Research

My research focuses on decision making by various capital market participants involved in reporting and using financial statement information – including managers, board members, regulators, and investors. I explore decision making through two primary lenses: (1) monitoring and (2) disclosure effectiveness. My research on monitoring examines the determinants of decision-making by directors and regulators, while my work on disclosure effectiveness examines the role of various disclosure characteristics (e.g., textual readability, reporting frequency, etc.) on investors’ trading decisions and price formation.

GOOGLE SCHOLAR LINK

• The Importance of Distinguishing Errors from Irregularities in Restatement Research: The Case of Restatements and CEO/CFO Turnover [2008] (with K. Hennes and A. Leone) The Accounting Review 83 (6): 1487-1519.

o      American Accounting Association Notable Contribution to the Accounting Literature Award, 2013

o      Emerald Management Reviews Citations of Excellence Award, 2012 (awarded to top 50 peer-reviewed management research papers, out of 15,000 papers evaluated)

• Investor Perceptions of Board Performance: Evidence from Uncontested Director Elections [2009] (with P. Fischer, J. Gramlich, and H. White) Journal of Accounting and Economics. 48 (2-3): 172-189.

• The Effects of Reporting Complexity on Small and Large Investor Trading [2010] The Accounting Review 85 (6): 2107-2143. 

•  Initial Evidence on the Market Impact of the XBRL Mandate [2014] (with E. Blankespoor and H. White), The Review of Accounting Studies 19 (4):1468-1503.

• Determinants and Market Consequences of Auditor Dismissals after Accounting Restatements [2014] (with K. Hennes and A. Leone) The Accounting Review 89 (3):1051-1082.

• Macroeconomic evidence on the impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on equity and debt markets [2015]. (with D. Beneish and T. L. Yohn), Journal of Accounting and Public Policy 34 (1): 1-27.

• The Impact of Narrative Disclosure Readability on Bond Ratings and the Cost of Debt Capital [2017] (with S. Bonsall). The Review of Accounting Studies 22 (2): 608-643.

• Managerial Ability and Credit Risk Assessment [2017] (with S. Bonsall, and E. Holzman), Management Science 63 (5): 1425-1449.

• A Plain English Measure of Financial Reporting Readability [2017] (with S. Bonsall, A. Leone and K. Rennekamp). Journal of Accounting and Economics 63 (2-3): 329-357.

• Increased Mandated Disclosure Frequency and Price Formation: Evidence from the 8-K Expansion Regulation. [2019] (with J. McMullin and B. Twedt). The Review of Accounting Studies 24 (1): 1-33.

• Disentangling the Influence of Top Actor Performance on Outcomes Following a Violation: The Role of Perceived Violation Severity [2019] (with J. Busenbark, N. Marshall, and M. Pfarrer). Strategic Management Journal 40 (12): 2078-2104.

• Does FOIA Foil the SEC’s Intent to Keep Investigations Private? [2021] (with B. Coleman, K. Merkley, and J. Pacelli). Management Science 67 (6): 3419-3428.

• The Local Spillover Effect of Corporate Fraud: Evidence from City Crime Rates [2021] (with E. Holzman and B. Williams). Contemporary Accounting Research 38 (3): 1542-1580.

• The Role of Control Systems in Corporate Innovation [2022] (with A. Sheneman and B. Williams). Contemporary Accounting Research 39 (2): 1425-1454.

• The Importance of Separating the Probability of Committing and Detecting Misstatements in the Restatement Setting [2023] (with J. Barton, B. Burnett and K. Gunny). Forthcoming at Management Science.

• Curbing Enthusiasm: Media Sentiment and the Correcting Role of Quarterly Earnings Announcements [2024] (with E. Holzman and B. Twedt). Forthcoming at The Accounting Review.

• Wearing Out the Watchdog: The Impact of SEC Case Backlog on the Formal Investigation Process [2024] (with S. Bonsall, and E. Holzman). Forthcoming at The Accounting Review.

Non-Refereed Papers

• Discussion: Reporting Misstatements as Revisions: An Evaluation of Managers' Use of Materiality Discretion [2023] (with E. Holzman). Forthcoming at Contemporary Accounting Review.