We condition security price reactions to quarterly earnings announcements on whether firms disclose supplementary balance sheet and/or cashflow information that can be used to estimate the consequences of earnings management. Disclosure of supplementary information is voluntary, and thus, we consider the possibility that firms that disclose balance sheet and/or cashflow information differ systematically from firms that do not disclose. Results indicate that investors discount evidence of earnings management at the disclosure date when supplementary information is disclosed. Such results indicate more informed earnings interpretations of quarterly earnings when firms provide balance sheet and/or cashflow information concurrently.

A cross-sectional analysis of cash compensation paid to CEOs of 713 US firms reveals that the sensitivity of compensation to earnings varies directly with earnings persistence. Additional analysis indicates that this sensitivity is greater for cases where executives are approaching retirement. Such evidence suggests the use of earnings persistence to counterbalance adverse consequences of earnings-based contracting with managers who face finite decision horizons.

Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 34 (GASB 34, 1999) standardized financial reporting and disclosure requirements for U.S. state and local governments. We interpret debt issuing patterns surrounding GASB 34 implementation as evidence of strategic behavior by governments in anticipation of GASB 34 consequences. Specifically, governments that expected more favorable post-GASB 34 evaluations by municipal bond investors delayed new uninsured debt issues until after, whereas governments that expected less favorable evaluations accelerated debt issues to before, GASB 34 information became publicly available. Governments expecting favorable consequences were more likely than governments expecting adverse consequences to substitute away from insured debt and toward uninsured debt, and to choose new debt financing rather than alternative financing sources following GASB 34. These findings are consistent with the notion that expectations about GASB 34 consequences were realized, and that standardization created through GASB 34 facilitated separation in the municipal debt market. Data Availability: Data are from publicly available sources identified in the manuscript.

This study investigates how external corporate governance provisions, specifically statutory and corporate charter provisions that limit direct shareholder participation in the governance process, affect the likelihood of an accounting restatement. The analysis indicates that strong external governance (fewer restrictions on shareholder participation) is associated with a relatively low incidence of accounting restatements. The effect of external governance is incremental to that of internal governance, which is considered as provisions that foster effective board oversight of management. Such evidence supports the premise that shareholder participation improves financial reporting quality.