Accountancy electronic theses and dissertations (MU)
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The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the School of Accountancy. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Columbia. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Item An examination of credit rating bias following improvements in the governance of credit rating agencies(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2025) Lee, Ilene (Jeongeun); Khurana, Inder[EMBARGOED UNTIL 08/01/2026] Exploiting the Securities and Exchange Commission's 2014 regulatory amendment that improved the governance of credit rating agencies, this paper examines whether and how stringent oversight reduces downward bias in assigning corporate credit ratings. Following the amendment, credit ratings rose overall. Further analysis shows a decline in downward bias, reflected in fewer Type II errors and reduced gap between predicted ratings based on pre-amendment models and actual ratings. The effect is strongest for bonds with greater investor uncertainty about issuers. Overall, these findings offer insights for regulators and credit rating agencies assessing the impact of increased oversight.Item The role of board of directors in M&A and disclosure practices : international evidence(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2025) Yun, Byongwook; Khurana, Inder[EMBARGOED UNTIL 05/01/2026] Using staggered country-level shocks to enforcement of board neutrality rules, this study examines the effect of board neutrality rules on mergers and acquisitions outcomes (M&A) and managers' voluntary disclosure strategies. Board neutrality rules restrict the ability of the board of directors in a target company from implementing defensive measures against a takeover bid. The findings suggest that, in the aftermath of such legal changes, target companies experience more favorable M&A outcomes, including more bids from acquirers and higher chance of M&A completion. Furthermore, managers of target companies tend to increase their issuance of earnings forecasts in response to the enforcement of board neutrality rules, suggesting a strategic maneuver to mitigate the heightened takeover activity. Collectively, the results underscore how regulatory changes concerning these boards can significantly influence M&A outcomes and managers' voluntary disclosure practices.Item Spillover effects of class action lawsuits on managerial earnings forecast characteristics(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2024) Budak, Ilbey; Shaw, KennethThis study uses securities class action lawsuits filed between 1998 and 2017 to examine the spillover effects of the lawsuits on the accuracy, precision, specificity, and horizon of peer firms' management earnings per share (EPS) forecasts. Peer firms with high ex-ante litigation risk improve their forecast accuracy, precision, specificity, and horizon following intra-industry class action lawsuits, mainly when the accusations are based on merits. The improvements in the guidance accuracy significantly decreases the likelihood of the peer firms being targeted in a class action lawsuit in the future. Peer firms with completed annual financial audits issue more accurate guidance compared to their counterparts with incomplete annual financial audits however, management EPS forecast accuracy does not incrementally improve for the high ex-ante litigation risk peer firms in the post-litigation period. Last, peers with high ex-ante litigation risk prefer bundled guidance over stand-alone guidance in the post-litigation period, aiming for a greater impact on analyst expectations.Item Debt maturity structure and forward-looking disclosure(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2023) Xie, Xinyi; Khurana, InderThis paper examines how corporate debt maturity relates to forward-looking disclosures. I find that higher levels of short-maturity debt are associated with increases in forward-looking disclosures, consistent with firms fulfilling the demand for information when faced with increased uncertainty due to refinancing risks. My results are robust to a gamut of measures of forward-looking disclosures. To address endogeneity concerns, I conduct instrumental variables estimations with three different choices of instruments and also estimate a simultaneous equations model. Overall, my results consistently show that corporate debt maturity structure shapes firms' disclosures.Item Effects of new clients on the audit quality of an audit partner's existing portfolio(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2023) Wertheim, Christopher; Khurana, InderUsing AP forms filed with the PCAOB between 2017 and 2021, I find that audit partners on new engagements experience attention costs that adversely affect the audit quality of their existing engagements. The existing engagements of a distracted partner have higher discretionary accruals and lower working capital accruals quality. Further analysis reveals that audit firm changes, rather than partner-only changes, drive the negative effects, suggesting that the engagement team's client-specific experience reduces the attention cost an audit partner experiences from a new engagement. In cross-sectional analysis, I find that audit firm tenure, audit firm size, and audit office industry specialization also mitigate the adverse effects of new clients. The attention costs resulting from new clients are distinct from partner busyness measured by the total number of clients. My findings highlight a negative consequence of audit firm rotation and show that new clients impose attention costs on audit partners that adversely affect the audit quality of their existing engagements.