ABSTRACT
Although formal guidance instructs firms to avoid issuing lengthy and boilerplate risk factor disclosures, regulators and users of financial statements note these disclosures are excessively ...long and boilerplate. The persistence of these characteristics is surprising given that prior research finds that firms disclosing lengthy and boilerplate risk factors experience negative capital market consequences. We investigate two potential sources of firms' incentives to issue such disclosures by examining how judicial and regulatory assessments of firms' risk factor disclosures correlate with the disclosure length and boilerplate. Results suggest that lengthier and more boilerplate risk factor disclosures are less likely to be considered inadequate under judicial and regulatory review. Further analysis finds that when risk factor language is assessed as adequate in judicial review, industry peers borrow that language more frequently, and that judicial assessments of risk factor disclosures prompt industry peers to lengthen their risk factor disclosures.
JEL Classifications: D8; G38; M4.
ABSTRACT
Prior research finds that positive tone in firms' qualitative disclosures increases the risk of shareholder lawsuits. However, federal securities laws provide a safe harbor intended to ...shield firms' forward-looking statements from legal liability. One implication of this safe harbor is that litigation risk potentially varies between qualitative forward- and non-forward-looking statements. Consistent with this implication, we find that positive tone in forward-looking qualitative statements is significantly less related to the likelihood of subsequent litigation than is positive tone in non-forward-looking qualitative statements. On average, we fail to find a significant association between qualitative forward-looking statements and subsequent litigation. We do find evidence, however, that positive tone in qualitative forward-looking statements relates positively to subsequent litigation in two U.S. circuits in which court rulings reduced safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements. Overall, our results are consistent with the safe harbor effectively shielding firms' qualitative forward-looking statements from litigation risk.
We examine the joint effects of litigation risk and regulation in shaping firms’ financial reporting decisions. Specifically, we investigate how these disciplining mechanisms influence firms’ ...disclosure of non‐GAAP earnings metrics, which have been at the forefront of the SEC's regulatory concerns in recent years. We employ a plausibly exogenous shock to litigation risk based on a US circuit court ruling to explore how litigation risk influences firms’ non‐GAAP earnings disclosures. We find a robust negative relation between litigation risk and both the likelihood and aggressiveness of non‐GAAP reporting. However, we find a significant attenuation in the sensitivity of non‐GAAP disclosure to litigation risk after the implementation of Regulation G (Reg G), despite evidence that aggressive non‐GAAP reporting persists in the post‐Reg G environment. Additional analyses indicate that this attenuation is actually the net result of two unique effects. First, we find that Reg G created a de facto “safe harbor” for non‐GAAP reporting among firms in circuits with higher litigation risk and a “curtailment effect” among firms in the circuit with the lowest litigation risk. Overall, Reg G led to a convergence in non‐GAAP reporting practices irrespective of firms’ circuit‐specific litigation risk. We posit that this net attenuation of litigation risk's influence on non‐GAAP reporting is likely an unintended consequence of Reg G.
Regulation and Tax Preparer Qualifications Reidenbach, Matthew; Sorensen, Trevor L.; Treu, John S.
The Journal of the American Taxation Association,
03/2021, Letnik:
43, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
ABSTRACT
Tax preparer regulation is a controversial topic among policymakers, the Internal Revenue Service, and certification providers. Proponents claim that regulation protects taxpayers from ...incompetent preparers, while opponents assert that regulation increases costs and discourages preparers from attaining higher qualifications. Following longstanding regulations in Oregon and California, the IRS implemented the Registered Tax Return Preparer program in 2012, which was unexpectedly invalidated in just its second year. Using this quasi-experimental setting and a unique dataset of all U.S. tax preparers obtained from the IRS, we test the effect of regulation on tax preparer qualifications. We find that tax preparer regulation is positively associated with the proportion of highly qualified tax preparers. We also find that regulation increases (decreases) the likelihood that a market entrant (exiter) is highly qualified. In additional analysis, we find some evidence that tax preparer regulations are associated with increased fees and better tax return quality.
Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.
JEL Classifications: H29; J44; M40.
Perhaps the most controversial provision of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 is the state and local tax deduction limitation (or SALT cap), particularly with respect to how the cap impacts ...pass-through entities in high-tax states. This particular provision of the tax law has been criticized by opponents as deliberately punitive to small businesses in blue states, while proponents maintain that eliminating the SALT cap would primarily benefit high income taxpayers. Politicians from blue states have called for the repeal of the SALT cap, and some states have enacted various workarounds with questionable prospects of success. Still, many taxpayers will not benefit from a SALT deduction irrespective of the SALT cap, particularly taxpayers that either take the standard deduction or are subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT). We examine the developing law around the SALT cap and provide descriptive empirical evidence of its disparate impact on closely held business taxpayers. Consistent with prior economics literature, we find that the impact is indeed most pronounced among high-income taxpayers in blue states. However, we note that the impact is substantially less than the furor over the limitation would suggest because many high-income taxpayers are subject to the AMT and so are not significantly affected by the limitation. These findings suggest two underemphasized points. First, the imposition of the SALT cap was not the drastic financial hit to blue state taxpayers that policy makers and commentators have suggested. Second, with a new administration that favors eliminating the SALT cap, Congress could consider whether the repeal of the cap alone is enough because further changes would be needed to return the SALT deduction to its earlier prominence.
