the SEC initiated a pilot program under Regulation SHO, which temporarily exempted one-third of the firms in the Russell 3000 index from short sale price...

Recent amendments to Auditing Standard (AS) 3101 require disclosure of the initial year of the auditor-client relationship in the audit report. As the standard was being discussed, auditors, clients, and some PCAOB members expressed reservations about the necessity of tenure disclosures and were...

This study examines the relationship between the mandatory disclosure of auditor tenure under AS 3101 and the cost of debt. We find that yield spreads on seasoned bond trades decrease after AS 3101 as auditor tenure increases. Cross-sectional tests suggest that the effect is stronger for...

Recent amendments to Auditing Standard (AS) 3101 require disclosure of the initial year of the auditor-client relationship. As potential changes to the standard were being discussed, auditors, clients, and some PCAOB members expressed reservations about the necessity of tenure disclosures and...