Knowledge that Transforms

ABSTRACT This study provides evidence of a directly observable and significant cost of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption, by examining the fees incurred by firms for the statutory audit of their financial statements at the time of transition. Using a comprehensive dataset of all publicly traded Australian companies, we quantify an economy-wide increase in the mean level of audit costs of 23 percent in the year of IFRS transition. We estimate an abnormal IFRS-related increase in audit costs in excess of 8 percent, beyond the normal yearly fee increases in the pre-IFRS period. Further analysis provides evidence that small firms incur disproportionately higher IFRS-related audit fees. We then survey auditors to construct a firm-specific measure of IFRS audit complexity. Empirical findings suggest that firms with greater exposure to audit complexity exhibit greater increases in compliance costs for the transition to IFRS. Given the renewed debate about whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should mandate IFRS for U.S. firms, our results are of timely importance. Data Availability: Data are publicly available from the sources identified in the paper. Survey response data are available from the authors upon request.

ABSTRACT: This study exploits an exogenous change to audit committee policy in Canada and presents new evidence on how high-quality corporate governance mitigates managerial resource diversion and improves firm values. We first examine why some firms listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX Venture) voluntarily adopted the more stringent governance policy in 2004 that requires all audit committee members to be independent and financially literate. We develop a parsimonious analytical model that shows that both compliance costs and financing needs have an impact on firms' adoption decisions. Confirming the model's predictions, we find that TSX Venture firms with low compliance costs and greater future financing needs are more likely to adopt the new policy voluntarily. The analytical model also shows that high-quality audit committees enhance firm values by reducing the likelihood of managerial resource diversion. Consistent with the predictions of our analytical model, we find that the adoption decision has a positive impact on firm value and a negative impact on firms' cost of equity capital for both Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture firms. As corroborating evidence of the economic impact of the more stringent governance policy, we also show that both TSX and TSX Venture firms have improved investment efficiency following the adoption decisions. Data Availability: Data are available from public sources identified in the paper.

ABSTRACT This study examines the externalities of mandatory IFRS adoption on firms' investment efficiency in 17 European countries. We use the ROA difference between the firm and its peers to proxy for the information on the peers' investment performance. We find that the spillover effect of a firm's ROA difference versus its foreign peers, but not domestic peers, on the firm's investment efficiency increases after IFRS adoption. We also find that increased disclosure by both foreign and domestic peers after IFRS adoption has a spillover effect on a firm's investment efficiency. Further, a firm's investment changes induced by its ROA difference versus foreign peers are more value-relevant after IFRS adoption, and those induced by increased disclosure by foreign peers under IFRS are value-relevant. Additional analyses reveal that our results are affected by legal enforcement strength, peer composition, and industry competition. Overall, we document positive externalities of mandatory IFRS adoption. Data Availability: Data are available from commercial providers (Worldscope, DataStream, and I/B/E/S).

ABSTRACT: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) comment letters provide independent and timely feedback on the clarity of disclosures and on the extent to which filings comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and SEC reporting regulations. We investigate factors that affect the probability of receiving a 10-K comment letter, the extent of comments received, and the cost of remediation. We find that in addition to factors explicitly stated to increase SEC scrutiny in Section 408 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, low profitability, high complexity, engaging a small audit firm, and weaknesses in governance are positively associated with the receipt of a comment letter, the extent of comments, and the cost of remediation. The probability that the comment letter results in a restatement is higher for smaller companies and for companies engaging a small audit firm. We also provide evidence that comments relating to accounting issues result in higher remediation costs, largely due to the additional time required to resolve comments relating to classification issues and fair value issues. Our findings should be of interest to stakeholders who use SEC comment letters to assess disclosure quality and reporting compliance, and to managers and other stakeholders impacted by costs associated with the SEC's review process. Data Availability All data used in the study are publicly available from the sources cited in the text.

