Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3265436. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-05, Section: A, page: 2100. Adviser: Robert C. Higgins.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 23, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4394. Adviser: James M. Wahlen.

This dissertation explores the firm-level, state, and federal characteristics that explain pollution emissions during 1988-1996. Differences in pollution approach between different types of firms and the states in which they operate provide a unique research setting to investigate the following questions: (1) How do firms respond to differing levels of state environmental regulation? (2) What effect does a change in regime at the federal level have on firm pollution control? (3) How do firms with favorable environmental reputations compare to firms with unfavorable environmental reputations regarding emissions? (4) What firm characteristics are related to environmental performance (e.g., profitability, size, industry)? At the firm level, I hypothesize that emissions will be lower for firms that: (1) have established a 'green' reputation, and (2) are more profitable per pound of emission. At the state level, I hypothesize that firms with weak environmental reputations with a greater proportion of emissions in states with weak environmental regulations will be more profitable than firms with weak environmental reputations with a lower proportion of emissions in those states. At the federal level, the sub period 1988-1992, under a pro-industry Republican administration, has weaker environmental regulations than the sub period 1993-1996, under a pro-environmental Democratic administration. I predict that emissions will decrease faster during the latter sub-period. I test the predictions with ordinary least squares regressions, corrected for autocorrelation. Data consist of firm-level pollution emission data from the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) and financial data from Compustat. Of firms with unfavorable environmental reputations, those that emit a greater percentage of their pollution in pro-industry states are more profitable. This result provides evidence to suggest that governmental regulation does influence where firms choose to emit. The results indicate firms that emit more of their emissions in pro-industry states for the 1993-1996 sub-period exhibit larger decreases in overall emissions during that time. This suggests firms that emit more in pro-industry states during the 1993-1996 sub-period have organizational slack available to meet the increase in federal environmental regulations. Other results indicate that firms with favorable environmental reputations did not reduce emissions significantly more than firms with unfavorable environmental reputations.

No description available.

In analyses of the relationship between information and price-volume reactions, the role of investor expectations is often considered implicitly. Not allowing investors to either disagree among each other or remain uninformed is a consequence of the assumption of a free and perfect information flow. A more flexible definition of information allows the observation that trading volume is an accurate reflector of investor expectations and contains valuable information about price movements. Trading volume is also used to empirically show the effects of imperfect information and the inappropriateness of the event study method.

