Financial reporting and disclosure are potentially important means for management to
communicate firm performance and governance to outside investors. We provide a …

This study assesses the validity of widespread criticisms of the large,“nationally recognized”
credit rating agencies (CRAs). The accounting scandals of 2000-02, in particular the highly …

This study is the first to employ calendar-time portfolio methodology to investigate the impact
of 748 ESG rating changes on stock returns of US firms over 2016–2021. While ESG rating …

This paper suggests some of the ways in which corporate financial policy depends on the
role of non-investor stakeholders. The key to our analysis is recognizing that the firm sells its …

This is the first study that uses Merton's (1974) option pricing model to compute default
measures for individual firms and assess the effect of default risk on equity returns. The size …

In many regulated markets, private, third-party auditors are chosen and paid by the firms that
they audit, potentially creating a conflict of interest. This article reports on a two-year field …

This paper examines daily excess bond returns associated with announcements of additions
to Standard and Poor's Credit Watch List, and to rating changes by Moody's and Standard …

A company's credit default swap spread is the cost per annum for protection against a
default by the company. In this paper we analyze data on credit default swap spreads …

Share-price responses to 95 announcements of increased research and development (R &
D) spending are significantly positive on average, even when the announcement occurs in …

The credit rating industry has historically been dominated by just two agencies, Moody's and
Standard & Poor's, leading to long-standing legislative and regulatory calls for increased …