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Existing literature consistently documents a relationship between book-tax differences and future financial performance. Specifically, large book-tax differences are associated with lower earnings persistence. I contend that one reason the tax information contained in financial statements is informative about future earnings is that the relationship between book income and taxable income

Existing literature consistently documents a relationship between book-tax differences and future financial performance. Specifically, large book-tax differences are associated with lower earnings persistence. I contend that one reason the tax information contained in financial statements is informative about future earnings is that the relationship between book income and taxable income captures information about a firm's life cycle stage. Using a life cycle measure from the literature, I use fundamental analysis to group firm-year observations into life cycle stages and document a link between book-tax differences and firm life cycle. I build on prior studies that find a relation between earnings persistence and book-tax differences, and earnings persistence and firm life cycle. I find that after controlling for firm life cycle stage, the association between large positive book-tax differences and lower earnings persistence does not hold. My results offer an economic theory based explanation for the relation between book-tax differences and earnings persistence as an alternative explanation to findings in prior research.
ContributorsDrake, Katharine D (Author) / Mikhail, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Brown, Jennifer (Committee member) / Martin, Melissa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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This paper examines whether CEOs with general managerial skills are better at achieving the goals of external communication. Using the General Ability Index developed by Custodio, Ferreira, and Matos (2013) to measure CEOs' general managerial skills, I find that firms with generalist CEOs are more likely to obtain the desired

This paper examines whether CEOs with general managerial skills are better at achieving the goals of external communication. Using the General Ability Index developed by Custodio, Ferreira, and Matos (2013) to measure CEOs' general managerial skills, I find that firms with generalist CEOs are more likely to obtain the desired outcomes of communication, including the smaller difference between analyst forecasts and management guidance, less dispersion in analyst forecasts, higher analyst following, and higher institutional ownership, after controlling for CEO talent and the impact of Regulation FD. Moreover, I provide direct evidence that general managerial skills are more important to external communication under poor information environments. I also investigate the characteristics of analysts who follow firms with generalists, and my findings suggest the private interaction with analysts is an important communication channel for generalists. Finally, I find that generalists are able to attract dedicated investors and gain long-term capital for their firms. Overall, I provide evidence on the growing importance of general managerial skills in external communication. This paper offers new insights into why CEOs with general skills are paid at a premium over those with specific skills, as documented in previous studies.
ContributorsYeh, Eugenia (Author) / Hillegeist, Steve (Thesis advisor) / Brown, Jennifer (Committee member) / Custodio, Claudia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
A Chief Audit Executive (CAE) is the leader of a company’s internal audit function. Because there is no mandated disclosure requirement for the internal audit structure, little is understood about the influence of a CAE on a company. Following the logic that a CAE disclosed in SEC filings is more

A Chief Audit Executive (CAE) is the leader of a company’s internal audit function. Because there is no mandated disclosure requirement for the internal audit structure, little is understood about the influence of a CAE on a company. Following the logic that a CAE disclosed in SEC filings is more influential in a company’s oversight function, I identify an influential CAE using the disclosure of the role. I then examine the association between an influential CAE and monitoring outcomes. Using data hand collected from SEC filings for S&P 1500 companies from 2004 to 2015, I find companies that have an influential CAE are generally larger, older, and have a larger corporate board. More importantly, I find that an influential CAE in NYSE-listed companies is associated with higher internal control quality. This association is stronger for companies that reference a CAE’s direct interaction with the audit committee. This study provides an initial investigation into a common, but little understood position in corporate oversight.
ContributorsZhang, Wei (Author) / Lamoreaux, Phillip (Thesis advisor) / Kaplan, Steve (Committee member) / Li, Yinghua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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This study investigates the relation between credit supply competition among banks and their clients’ conditional accounting conservatism (i.e., asymmetric timely loss recognition). The Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act (IBBEA) of 1994 permits banks and bank holding companies to expand their business across state lines, introducing a positive shock to