Due to their access to non-public information, insiders frequently have the opportunity to make trades based on superior information. Information contained in earnings forecasts is value-relevant and affords informed insiders the ability to earn abnormal returns by trading in advance of forecast disclosure. Penman (1982) finds evidence of informed insider trading activity prior to earnings forecasts for a sample of forecasts made during the years 1967 to 1974. Since 1974, significant structural changes have occurred with respect to insider trading and management earnings forecast regulation. This research tests whether insiders trade in an informed manner and earn abnormal returns prior to forecast release with a more current (1982-1987) and complete sample. Tests are also performed to determine the role that incentives and disincentives in the form of the magnitude and tone of the earnings surprise play in determining insider trading activity. Additionally, tests are performed to determine if incentives for litigation in the form of pre-forecast insider trading and the existence of a bad news forecast affect the sign and magnitude of ex-post forecast error. Finally, tests are performed to examine whether the Insider Trading Sanctions Act (ITSA) of 1984 affected insider trading prior to earnings forecasts. / Insiders are observed making informed trades prior to good news forecasts, but not prior to bad news forecasts. However, insiders are not observed earning abnormal returns on average. The magnitude of the earnings surprise is strongly related to insider trading activity. Weak support is found for the prediction that the presence of a bad news forecast will reduce insider trading activity. Insider trading activity is not related to the sign of the ex-post forecast error, although a weak negative relationship between insider trading activity and the magnitude of the ex-post forecast error is found. A negative relationship is found between the magnitude of ex-post forecast error and the presence of a bad news forecast. Overall, the ITSA had mixed effects. More accurate forecasts are produced in the presence of pre-forecast insider trading and bad news forecasts during the post-ITSA sub-period. However, insider trading activity increased prior to good news forecasts post-ITSA. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2894. / Major Professor: Stephen P. Baginski. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This study extends Pourciau (1993) by examining the link between executive succession and the capital market's response to earnings announcements. Two competing predictions are proposed. First, prior studies have shown that executives manage earnings downward in the year of management change and upward the following year. Managed earnings are more noisy than unmanaged earnings. Since there is an inverse relationship between the perceived noise in earnings and the ERC, the study proposes that the ERC will be less in the year of and the year following a management change than in the year prior to the change. / Second, based on the findings of Lang (1991), the study proposes that a management change will increase the uncertainty about a firm's future cash flows. To the extent that earnings reports are used to resolve these uncertainties, the ERC is expected to increase in the year of change. As the firm's earnings series lengthens, however, and more is learned about the firm's new manager, less reliance will be placed on the earnings reports and the ERC is expected to decline. / Drawing upon the findings of Murphy and Zimmerman (1993) (1985), it is also proposed that the financial condition of the firm prior to the management change will determine the direction of the change in the ERC. Firms that were performing above their industry median before the change are expected to have an increase in their ERCs while firms that were performing below their industry median are expected to have a decline in their ERCs. / Based on the findings of Strong and Meyer (1985), the study also proposes that the origin of the incoming executive will have an impact on the magnitude of the change in the ERC. Firms that appoint the new manager from outside are expected to have greater changes in their ERCs than firms that appoint the new manager from inside. / The results indicate that a management change has a significant impact on the ERC of a firm. Management change firms have lower ERCs in the year of change than non-management change firms from the same industry. The results were inconclusive for firms performing below their industry medians prior to the management change. Firms performing above their industry medians prior to the management change have a significant decline in their ERCs in the year of change but the ERCs return to their pre-change values in the following year. Firms that appoint the new manager from outside have greater changes in their ERCs in the year of change than firms that appoint the new manager from inside. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2894. / Major Professor: Thomas Schaefer. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The study of human decision process has long intrigued social researchers. Accountants, whose raison d'etre is to provide information for decision making, have a particular stake in the efforts of the decision scientists. However, in reviewing the decision science literature, one can see that decision research has evolved into a distinct dichotomy: the study of individual decision processes versus the study of group decision processes. Group decision processes have been shown to be quite different from those present in the individual decision setting. / Unfortunately, those who accept this dichotomous classification ignore the fact that the distinction between individual decision settings and group decision settings is not always well-defined. Preoccupation with only two categories prevents observers from appreciating the wealth of the dynamic processes that can occur across the range of varying involvement of second parties to individual decisions. / This dissertation defines and describes the range of varying involvement (or collaboration) by developing a typology or nomenclature to enrich future decision research. Concentration is on the two-person group, although the processes described can be expanded to groups of more than two persons by the inclusion of a richer set of effects. / The perspective adopted is that of the individual decision maker receiving assistance or involvement from a second party. Involvement is based on interaction, or more fundamentally, communication, between the decision maker and the outside party. Accordingly, the typology will be developed by defining various degrees along the continuum of involvement, based on communication as a multidimensional construct. The experiment is a demonstration of how movement along a communications construct from an individual perspective to a collaborative perspective can affect decision outcomes. / The thesis of this dissertation is that the range of collaboration is a continuum. However, to illustrate the point, an eight-level typology is developed and described. Implications are given for decision scientists, designers of decision support systems, researchers in accounting and auditing, and others interested in the study of decision processes. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-01, Section: A, page: 0233. / Major Professor: William Hillison. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The structure of United States security markets and information systems create incentives for managers to time strategically the release of accounting information when security markets are open or closed. This research tests two theories that offer predictions about when managers will release accounting earnings. The first theory, developed by Trueman (1991) predicts that managers choose the time of release to maximize security markets' reaction to good news, as determined by firms' economic earnings. The expectations adjustment hypothesis predicts managers choose the time of release based on the information environment facing the firm. The theory predicts that firms operating in environments marked by high degrees of information asymmetry will release earnings when security markets are closed. / The results of the empirical tests do not support either of the two theories. Accounting earnings released when security markets are closed are not associated with smaller measurement errors with regard to accounting and economic earnings. Open announcements additionally do not result in larger market reactions after controlling for accounting earnings. Finally, earnings released when security markets are closed are not associated with greater information asymmetry or larger absolute unexpected accounting earnings. / The lack of significant results may be driven by differences between closed announcements made before security markets open and after security markets close. Earnings released before markets open contain more good news than earnings released after markets are closed and are similar to earnings released when markets are open. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-10, Section: A, page: 3622. / Major Professor: Stephen P. Baginski. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

A laboratory study which examines the usefulness of different information presentation formats in predicting bond rating changes was conducted. The study utilizes tabular displays, bar-graphs, and Chernoff faces. A well-known psychological test of field dependence, the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), is incorporated in the experiment to control for this possible confounding influence on subjects' performance. An analysis of subjects' data utilization and decision strategies is also presented. / Subjects received financial information for twenty-one companies and were asked to predict whether these companies had their bond ratings upgraded, downgraded, or unchanged. Each subject received either tabular displays, tabular displays with accompanying bar-graphs, or tabular displays supplemented with Chernoff faces. Dependent variables were the percentage of correct predictions and the time spent making decisions. / Results indicate that none of the three modes of presentation was clearly superior in assisting the subjects correctly predict rating changes. However, field-independent subjects receiving tabular displays alone were significantly better predictors than field-dependent subjects receiving this mode. Subjects receiving the tabular displays augmented by either the bar-graphs or Chernoff faces took significantly less time, with those receiving faces taking the least average time. Field dependence was insignificant in explaining the percentage of correct predictions for subjects receiving the combined formats and in explaining the time taken by subjects for all modes. / Subjects making the most correct predictions reported utilizing industry data to a greater extent than the worst predictors. Both the best and worst predictors receiving augmented formats reported more reliance on the tabular displays than either the graphs or faces. / Lastly, fastest decision makers reported less use of industry data with the tabular display only, and less use of the tabular displays when receiving combined formats. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-12, Section: A, page: 3781. / Major Professor: William A. Hillison. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.