This dissertation explores accounting information's role in forming R\&D alliances and subsequent innovation. Specifically, I utilize the effect of the recent revenue recognition rule change, Accounting Standard Codification (ASC) 606, on drug development firms. ASC 606 allows managers to change revenue recognition timing and increases disclosure requirements. I first document...
This paper studies the joint importance of dissemination and the structure of firms’ information networks in the pricing of value relevant financial information. I first document that disruptions to the dissemination of information on Twitter.com cause the market to react less to earnings news. Using ten staggered Twitter outages, which...
This dissertation studies the real effects of firms’ financing decisions as well as the economics consequences of bias in fair value prices of corporate bonds. The first chapter examines the impact of compliance with changes in mandated financial reporting on corporate financing and investment decisions. I employ the recent implementation...
This dissertation explores the interaction of debt covenants and firms’ investment behaviors, especially the association between debt covenants and project-level operations. Although previous research has examined the association between contractual terms or gross measures of investment and covenants, there is little known about the ways that covenants influence the choice...
Prior studies about restatements generally examine outcomes under assumed auditor responsibility. Surprisingly, however, about 20% of the restatements obtained from Audit Analytics correspond to cases where the current auditor was not engaged during the misstatement period. I refer to these cases as uninvolved. The first chapter examines current literature findings...
I investigate the spillover effects of disclosure requirements imposed by state governments on oil and gas companies operating in the state. Recently, several state governments have begun requiring companies to publicly disclose information about chemicals used in their fracking operations. The chemicals can result in land and water contamination, thereby...
This dissertation explores our understanding of corporate credit ratings. In the first chapter I examine the issue of split ratings. S&P and Moody’s often differ in their initial ratings at bond issuance, producing what is referred to as a split rating. The consensus view in the literature and in practice...