This study investigates the relation between credit supply competition among banks and their clients’ conditional accounting conservatism (i.e., asymmetric timely loss recognition). The Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act (IBBEA) of 1994 permits banks and bank holding companies to expand their business across state lines, introducing a positive shock to credit supply competition in the banking industry. The increase in credit supply competition weakens banks’ bargaining power in the negotiation process, which in turn may weaken their ability to demand conservative financial reporting from borrowers. Consistent with this prediction, results show that firms report less conservatively after the IBBEA is passed in their headquartered states. The effect of the IBBEA on conditional conservatism is particularly stronger for firms in states with a greater increase in competition among banks, firms whose operations are more concentrated in their headquarter states, firms with greater financial constraints, and firms subject to less external monitoring. Robustness tests confirm that the observed decline in conditional conservatism is causally related to the passage of IBBEA. Overall, this study highlights the impact of credit supply competition on financial reporting practices.
ContributorsHuang, Wei (Author) / Li, Yinghua (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Xiaochuan (Committee member) / Kaplan, Steve (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
U.S. based multinational firms are able to use foreign subsidiaries as a means to reduce their overall tax burden. As disclosure requirements are vague, there is very little useful information provided to firm outsiders to analyze a firm’s foreign operations activity and earnings. I demonstrate that even sophisticated financial statement

U.S. based multinational firms are able to use foreign subsidiaries as a means to reduce their overall tax burden. As disclosure requirements are vague, there is very little useful information provided to firm outsiders to analyze a firm’s foreign operations activity and earnings. I demonstrate that even sophisticated financial statement users, financial analysts, have difficulty predicting the effective tax rate for firms with foreign operations, as evidenced by increased forecast errors for multinational firms as compared to domestic firms. I examine factors that may contribute to the increased difficulty of forecasting for multinationals and find that decreased ETR persistence and the presence of a loss may affect the difficulty of the forecasting task, but the presence or quality of management forecasts may not. The market finds tax forecasts important as evidenced by the positive response to the tax and non-tax components of earnings forecasts. This evidence is useful to investors, policy makers, and others interested in the tax activities of multinational firms.
ContributorsJordan, Erin (Author) / Brown, Jennifer (Thesis advisor) / Hugon, Artur (Committee member) / Huston, Ryan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description

Generating an astounding $110.7 billion annually in domestic revenue alone [1], the world of accounting is one deceptively lacking automation of its most business-critical processes. While accounting tools do exist for the common person, especially when it is time to pay their taxes, such innovations scarcely exist for many larger

Generating an astounding $110.7 billion annually in domestic revenue alone [1], the world of accounting is one deceptively lacking automation of its most business-critical processes. While accounting tools do exist for the common person, especially when it is time to pay their taxes, such innovations scarcely exist for many larger industrial tasks. Exceedingly common business events, such as Business Combinations, are surprisingly manual tasks despite their $1.1 trillion valuation in 2020 [2]. This work presents the twin accounting solutions TurboGAAP and TurboIFRS: an unprecedented leap into these murky waters in an attempt to automate and streamline these gigantic accounting tasks once entrusted only to teams of experienced accountants.
A first-to-market approach to a trillion-dollar problem, TurboGAAP and TurboIFRS are the answers for years of demands from the accounting sector that established corporations have never solved.

ContributorsPreston, Michael Ernest (Co-author) / Capuano, Bailey (Co-author) / Kuhler, Madison (Co-author) / Chen, Yinong (Thesis director) / Hunt, Neil (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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Description

"Generating an astounding $110.7 billion annually in domestic revenue alone [1], the world of accounting is one deceptively lacking automation of its most business-critical processes. While accounting tools do exist for the common person, especially when it is time to pay their taxes, such innovations scarcely exist for many larger

"Generating an astounding $110.7 billion annually in domestic revenue alone [1], the world of accounting is one deceptively lacking automation of its most business-critical processes. While accounting tools do exist for the common person, especially when it is time to pay their taxes, such innovations scarcely exist for many larger industrial tasks. Exceedingly common business events, such as Business Combinations, are surprisingly manual tasks despite their $1.1 trillion valuation in 2020 [2]. This work presents the twin accounting solutions TurboGAAP and TurboIFRS: an unprecedented leap into these murky waters in an attempt to automate and streamline these gigantic accounting tasks once entrusted only to teams of experienced accountants.
A first-to-market approach to a trillion-dollar problem, TurboGAAP and TurboIFRS are the answers for years of demands from the accounting sector that established corporations have never solved."