ABSTRACT: This study examines how options trading affects the rate of return expected by investors, i.e., the implied cost of equity capital. Our cross-sectional analysis suggests that firms with listed options have lower implied cost of equity capital than firms without listed options, while the results from our temporal difference-in-differences analysis suggest that firms with listed options experience a significant decrease in their implied cost of equity capital relative to a matched sample of firms without listed options following an options listing. Moreover, we find that within firms that have listed options, firms with higher options trading volume are associated with lower implied cost of equity capital. These findings, which are robust to a wide range of additional tests, are consistent with the view that options trading improves the precision of information and reduces information asymmetry problems, resulting in lower expected return on equity. Data Availability: All data used in this study are publicly available from the sources identified in the paper.

ABSTRACT Auditing standards now mandate that group auditors determine and implement appropriate component materiality amounts, which ultimately affect group audit scope, reliability, and value. However, standards are silent about how these amounts should be determined and methods being used in practice vary widely, lack theoretical support, and may either fail to meet the audit objective or do so at excessive cost. We develop a Bayesian group audit model that generalizes and extends the single-component audit risk model to aggregate assurance across multiple components. The model formally incorporates group auditor knowledge of group-level structure, controls, and context as well as component-level constraints imposed by statutory audit or other requirements. Application of the model yields component materiality amounts that achieve the group auditor's overall assurance objective by finding the optimal solution on an efficient materiality frontier. Numerical results suggest group-level controls and structured subgroups of components are central to efficient group audits. Data Availability: Upon request, Dr. Stewart will provide Excel-based software that facilitates exploration and application of the model described in this paper.

ABSTRACT: We investigate whether retiring CEOs engage in opportunistic terminal-year forecasting behavior and the circumstances in which such behavior is likely to be more or less pronounced. Using a within-CEO empirical design, we find that retiring CEOs are more likely to issue forecasts of future earnings, and that they issue such forecasts more frequently in their terminal year relative to other years during their tenure with the firm. Further, retiring CEOs' terminal-year forecasts of future earnings are more likely to convey good news and are more optimistically biased relative to pre-terminal years. Opportunistic terminal-year forecasting behavior is: (1) more pronounced in the presence of higher CEO equity incentives and when discretionary expenditures are cut in the terminal year, and (2) less pronounced in the presence of stronger monitoring mechanisms, such as higher institutional ownership. Collectively, our results provide evidence on a potential implication of the CEO horizon problem that has not been investigated previously. Data Availability: All data used in the study are publicly available from the sources cited in the text.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the value of sell-side analysts to covered firms by documenting the effects on firm performance and investor interest after a complete loss of analyst coverage for periods of at least one year. We find that analyst coverage adds value to a firm both because it reduces information asymmetries about the firm's future performance and because it maintains investor recognition for that firm's stock. After the introduction of regulations that curtailed the informational advantage of analysts in the early 2000s, the investor recognition role of analysts remains important. Firms that lose all analyst coverage continue to suffer a significant deterioration in bid-ask spreads, trading volumes, and institutional presence but do not show a significant difference in subsequent performance relative to covered peers. In addition, controlling for other factors, we find that firms that lose all analyst coverage for one year are significantly more likely to delist than their covered peers. Our results provide insight into the reasons why firms place so much importance on analyst coverage.

ABSTRACT Miller and Modigliani's (1961) dividend irrelevance theorem predicts that in perfect capital markets dividend policy should not affect investment decisions. Yet in imperfect markets, external funding constraints that stem from information asymmetry can force firms to forgo valuable investment projects in order to pay dividends. We find that high-quality financial reporting significantly mitigates the negative effect of dividends on investments, especially on R&D investments. Further, this mitigating role of financial reporting quality is particularly important among firms with a larger portion of firm value attributable to growth options. In addition, we show that the mitigating role of high-quality financial reporting is more pronounced among firms that have decreased dividends than among firms that have increased dividends. These results highlight the important role of financial reporting quality in mitigating the conflict between firms' investment and dividend decisions and thereby reducing the likelihood that firms forgo valuable investment projects in order to pay dividends. Data Availability: Data are available from public sources identified in the paper.

ABSTRACT We examine the relation between managerial ability and earnings quality. We find that earnings quality is positively associated with managerial ability. Specifically, more able managers are associated with fewer subsequent restatements, higher earnings and accruals persistence, lower errors in the bad debt provision, and higher quality accrual estimations. The results are consistent with the premise that managers can and do impact the quality of the judgments and estimates used to form earnings. Data Availability: Data are publicly available from the sources identified in the text.