Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance最新文献

{"title":"Innovation Under Uncertainty: Corporate Strategic Responses to Climate Policy Risk","authors":"Md Ruhul Amin,&nbsp;Sharif Mazumder,&nbsp;Pritam Saha","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70034","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Using a novel climate policy uncertainty (CPU) measure based on emissions legislation, climate protests, and presidential statements, we show that in response to climate policy risk, firms tend to strategically reduce their future innovation, measured by patent counts, citations, and innovation value. Green innovation, however, is less vulnerable than non-green innovation. We argue that CPU constrains innovation through a precautionary motive: firms under high uncertainty face higher external financing costs and shift from prospector (innovation-oriented) to defender (cost-minimizing) strategies. Results are robust to instrumental variable estimation, firm fixed effects, and a difference-in-differences design exploiting the Paris Agreement as an exogenous shock. These findings underscore the strategic and policy implications of uncertainty in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Overall, our results provide insights into policy implications.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"147-168"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"CEO Tenure and Corporate Tax Avoidance","authors":"Tianyi Deng,&nbsp;Gerald J. Lobo,&nbsp;Amy X. Sun,&nbsp;Dana Zhang","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70029","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We investigate how corporate tax decisions evolve over a CEO's tenure. We hypothesize that because new CEOs have stronger incentives to boost current performance to secure their employment, CEOs may avoid more taxes in their early years of service than they do in later years. Consistent with this career concerns hypothesis, we document that newly hired CEOs engage in a higher level of tax avoidance after controlling for firm fixed effects. We also find that new CEOs avoid more taxes when they face higher employment risk. Additional analyses reveal that new CEOs avoid taxes by deferring domestic income taxes and claiming more uncertain tax deductions. Together, our findings are consistent with career concerns providing strong incentives for managers to defer tax payments.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"67-86"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Political Polarization and Corporate Credit Ratings","authors":"Pei Li,&nbsp;Leo Tang","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70028","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study examines the effect of political polarization on corporate credit ratings. Political polarization is defined as the ideological difference between the Democratic and Republican members of the state legislatures and measures the likelihood of bipartisan compromises. States with more polarization will have an increased likelihood of impasses, which will negatively affect economic development and increase uncertainty. We examine if corporations headquartered in these states are perceived to have higher credit risk. This study finds that a one-standard-deviation increase in political polarization is linked to a 0.237 notch decrease in credit ratings. We find that that the negative effect on credit ratings is stronger for corporations that rely more on the governments for sales and for corporations located in areas with divided government. Lastly, we find that for corporations that relocate to an area with lower polarization, the effect of polarization on credit ratings is attenuated.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"87-104"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Voluntary Disclosure and Capital Structure—Evidence From Management Earnings Forecasts","authors":"James N. Cannon,&nbsp;Yuan Shi,&nbsp;Xiaoxiao Song","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70035","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We examine associations between management earnings forecasts and capital structure. We posit that incremental information in forecasts reduces capital providers’ concerns about adverse selection. Pecking order theory suggests forecasts contribute differing amounts of information to different capital providers, shifting capital structure from trade credit to long-term debt, and from long-term debt to equity. Investment information risk theory submits that although creditors and equity holders share downside risk, creditors are more sensitive than equity holders to uncertainty related to the riskiness of firms’ future investments because equity holders are the sole beneficiaries of investments’ upside potential. Insomuch earnings forecasts provide investment information that is more meaningful to creditors, we expect a shift in capital structure from equity to credit as the forecast decreases outcome uncertainty. Using a sample of US-listed firms from 2003 to 2019, we find support for the pecking order theory, that firms issuing management earnings forecasts exhibit higher levels of equity-to-credit financing and long-term debt-to-trade credit financing. However, in cross-sectional tests, we also find evidence supporting the investment information risk theory, that forecasts shift financing from equity to credit and among creditors, from long-term debt to trade credit in firms with more growth opportunities. Our findings suggest firms’ voluntary disclosures provide different amounts of incremental information to different capital providers, but that the relevance of the information provided may also differ across capital providers.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"184-201"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Market Operating Leverage and Stock Returns in the UK Stock Market","authors":"Quy Duong Le","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70024","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Compared to the United States, the literature on operating leverage and UK stock returns is considerably sparser, highlighting a crucial gap for this paper to fill. Based on a universe of 1618 UK firms between 2000 and 2025, we document a statistically positive relationship between market operating leverage and stock returns. After controlling for various asset pricing models, the predictive power of the market operating leverage remains strong. Furthermore, we document that operating market leverage can capture UK stock returns over famous asset pricing models by building a mimic factor. This mimic factor also generates a significant premium in the Fama–MacBeth regression. For robustness, we confirm that the market operating leverage's ability to forecast returns cannot be attributed to the value or book-to-market effect. Our findings contribute to financial and managerial accounting and have important implications for investors and firm managers.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"38-48"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sources of Value Relevance in Interim Sales Disclosures: Insights From the Retail Industry","authors":"Sabrina Gong,&nbsp;Yamin Hao,&nbsp;Sophie Kong","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70033","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Prior research on the value relevance of sales has produced mixed results, largely because it is difficult to isolate the information content of sales. Using a unique dataset of interim sales disclosures by retail firms, this study demonstrates that stock market investors react strongly to these stand-alone sales announcements, and that the value relevance of sales information arises primarily from growth in same-store sales (SSS). In a decomposition analysis, we find that interim sales disclosures provide more information to the market than earnings announcements and other disclosure events. We also find that interim SSS growth predicts a firm's future earnings and operating cash flows. Overall, this study presents new evidence on the value relevance of sales and contributes to the ongoing debate about whether U.S. retail companies should continue to provide interim sales disclosures.