We examine the impact of earnings management uncertainty (EMU) on bond yield spreads in China. In the process, we decompose the bond yield spread into liquidity and default yield spreads. The findings suggest that EMU primarily drives the default yield spread of a corporate bond and that its...

With the current debate focusing on providing relief to firms subject to Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the SEC and the PCAOB are jointly developing regulatory and auditing guidelines to simplify and increase the efficiency of the Section 404 review process. To shed light on this ongoing...

In this paper we study the development of the most successful futures market in China, the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE). The lack of an active cash market forced ZCE to first establish a cash market prior to the trading of the first successful futures contract; the mungbean futures....

The main objectives of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are to improve the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosure. Under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the external auditor has to report an assessment of the firm's internal controls and attest to management's assessment of those...

We examine the effects of credit ratings on IPO pricing. The evidence from U.S. common share IPOs during 1986-2004 shows that when firms go public, those with credit ratings are underpriced significantly less than firms without credit ratings. Credit rating levels, however, do not have a...