6,124 research outputs found
Financial Reporting Quality and Proprietary Costs
This study investigates the association between proprietary costs and the quality of
financial reporting. Interpreting a firmâs financial reporting policy as a choice of
precision (âqualityâ) for the disclosed accounting earnings, I find evidence that the higher the proprietary costs, the lower the precision (âqualityâ) of reported accounting earnings. This is consistent with analytical work in disclosure theory which suggests that, ceteris paribus, as the proprietary cost of disclosure increases, the quality of disclosure decreases
High performance, LED powered, waveguide based total internal reflection microscopy.
Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is a rapidly expanding optical technique with excellent surface sensitivity and limited background fluorescence. Commercially available TIRF systems are either objective based that employ expensive special high numerical aperture (NA) objectives or prism based that restrict integrating other modalities of investigation for structure-function analysis. Both techniques result in uneven illumination of the field of view and require training and experience in optics. Here we describe a novel, inexpensive, LED powered, waveguide based TIRF system that could be used as an add-on module to any standard fluorescence microscope even with low NA objectives. This system requires no alignment, illuminates the entire field evenly, and allows switching between epifluorescence/TIRF/bright field modes without adjustments or objective replacements. The simple design allows integration with other imaging systems, including atomic force microscopy (AFM), for probing complex biological systems at their native nanoscale regimes
Pion Photoproduction Amplitude Relations in the 1/N_c Expansion
We derive expressions for pion photoproduction amplitudes in the 1/N_c
expansion of QCD, and obtain linear relations directly from this expansion that
relate electromagnetic multipole amplitudes at all energies. The leading-order
relations in 1/N_c compare favorably with available data, while the
next-to-leading order relations seem to provide only a small improvement.
However, when resonance parameters are compared directly, the agreement at
O(1/N_c) or O(1/N_c^2) is impressive.Comment: 19 pages, ReVTeX, 50 eps files combine into 5 compound figure
Mechanisms to Meet/Beat Analyst Earnings Expectations in the Pre- and Post-Sarbanes-Oxley Eras
This paper asks two questions. First, has the prevalence of expectations management to
meet/beat analyst expectations changed in the aftermath of the 2001-2002 accounting
scandals and the passage of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)? Second, has the mix
among the three mechanisms used for meeting earnings targets: accrual earnings
management, real earnings management, and earnings expectations management shifted
in the Post-SOX Period? We document that the propensity to meet/beat analyst
expectations has declined significantly in the Post-SOX Period. Our primary findings
explain this pattern. In particular, we find a decline in the use of expectations
management and accrual management, and no change in real earnings management in the
Post-SOX Period relative to the preceding seven-year period. Our results are robust to
controlling for varying macro economic conditions. These findings contribute to the
academic literature, investors, and regulators
Mechanisms to Meet/Beat Analyst Earnings Expectations in the Pre- and Post-Sarbanes-Oxley Eras
This paper asks two questions. First, has the prevalence of expectations management to
meet/beat analyst expectations changed in the aftermath of the 2001-2002 accounting
scandals and the passage of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)? Second, has the mix
among the three mechanisms used for meeting earnings targets: accrual earnings
management, real earnings management, and earnings expectations management shifted
in the Post-SOX Period? We document that the propensity to meet/beat analyst expectations has declined significantly in the Post-SOX Period. Our primary findings explain this pattern. In particular, we find a decline in the use of expectations management and accrual management, and no change in real earnings management in the Post-SOX Period relative to the preceding seven-year period. Our results are robust to controlling for varying macro economic conditions. These findings contribute to the academic literature, investors, and regulators
Accrual-Based and Real Earnings Management Activities Around Seasoned Equity Offerings
We examine earnings management behavior around SEOs, focusing on both real
activities and accrual-based manipulation, and how this behavior varies over time and
cross-sectionally. Although research has addressed the issues of earnings management
around SEOs and earnings management via real activities manipulation, ours is the first
paper to put these two issues together. We make three contributions to the literature.
First, we document that firms use real, as well as accrual-based, earnings management
tools around SEOs. Second, consistent with the expectation that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
(SOX) has made accrual-based earnings management more costly, we find that firms
have substituted from accrual to real earnings management after SOX. Finally, we show how the tendency for firms to tradeoff real versus accrual-based earnings management
activities around SEOs varies cross-sectionally. We find that firmsâ choices vary predictably as a function of the firmâs ability to use accrual management and the costs of doing so. Our model is a first step in examining how firms tradeoff between real versus accrual methods of earnings management
Weighing the Evidence on the Relation between External Corporate Financing Activities, Accruals and Stock Returns
Bradshaw, Richardson, and Sloan (BRS) find a negative relation between their comprehensive measure of corporate financing activities and future stock returns and future profitability. Noticing that accounting accruals are increases in net operating
assets on a companyâs balance sheet, we question whether it is possible to distinguish between the âexternal financing anomalyâ documented by BRS and the âaccrual anomalyâ first documented by Sloan (1996). We show that once controlling for total accruals, the relation between external financing activities and future stock returns is attenuated and not statistically significant. These findings are consistent with Richardson and Sloan (2003)
Supersymmetric Baryogenesis from Exotic Quark Decays
In a simple extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model,
out-of-equilibrium decays of TeV scale exotic vector-like squarks may generate
the baryon asymmetry of the universe. Baryon number and CP violation are
present in the superpotential, so this mechanism does not rely on CP violation
in supersymmetry breaking parameters. We discuss phenomenological constraints
on the model as well as potential signals for the Large Hadron Collider and
electronic dipole moment experiments. A variation on the TeV scale model allows
the exotic squarks to be the messengers of gauge mediated supersymmetry
breaking.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, 2 appendices, v2: typos corrected, results
unchange
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