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We highlight key assumptions implicit in the models used by academics conducting research on market efficiency. Most notably, many academics assume that investors can borrow unlimited amounts and construct long-short portfolios at zero cost. We relax these assumptions and examine the attractiveness of long-short strategies as stand-alone investments and as a part of a diversified portfolio. Our analysis illustrates that the key benefit of long-short investing is adding diversification to a portfolio beyond what the market provides. We show that as stand-alone investments, nontrivial risk remains in the “hedge” strategies and that the returns generally do not beat the market in a head-to-head contest. Our findings raise questions about the degree of inefficiency in anomaly studies because plausible measures of costs generally offset strategy returns. The ability to achieve greater diversification may be, but is not necessarily, due to market inefficiency. We also highlight the key role of the generally ignored but critically important short interest rebate and show that absent this rebate, the long-short strategies we examine generally yield insignificant returns.

Compares three definitions of earnings management used by accounting researchers and three methods of estimating it: aggregate accruals, specific accruals and discontinuities in earnings distribution. Discusses evidence relating to the reasons for income‐increasing earnings management, income‐decreasing earnings management and specific contexts, e.g. financial institutions with regulatory constraints. Concludes that, although the evidence is limited, managers are more likely to manipulate income up rather than down; and identifies some opportunities for further research.

This paper examines the effect of institutional investors on the trading volume reaction to management forecasts of annual earnings. Based on a sample of forecasting firms between 1990 and 1992, institutional investors are examined as heterogeneous types, rather than as a single group as done in prior research. The findings contribute to the growing literature on institutional investor types in two ways: (1) institutional categories differ in their trading patterns, and (2) if the categories are classified into active and inactive types, then greater trading by active institution‐types signals greater investor‐level information asymmetries and greater trading by inactive institution‐types signals lower investor‐level information asymmetries. Overall, the results suggest that increased firm voluntary disclosures, as encouraged by the SEC and the AICPA, may be differentially informative to different types of investors.

In this paper, the link between stock distribution announcements and capital markets is examined. The results show that stock split announcements result in higher share prices and narrower percentage bid‐ask spreads, while stock dividend announcements have little effect on either prices or percentage spreads.

This study aims to investigate how the presence of female CEOs (FCEOs) affects investment efficiency in emerging economy, where female participation in business activities is limited.

This paper investigates the impact of CEO gender on investment efficiency by using investment efficiency measures proposed by Biddle et al. (2009), Chen et al. (2011) and Chen et al. (2013).

The findings suggest that FCEOs are associated with high level of investment efficiency. FCEOs improve corporate governance, streamline management and reduce inefficient investment decisions. In addition, FCEOs focus more on curbing underinvestment than overinvestment when making investment decisions. Furthermore, high financial reporting quality (FRQ) strengthens the effect of FCEOs on investment efficiency. The results suggest that FCEOs do not ameliorate the investment efficiency of state-owned enterprises.

This study enhances our understanding of the effects of FCEOs on corporate investment decisions in a male-dominated society. Efficient use of resources is vital from corporate and societal perspectives. Emerging economies are characterized by the unstable political and economic environment and low participation of females in decision-making. Hence, these economies require efficient utilization of resources. This study also sheds light on the role of FCEOs in curtailing underinvestment in emerging economies. It proves that FRQ is important in emerging economies because it strengthens the governance role of FCEOs.

In this study, I investigate analysts’ ability to process public information for investors by examining price reactions to a sample of analysts’ recommendation revisions issued shortly after quarterly earnings announcements. I find that these recommendation revisions are used by investors to reassess the valuation implications of announced earnings. Confirmatory (contradictory) recommendation revisions that have the same (opposite) sign as prior earnings surprises can cause investors to revise their beliefs about the valuation implications of announced earnings upward (downward) and thus cause price reactions that are positively (negatively) associated with prior earnings surprises. In addition, I find that as the information complexity of earnings announcements gets higher, these recommendation revisions play a more important role in helping investors understand the valuation implications of announced earnings. Finally, I find that analysts’ ability to interpret the valuation implications of announced earnings for investors has remained at a similar level since the adoption of Regulation Fair Disclosure. Overall, this study provides additional evidence on how analysts help improve corporate information environment.

This investigation/report/reflection was motivated largely by the occasion of the first Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR) “Summer School” in North America.¹ But its roots reach down as well to other recent reflection/investigation pieces, in particular, Mathews (1997), Gray (2002, 2006), and Deegan and Soltys (2007). The last of these authors note (p. 82) that CSEAR Summer Schools were initiated in Australasia, at least partly as a means to spur interest and activity in social and environmental accounting (SEA) research. So, too, was the first North American CSEAR Summer School.² We believe, therefore, that it is worthwhile to attempt in some way to identify where SEA currently stands as a field of interest within the broader academic accounting domain in Canada and the United States.³ As well, however, we believe this is a meaningful time for integrating our views on the future of our chosen academic sub-discipline with those of Gray (2002), Deegan and Soltys (2007), and others. Thus, as the title suggests, we seek to identify (1) who the SEA researchers in North America are; (2) the degree to which North American–based accounting research journals publish SEA-related research; and (3) where we, the SEA sub-discipline within North America, might be headed. We begin with the who.

This paper aims to conduct an analysis of management research based on impact measures, with a focus on the accounting discipline and the environment theme. Using author and journal data as units of analysis, this study seek to determine the representation of environmental accounting researchers among the most cited accounting authors and the consideration given to environmental issues in the impact assessment of management journals.

This study collects and quantitatively analyzes the publications and citations of the 50 most cited accounting authors and run a principal component analysis on a collection of journal-centered indicators and rankings.

This study finds that – among the most cited accounting authors – environmental accounting researchers hold a relatively influential position although their research is mainly published in non-top-tier accounting journals. This study also documents that some environment-themed journals suffer from significant disadvantages in peer-reviewed journal rankings.

Environmental accounting researchers are likely to disseminate their research in other media than in top-tier journals. This may have an impact on the academic viability of this field.

Despite their strong connection to societal issues, some research themes could become understudied if journal rankings are not able to consider publication outlets in a more comprehensive way. There is a strong need for a broader consideration of scientific production, particularly in relation to its overall societal impact.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time an empirical analysis, combining author and journal data and documenting such findings, has been presented for publication. This study means to provide some descriptive insights into where environmental accounting researchers and environment-themed journals stand.