Auditors’ reports convey information about a firm’s financial health, including the private information discovered by auditors, but they can only produce two opinions: unqualified, or unqualified with explanatory language (also called an MAO – modified audit opinion). This has led to criticism from financial analysts and regulators that auditors’ reports ... Read More

Value creation depends on the flexibility which corporate managers have to invest in growth opportunities and to make adaptation under adverse economic conditions. In his talk, Professor Peter Chen will discuss his findings in a cross-country study on how a country’s level of economic freedom affects corporate investment efficiency and shareholders’ wealth ... Read More

Analysts should be independent sources of information for investors, but it does not always turn out this way. By the early 2000s, analysts were issuing more and more Buy recommendations, and less and less Sell recommendations not because stocks are necessarily fundamentally good but because their Buy recommendations help their employers to maintain existing ... Read More