Knowledge that Transforms

Auditing, Collusion, Principle-agent model

Information content, Earnings announcements, Risk-adjusted returns, Earnings components

Executive compensation, R&D, Stock based measures

In this paper we report the results of experimental markets designed to test a disclosure model based on the models of Dye [1985] and Jung and Kwon [1988]. These authors show that when receivers of information do not know whether senders possess private information, the senders will not fully disclose their private information. Their models were motivated by the discrepancy between the theoretical predictions for voluntary disclosures and empirical results. In the theoretical area, Grossman [1981] and Milgrom [1981] predicted that private information will be fully disclosed when disclosures are credible and receivers know the holder has private information; agents disclose to identify themselves as not possessing the worst possible information. Watts [1977] argued that voluntary disclosure will occur because of market pressures and the threat of regulatory intervention. Beaver [1977; 1988] described how auditing and legal liability may induce full disclosure. Nevertheless, empirical research indicates full disclosure is not always observed (e.g., Penman [1980] and Seligman [1986]).

Auditing, Management Advisory Services, Contracting, Economies of scope

Executive compensation, Firm performance, Interindustry differences, Stewardship objective

Analyst forecasts, Analyst forecast accuracy, Analyst competence, Systematic optimism

Mark Penno, John S. Watts, An Independent Auditor's Ex Post Criteria for the Disclosure of Information, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 29, Studies on Accounting Institutions in Markets and Organizations (1991), pp. 194-212

This paper analyzes the valuation of a compensation contract from a manager's perspective. This perspective is appropriate, for example, in research on the incentive effects of a compensation plan, because such effects are determined by how the manager's actions affect his valuation of his compensation. In contrast, in a study of the cost-effectiveness of a compensation plan, the shareholders' perspective is appropriate. Measuring the value to a manager of his compensation is difficult because some of the diverse components of compensation packages (e.g., executive stock options and restricted stock) have payoffs that are uncertain when the compensation is granted. In most empirical studies, each component is valued independently (without consideration of the structure of the compensation package as a whole), and these values are summed. Moreover, the values are frequently determined using formulas for publicly traded securities with similar payoff structures (i.e., from the perspective of security market participants). Market imperfections create divergence between managers' and shareholders' valuations of a component of a compensation scheme. In particular, moral hazard and adverse selection issues cause shareholders to tie

Nicholas Dopuch, Ronald R. King, The Impact of MAS on Auditors' Independence: An Experimental Markets Study, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 29, Studies on Accounting Institutions in Markets and Organizations (1991), pp. 60-98