​Earnings forecasts are ubiquitous in today’s financial markets. They are essential indicators of future firm performance and a starting point for firm valuation. Extremely inaccurate and overoptimistic forecasts during the most recent financial crisis have raised serious doubts regarding the reliability of such forecasts. This thesis therefore investigates new determinants of forecast errors and accuracy. In addition, new determinants of forecast revisions are examined. More specifically, the thesis answers the following questions: 1) How do analyst incentives lead to forecast errors? 2) How do changes in analyst incentives lead to forecast revisions?, and 3) What factors drive differences in forecast accuracy?

In this timely volume on newly emerging financial mar- kets and investment strategies, Arvin Ghosh explores the intriguing topic of initial public offerings (IPOs) of securities, among the most significant phenomena in the United States stock markets in recent years. Before the 2000-2001 market turndown, hardly a week went by when more than a few companies did not become public, either in the organized stock exchange or in the Over the Counter (OTC) market. In the often over-burdened, technology-heavy Nasdaq market, the role of IPOs was crucial for the market's new vigor and growth. Internet stocks were able to find a mode to supply key momentum to the market. In the so-called "New Economy" of the 1990s, it was the seductively accessible IPO that ushered in the world's information technology revolution.Ghosh sets out to examine the pricing and financial performance of IPOs in the United States during the period 1990-2001. In the opening chapter he discusses the rise and fall of IPOs in the preceding decade. Chapter 2 further delineates the IPO process from the start of the prospectus to the end of the "quiet period" and aftermarket stabilization. In chapter 3 Ghosh analyzes the mispricing and deliberately deceptive underpricing, or "flipping," of Internet IPOs. Chapter 4 delves deeper into the pricing and operating efficiency of Nasdaq IPOs. Chapter 5 analyzes the pricing and long-run performance of IPOs both in the New York Stock Exchange and in the Nasdaq markets. In chapters 6 and 7 the author deals with the pricing and performance of the venture-blocked and nonventure-backed IPOs in general and Internet IPOs in particular. In chapter 8 he analyzes the role of underwriters as market makers. In chapter 9 Ghosh discusses the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts. In the concluding chapter, he summarizes the principal findings of the study and the recent revival of the IPO market and its place in capital formation as well as the latest developments in t

Despite the globalization of accounting standards occurring through convergence to International Financial Reporting Standards, local accounting systems are deeply intertwined with each country’s unique institutions such as its corporate system, disclosure practices and enforcement mechanisms. First, this book empirically analyzes the effects of globalization and localization of accounting rules on corporate behavior such as earnings management, signaling, investment behavior and dividend payout policy. Second, the book unravels the economic consequences of disclosure based on the concept of self-disciplining enforcement such as management forecasts, environmental disclosures and risk disclosures by Japanese firms. This volume is a step forward in understanding the link between accounting and corporate behavior based on a new institutional accounting approach.

This book is a study of earnings management, aimed at scholars and professionals in accounting, finance, economics, and law. The authors address research questions including: Why are earnings so important that firms feel compelled to manipulate them? What set of circumstances will induce earnings management? How will the interaction among management, boards of directors, investors, employees, suppliers, customers and regulators affect earnings management? How to design empirical research addressing earnings management? What are the limitations and strengths of current empirical models?

The impact of multinationality on the operations of a firm is clear and strong. Riahi-Belkaoui shows how it affects the known relationships between earnings, efficiency, disclosure, and market valuation by its role as a dependent, moderating, intervening antecedant or consequent variable. Its impact can be felt, for example, in relationships and phenomena such as the timeliness and the informativeness of earnings, the underreaction of securities analysts, post-earnings announcement drifts, and the level and quality of disclosure. An understanding of multinationality in the earnings-disclosure-efficiency-market valuation relationship can also be used by accountants and researchers in their daily activities, and by corporate executives in multinational organizational decision making. The result is a useful, probing exploration for academics and practitioners alike.