Changes in earnings announcement tone and insider sales

The evidence from prior literature suggests that insider trading is related to firms' reported financial results and disclosure choices. I contribute to the literature by examining the association between narrative disclosure in earnings announcements and insider trading. Specifically, I hypothesize and find a positive association between changes in the optimistic tone of earnings announcements and CEOs' subsequent equity sales. In addition, I hypothesize and find that this relation is mitigated by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and litigation risk. CEOs' financial gain from selling equity after more optimistic earnings announcements is small relative to their total compensation.     

The influence of earnings per share on capital issues: some evidence from UK companies

This paper investigates the simple hypothesis that when companies issue more capital, they have a tendency to select the type of capital, all other things being equal, which results in the higher short-term earnings per share (eps). The methodology employs probit analysis to test the hypothesis that the form of issue selected was that which gave the higher eps after controlling for other factors such as leverage and industry classification. The results lead us to conclude that there is evidence in capital issues of functional fixation on eps.     

The economic returns to schooling for Italian men. An evaluation based on instrumental variables

We study the relationship between (log) hourly earnings and schooling for male household heads in Italy, using cross-sectional data from the 1993 and 1995 waves of the Bank of Italy (BI) survey on the income and wealth of Italian households. In line with international evidence, we find that OLS under-estimate the return to schooling. When the endogeneity of schooling is taken into account, the return to an additional year in school increases from 4.8% to 5.6%. This estimate is lower than the estimates tabulated by Card [Card, D., 1994. Earnings, Schooling and Ability Revisited. NBER Working Paper no. 4832.] for the United States. We also find evidence that this return increases with higher levels of educational attainment.     

Why Do Large Firms' Prices Anticipate Earnings Earlier than Small Firms' Prices?*

This paper presents evidence that the positive association between firm size and price leads of earnings is not solely a function of private search incentives for firm‐specific information. Specifically, we find that small‐firm prices also lag large‐firm prices with respect to industry‐wide information. Our empirical analysis extends Collins, Kothari, and Rayburn 1987 and Freeman 1987, who document that security‐price leads of earnings are positively associated with market capitalization. In particular, we examine the association between firm size and the timing of security returns for two components of annual earnings changes: the average change for a firm's industry and the firm's idiosyncratic change. We find that large firms' prices have a longer lead than small firms' prices with respect to both components. Large firms' early lead on industry‐wide earnings suggests that returns of large firms predict returns of same‐industry small firms. To test this implication, we construct a portfolio of long (short) positions in small firms when the prior month's returns of large firms in their industry are above (below) average for large firms in other industries. This zero investment portfolio earns 4.5 percent over 12 months.     

The supply of and demand for accounting information

The article analyzes the use of accounting information in Russia. We assess reporting behaviour in the lending process for a sample of Russian companies in the years 1999–2004 and postulate that Russian companies manage their earnings in order to avoid showing losses when applying for bank financing. Once a credit has been granted, companies are predicted to manage earnings because of the bank's monitoring activities. By means of univariate and multivariate analysis we are able to attribute the discontinuity around a zero target in the earnings distribution with firms’ response to the banks’ assessment of accounting performance. This implies that financing considerations affect the reporting incentives of Russian companies.     

Market segmentation and information values of earnings announcements: Some empirical evidence from an event study on the Chinese stock market

This paper investigates the trading activities of two distinct classes of shareholders, namely, the Chinese domestic investors and the foreign investors in the segmented Chinese A- and B-share markets, respectively. We conduct an event study on the annual earnings announcements based on two different accounting standards: International accounting standards (IAS) and PRC generally accepted accounting principles (PRC GAAP). The earnings announcements based on IAS and PRC GAAP are value relevant. The investors in the B-share market react to both the IAS and PRC GAAP earnings announcements, while the investors in the A-share market pay more attention to the PRC GAAP earnings reports. In the B-share market, positive abnormal returns are associated with positive earnings surprise and negative abnormal returns go with negative earnings surprise. We find preevent abnormal trading volumes without significant price changes for the A shares, which may be due to existing information in the A-share market prior to earnings announcements. The postevent abnormal trading volumes last for a longer period in the A-share market than in the B-share market.     

The impact of securities regulation on the earnings properties of European cross-listed firms

The objective of this study was to determine if the securities regulation in a foreign country is related to the earnings quality of European firms cross-listed in Europe. The study compared the post-listing earnings quality of 112 European firms cross-listed in 13 European stock exchanges during 1989–2001 to those of a controlled sample of non-cross-listed firms. Earnings quality was assessed by the use of reporting discretion to manage earnings. The regulatory strictness was represented by three indices of securities regulation.Empirical results provide some support to a positive association between earnings quality and the foreign securities regulation, suggesting that the foreign regulatory requirements have little or no effect on the reported earnings of European firms cross-listed in European exchanges.     

Civil war, stock return, and intellectual capital disclosure in Sri Lanka

This study examines the effect of current-period intellectual capital disclosure on earnings and current annual stock return during a civil-war period. Using the top 30 firms by market capitalization listed on Colombo Stock Exchange over six years (from 1998 to 2003), this study finds that firms do not include the current-period intellectual capital disclosure in the current stock return, and the increase in the current-period intellectual capital disclosure activity has no influence on earnings included in the current stock return. Future accounting-based earnings, if stated in the current period, by contrast are included in the current stock return. The findings provide insights into the intellectual capital disclosure practice and its influence on stock return in a civil-war environment.     

Value or Glamour? An empirical investigation of the effect of celebrity CEOs on financial reporting practices and firm performance

In this study, I investigate the impact of managerial reputation, as proxied by high‐profile awards to CEOs, on financial reporting practices and firm performance. Using a sample of 269 awards given to 189 celebrity CEOs (CEOs who win awards) from 1987 to 2003, I compare within‐firm changes in financial reporting practices and firm performance before and after each CEO wins their first award. I find that celebrity CEOs engage in more conservative accounting practices and are less likely to engage in opportunistic earnings management to meet short‐term earnings benchmarks. In addition, firm performance improves after celebrity CEOs win awards.