ABSTRACT: We examine the information role of accounting disclosures on warranties, utilizing a database that became available due to the requirements of FIN 45. First, because firms use warranty policies as a business strategy to promote their products, a warranty reserve can serve two roles: an information signal regarding product quality, as well as a contingent liability. Consistent with this view, we find that the stock market recognizes that: (1) the warranty reserve contains information about firms’ future performance, and (2) the reserve is a liability. Second, because warranty accruals require estimation of future claims, they can be used as a tool of earnings management. Our evidence indicates that managers use warranty accruals to manage earnings opportunistically to meet earnings targets. Finally, we find that the stock market recognizes the understatement of warranty liabilities of firms that managed earnings.

We study favoritism via hometown ties, a common source of favor exchange in China, in fellow selection of the Chinese Academies of Sciences and Engineering. Hometown ties to fellow selection committee members increase candidates’ election probability by 39 percent, coming entirely from the selection stage involving an in-person meeting. Elected hometown-connected candidates are half as likely to have a high-impact publication as elected fellows without connections. CAS/CAE membership increases the probability of university leadership appointments and is associated with a US$9.5 million increase in annual funding for fellows’ institutions, indicating that hometown favoritism has potentially large effects on resource allocation.

ABSTRACT Audit firms have invested significantly in data analytics (DA). However, evidence shows that auditors are often reluctant to rely on DA. A major auditor concern is that inspectors will second-guess the audit evidence gathered using DA. Drawing on psychology research, we examine how the effect of inspection risk on auditors' reliance on DA is moderated by a fixed mindset (a belief that one's ability is fixed) versus a growth mindset (a belief that one's ability is malleable). In an experiment with Big 4 auditors as participants, we find that, relative to low inspection risk, high inspection risk reduces auditors' reliance on DA when auditors are prompted to adopt a fixed mindset but increases it when auditors are prompted to adopt a growth mindset. Our findings contribute to auditing literature on DA, inspection risk, and mindsets, and have implications for auditors, audit firms, and regulators.