Thomas Lys, James Naughton and Clare Wang
Does CSR increase shareholder value? Recent research finds that expenditures in corporate social responsibility activities reduce shareholder value, on average, even though these expenditures are associated with positive stock returns. This apparent inconsistency suggests that executives should reexamine the conventional wisdom on CSR initiatives. More →
Anne Beyer and Ronald A. Dye
A new model outlines the link between managers’ reputations and how they disclose earnings forecasts and other voluntary disclosures. The model establishes that some managers will exploit their strong reputations for being forthcoming by not disclosing information that reduces their firm’s stock price, while other managers may attempt to improve their reputation for being forthcoming by disclosing unfavorable information whose release could reduce their firms’ current market values. More →
Hariom Manchiraju, Spencer Pierce and Swaminathan Sridharan
Until recently, no one knew how exactly companies were using derivatives. Were the investments hedging, or something else? Research by Swaminathan (Sri) Sridharan lifts the curtain on how firms are really using derivatives. More →
Joshua Rauh and Robert Novy-Marx
Pension funds were underfunded before the recession hit. Joshua Rauh sifted through the numbers and determined that the situation has only gotten worse since then. More →
Camelia Kuhnen and Alexandra Niessen
The Occupy movement has brought lots of attention to bear on the issue of CEO compensation. But does public scrutiny actually affect executive compensation levels? Camelia M. Kuhnen sifted through thousands of news articles to find out. More →
The United States passed a law in 2004 allowing American companies a one-time tax break to repatriate income earned overseas. The argument was that companies would be more inclined to invest money in the United States rather than abroad. Thomas Brennan investigated and the results suggest otherwise. More →
Real-time financial reporting, where companies release statements as they happen, is viewed by some as the accounting practice for the Internet era. But replacing the standard quarterly statements may have unintended consequences, according to research by Ronald Dye. More →
Mary E. Barth, Ian Gow and Daniel J. Taylor
Stock-based compensation is widely offered in some industries, but how it should factor in accounting reports is anything but universally accepted. Ian Gow examines how managers and analysts use stock-based compensation expenses to achieve different goals. More →
Businesspeople sometimes view venture capitalists with a wary eye, but as research from Wan Wongsunwai shows, a good VC can be the difference between a successful startup and a failed enterprise. More →
Jap Efendi, Anup Srivastava and Edward P. Swanson
Stock options are a common way for firms to compensate executives for good performance, but they can also lead to questionable accounting practices in some cases. Anup Srivastava identifies when firms are more likely to “cook their books.” More →