We propose a new input-based measure of financial statement comparability (FSC) that captures the degree of overlap in the financial statement line items reported by industry peers. FSC quantifies the extent to which peer firms have similar economic events and accounting transactions as...

We examine whether chief financial officers (CFOs) with accounting backgrounds (accountant CFOs) are associated with more conservative corporate outcomes. We find that, in high-growth industries, firms with accountant CFOs invest less in research and development and capital expenditures and are...

This paper investigates whether financially constrained firms use costly audit signals to facilitate their access to external financing. We document that when facing higher financial constraints, firms pay higher audit fees and have their audit opinion reports completed sooner. The higher audit...

Purpose – Recent US reforms aimed at strengthening audit committees and their structure grant independent audit committees the responsibility to appoint, dismiss, and compensate auditors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between audit committee characteristics and...

Purpose – Recent US reforms aimed at strengthening audit committees and their structure grant independent audit committees the responsibility to appoint, dismiss, and compensate auditors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between audit committee characteristics and...

We study the effects of the intensity of board monitoring on directors' effectiveness in performing their monitoring and advising duties. We find that monitoring quality improves when a majority of independent directors serve on at least two of the three principal monitoring committees. These...