ContributorsCapuano, Bailey Kellen (Co-author) / Preston, Michael (Co-author) / Kuhler, Madison (Co-author) / Chen, Yinong (Thesis director) / Hunt, Neil (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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This study examines the effect of outside wealth on executives’ risk-taking in financial reporting. To investigate this question, I hand-collect data on Chief Financial Officers’ (CFO) real estate assets and use housing returns as a proxy for CFOs’ outside wealth changes. I find that CFOs who experience a large negative

This study examines the effect of outside wealth on executives’ risk-taking in financial reporting. To investigate this question, I hand-collect data on Chief Financial Officers’ (CFO) real estate assets and use housing returns as a proxy for CFOs’ outside wealth changes. I find that CFOs who experience a large negative housing return become less aggressive in financial reporting, as evidenced by a lower likelihood of restatement. Additional tests show that this effect is driven by CFOs who have less diversified wealth portfolios, by younger CFOs, and by CFOs with more leveraged houses, suggesting that the reduced risk-taking behavior of CFOs stems from decreased diversification of personal wealth and increased career concerns after a negative shock to outside wealth. These findings highlight the important role of executive outside wealth in explaining their risk-taking behaviors.
ContributorsLiu, Summer Z. (Author) / Huang, Shawn (Thesis advisor) / Lamoreaux, Phillip (Thesis advisor) / Hugon, Artur (Committee member) / Li, Yinghua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
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Description
This study examines how short selling threats affect firms’ non-generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP) reporting quality. From 2005 to 2007, the SEC implemented a Pilot Program under Regulation SHO, in which one-third of the Russell 3000 index stocks were randomly chosen as pilot stocks and exempted from short-sale price tests.

This study examines how short selling threats affect firms’ non-generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP) reporting quality. From 2005 to 2007, the SEC implemented a Pilot Program under Regulation SHO, in which one-third of the Russell 3000 index stocks were randomly chosen as pilot stocks and exempted from short-sale price tests. As a result, short selling threats increased considerably for pilot stocks. Using difference-in-differences tests, I find that pilot firms respond to the increased short selling threats by reducing the use of low-quality non-GAAP exclusions, resulting in an improvement in the quality of overall non-GAAP exclusions. Further tests show that this effect of short selling threats is more pronounced for smaller firms, firms with lower institutional ownership, firms with lower analyst coverage, and firms with lower ratios of fundamental value to market value. These findings suggest short sellers play an important monitoring role in disciplining managers, as evidenced by the non-GAAP reporting choices of managers.
ContributorsLiu, Junjun (Author) / Faurel, Lucile (Thesis advisor) / Li, Yinghua (Committee member) / Rykaczewski, Maria (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Description
This study presents the first evidence that mutual fund liquidity management affects both stock liquidity and information disclosure of portfolio firms. Using a difference-in-differences approach that exploits a proposal by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an exogenous shock to mutual fund liquidity management, I find causal evidence

This study presents the first evidence that mutual fund liquidity management affects both stock liquidity and information disclosure of portfolio firms. Using a difference-in-differences approach that exploits a proposal by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an exogenous shock to mutual fund liquidity management, I find causal evidence that mutual fund liquidity management improves liquidity of underlying stocks. The liquidity improvement is more pronounced when mutual funds have stronger incentives to improve portfolio liquidity and more resources to influence firms, and when portfolio firms have lower stock liquidity and higher information asymmetry prior to the SEC proposal. I further show that mutual funds may exert pressure on portfolio firms to improve their disclosure as a channel to improve stock liquidity. Overall, the results indicate that liquidity management at the fund level has important implications for stock liquidity and information disclosure of portfolio firms.
ContributorsWeng, Liwei (Author) / Hillegeist, Stephen (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Shawn X. (Thesis advisor) / Li, Yinghua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020