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"169-183"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"ESG Rating and Corporate Risk-Taking","authors":"Jiaan Lin","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70025","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the relationship between corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings and corporate risk-taking, exploring the multiple impacts of ESG ratings on corporate behavior in China's A-share market. The study reveals that a company's ESG performance can influence its risk-taking behavior through various mechanisms. First, an improvement in ESG ratings helps alleviate information asymmetry, reduce financing costs, and thus decrease the company's risk-taking. Second, the involvement of institutional investors plays a key role in enhancing corporate ESG performance and the quality of its information disclosure, particularly in companies with low institutional ownership, where the standardization and transparency of information disclosure are lower, making the impact of ESG ratings more significant. Additionally, external audit quality has a significant impact on the quality of ESG information disclosure, with high-quality audits enhancing the credibility of ESG information, further influencing corporate risk-taking. Finally, the government should implement policies to support institutional investors' participation in corporate governance, promote the transparency of ESG information disclosure, and enhance ESG rating standardization and optimize the financing environment to improve corporate capital operation efficiency and reduce risk levels. This research provides theoretical foundations and policy recommendations for promoting corporate improvement in ESG performance, strengthening information disclosure, and improving the capital market environment.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"49-66"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From Boardroom to Balance Sheet: How Director Quality Affects Accounting Practices and Disclosures","authors":"Pratik Kothari,&nbsp;Stephen P. Ferris,&nbsp;Narayanan Jayaraman","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70023","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Based on the leadership responsibilities embedded in the legal duties of all directors, we construct a new model of director quality. Averaging across the quality of individual directors, we estimate the quality of the board itself and explore how it affects a firm's accounting practices. We find that higher-quality boards manage their earnings less, restate their financials less frequently, and hire higher-quality auditors. Additionally, these boards are more transparent, voluntarily disclose business risks, limit non-audit services, and are associated with higher levels of performance. We confirm causality using director death as an exogenous shock.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"9-37"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Major Cybersecurity Breaches: Shaping Corporate Cybersecurity Policies and Closing the Gaps","authors":"Laura K. Rickett,&nbsp;Deborah Smith","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70032","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As digitalization accelerates, cybercrime has intensified in both scale and impact over the past two decades. This study aims to critically examine major cybersecurity events, assess them through the lens of routine activity theory, examine insight from three other established criminological and organizational theories, and address central questions: Why has cybercrime remained so pervasive? What underlying factors explain its persistence? Where do we currently stand, and what can be done to reduce the number and scope of events? This study evaluates six of the most influential cybersecurity events from 2005 to 2024 and analyzes them through the lens of the routine activity theory. Other theories such as general deterrence theory, socio-technical systems theory, and upper echelons theory are then examined to gain a deeper understanding of the cybercrime events. Analyzing these cases through the appropriate theoretical lens not only deepens our understanding of key vulnerabilities but also reveals why such breaches persist. Based on these insights, we offer recommendations to executive leadership teams. The selected cases demonstrate that cybercrime encompasses diverse offender motivations and systemic vulnerabilities that span multiple theoretical domains. The intersection of contributions from routine activity theory (RAT) and other theories reveals weaknesses in technical infrastructure, organizational behavior, and social influence. While technological safeguards can reduce risk, the incentive to exploit vulnerabilities continues to outweigh the investment in prevention, especially given limited legal deterrents and infrequent prosecution. This research offers an analysis of cybersecurity breaches with insight from RAT and broad consideration from three other theories to diagnose recurring patterns in high impact cybersecurity breaches. The analysis not only identifies persistent points of failure but also presents a range of strategic interventions weighing their practical benefits and limitations. The study highlights the inherent limitations of cybersecurity prevention to inspire future research.</p>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"135-146"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jcaf.70032","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Senate Premium: Legislative Information Asymmetry and Stock","authors":"Jan Hanousek Jr.,&nbsp;Stephen P. Ferris,&nbsp;Jan Hanousek","doi":"10.1002/jcaf.70031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.70031","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Information asymmetry induced by legislative activity has been largely overlooked in the literature, despite the opacity of the legislative process and the legality of information sharing by politicians with third parties. Using aggregate equity trading by U.S. senators, we develop a two-stage model of legislative information asymmetry that involves a direct effect followed by propagated trading of third parties. We find that firms in industries with high levels of senatorial trading face increased volatility, wider bid-ask spreads, and greater idiosyncratic risk. Because size is associated with a firm's ability to lobby, we discover that the risk of larger firms is less affected by this information asymmetry. While banning politicians' trading might address the ethical problems inherent in political insider trading, our results demonstrate that it will not address the legislative information asymmetry. Instead, the goal should be to address the issue of selective information sharing and its legality.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":44561,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance","volume":"37 3","pages":"105-120"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148395013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}