Sky Blog
Financial reporting is, at its core, an exercise in summarization. For example, the income statement condenses millions of transactions into only a handful of line items. This act is not merely convenient but necessary, since preparing and disclosing every underlying …
Accounting-related securities class action filings fell from 57 to a historic low of 34 in 2025, although the cases tended to involve larger issuer defendants than in recent years, according to a new report from Cornerstone Research. The report, Accounting …
The federal securities laws establish the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) to set accounting, auditing, and auditor independence standards to be followed in the preparation and the audit of the financial statements of public companies. …
Initial public offerings (IPOs) are one of the most important events in a firm’s lifecycle, often representing its first major interaction with public capital markets. To assess value, evaluate risks, and determine offering terms, investors, underwriters, auditors, and regulators all …
In many economic settings, gatekeepers play a central role. For example, auditors verify public firms’ financial statements, lawyers sign off on transactions by providing legal opinions, and bank regulators assess whether banks are financially sound. Gatekeepers influence the behavior of …
We write in opposition to the hasty and opaque efforts underway to abolish the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the nonprofit organization that oversees audits of public companies and SEC-registered brokers and dealers in the United States, currently overseen …
Over the past few decades, corporate law scholarship has largely relied on insights from the nexus-of-contracts theory of the firm, agency-theoretic reasoning in corporate finance, and the economic analysis of law more generally. These insights have led to substantial theoretical …
When I was with you two years ago, I quoted President Franklin Roosevelt when he signed the first of the foundational securities laws in 1933: “This law and its effective administration are steps in a program to restore some old-fashioned …
With the Labor Day holiday now behind us, it is a good time to review the SEC’s active enforcement docket and to look ahead to likely areas of continuing enforcement attention as we head into the fall. The record over …
Following a lengthy and contentious standard setting process, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the U.S. regulator overseeing the auditors of publicly traded companies, implemented Rule 3211 in 2017. This rule requires audit firms to disclose the name of …
Controversy has persisted in recent decades over the accounting treatment of the vast sums expended on purchased goodwill – variously described as a “present-value estimate of future rents” from an acquisition or “the difference between what you pay [for an …
Loan accounting in a bank should be straightforward, delivering predictable and transparent results.
While judgment is involved when loan performance deteriorates, the goal of management and outside accountants should be a presentation that maximizes comparability between banks and minimizes idiosyncratic …
On June 6, 2023, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the nonprofit corporation established by Congress to oversee the audit of public companies, proposed new auditing standards designed to further its “investor-protection mandate.”[1]These standards, if adopted, would …
Financial statement fraud has many negative effects, including a reduction in people’s willingness to participate in the stock market. It may also cast accountants in a negative light because they prepare and audit financial statements – sometimes even fraudulent ones. …
In recent years, integrity oaths have gained popularity as a tool to reinforce ethical behavior among executives and professionals. However, little is known about the impact of these oaths on firms’ financial reporting quality. We answer this question using data …
High-quality accounting standards are critical for efficient global markets. The most widespread – used in more than 150 countries – are International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) creates and maintains IFRS, which is challenging because …
In business schools, managers are taught to maximize the net present value (NPV) of future cash flows. In the real world, managers consistently ignore this advice. When asked, they repeatedly say they maximize earnings per share (EPS). “Firms view earnings, …
How comparable are the financial statements of M&A bidders and acquirers in the same industry? And does financial statement comparability affect the outcome of a deal? In a recent paper, available here, we investigate these questions, using a sample …