Financial statement analysis has been used to assess a company's likelihood of financial distress — the probability that it will not be able to repay its debts. Financial statement analysis was used by credit suppliers to assess the credit worthiness of its borrowers. Today, financial...

This paper examines whether property-casualty insurance companies manage earnings to influence investor expectations at the time of equity issuances. Our tests focus on the discretionary component of a material accounting accrual recognized by property-casualty insurance companies, i.e., the...

We show that tests of market efficiency are sensitive to the inclusion of delisting firm-years. When included, trading strategy returns based on anomaly variables can increase (for strategies based on earnings, cash flows and the book-to-market ratio) or decrease (for a strategy based on...

This paper examines whether property-casualty insurance companies manage earnings to influence investor expectations at the time of equity issuances. Our tests focus on the discretionary component of a material accounting accrual recognized by property-casualty insurance companies, i.e., the...

We document that firms reporting small positive earnings significantly understate the loss reserve accrual. Our findings also indicate that earnings management is not concentrated in these firms, but is pervasive across the entire earnings distribution. Consistent with income smoothing, the...

This study explores the effect of cross-sectional and time-series differences in financial reporting attributes on the predictive ability of financial ratios for bankruptcy. We identify proxies for discretion over financial reporting, the importance of intangible assets, and the effects of...

This study explores the effect of cross- sectional and time-series differences in financial reporting attributes on the predictive ability of financial ratios for bankruptcy. We identify proxies for discretion over financial reporting, the importance of intangible assets, and the effects of...

We show that the asymmetric effects of income taxes and special items for profit and loss firms contribute substantially to a discontinuity at zero in the distribution of earnings. Income taxes draw profit observations towards zero while negative special items pull loss observations away from...