Overall, the small sample is a major limitation due to oritavancin formulary availability and AMA event documentation (became a discrete EMR field in 2014) preventing OAB group expansion. ...lack of ...standardized scoring tools to objectively categorize SSTI severity prevents consistent assessment and makes comparisons with oritavancin and standard therapy difficult. Additional studies in high-acuity settings with larger sample sizes are needed to identify the optimal population for oritavancin.Funding This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Credit authorship contribution statement John Paul A. Sacdal: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation.
To determine the effects of daily walnut consumption on endothelial function, cardiovascular biomarkers, and anthropometric measures in type 2 diabetic individuals.
This study was a randomized, ...controlled, single-blind, crossover trial. Twenty-four participants with type 2 diabetes (mean age 58 years; 14 women and 10 men) were randomly assigned to one of the two possible sequence permutations to receive an ad libitum diet enriched with 56 g (366 kcal) walnuts/day and an ad libitum diet without walnuts for 8 weeks. Subjects underwent endothelial function testing (measured as flow-mediated dilatation FMD) and assessment of cardiovascular biomarkers before and after each 8-week treatment phase. The primary outcome measure was the change in FMD after 8 weeks. Secondary outcome measures included changes in plasma lipids, A1C, fasting glucose, insulin sensitivity, and anthropometric measures.
Endothelial function significantly improved after consumption of a walnut-enriched ad libitum diet compared with that after consumption of an ad libitum diet without walnuts (2.2 +/- 1.7 vs. 1.2 +/- 1.6%; P = 0.04). The walnut-enriched diet increased fasting serum glucose and lowered serum total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol from baseline (10.0 +/- 20.5 mg/dl, P = 0.04; -9.7 +/- 14.5 mg/dl, P < 0.01; and -7.7 +/- 10 mg/dl, P < 0.01, respectively), although these changes were not significant compared with those for an ad libitum diet without walnuts. There were no significant changes in anthropometric measures, plasma A1C, and insulin sensitivity.
A walnut-enriched ad libitum diet improves endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in type 2 diabetic individuals, suggesting a potential reduction in overall cardiac risk.
Correlations between the mass of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and the properties of its host galaxy (e.g., total stellar mass M*, luminosity Lhost) suggest an evolutionary connection. A powerful ...test of a coevolution scenario is to measure the relations BH -Lhost and BH -M* at high redshift and compare with local estimates. For this purpose, we acquired Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging with WFC3 of 32 X-ray-selected broad-line (type 1) active galactic nuclei at 1.2 < z < 1.7 in deep survey fields. By applying state-of-the-art tools to decompose the HST images including available ACS data, we measured the host galaxy luminosity and stellar mass along with other properties through the two-dimensional model fitting. The black hole mass ( BH ) was determined using the broad H line, detected in the near-infrared with the Subaru Fiber Multi-Object Spectrograph, which potentially minimizes systematic effects using other indicators. We find that the observed ratio of BH to total M* is 2.7× larger at z ∼ 1.5 than in the local universe, while the scatter is equivalent between the two epochs. A nonevolving mass ratio is consistent with the data at the 2 -3 confidence level when accounting for selection effects (estimated using two independent and complementary methods) and their uncertainties. The relationship between BH and host galaxy total luminosity paints a similar picture. Therefore, our results cannot distinguish whether SMBHs and their total host stellar mass and luminosity proceed in lockstep or whether the growth of the former somewhat overshoots the latter, given the uncertainties. Based on a statistical estimate of the bulge-to-total mass fraction, the ratio BH /M*,bulge is offset from the local value by a factor of ∼7, which is significant even accounting for selection effects. Taken together, these observations are consistent with a scenario in which stellar mass is subsequently transferred from an angular momentum-supported component of the galaxy to a pressure-supported one through secular processes or minor mergers at a faster rate than mass accretion onto the SMBH.
Contactless time-resolved optical pump–probe and external quantum efficiency measurements were performed in epitaxially grown free-standing wurtzite indium arsenide/indium aluminum arsenide ...(InAs-InAlAs) core–shell nanowires on Si (111) substrate from 77 to 293 K. The first independent investigation of Shockley–Read–Hall, radiative, and Auger recombination in InAs-based NWs is presented. Although the Shockley–Read–Hall recombination coefficient was found to be at least 2 orders of magnitude larger than the average experimental values of other reported InAs materials, the Auger recombination coefficient was reported to be 10-fold smaller. The very low Auger and high radiative rates result in an estimated peak internal quantum efficiency of the core–shell nanowires as high as 22% at 77 K, making these nanowires of potential interest for high-efficiency mid-infrared emitters. A greater than 2-fold enhancement in minority carrier lifetime was observed from capping nanowires with a thin InAlAs shell due to the passivation of surface defects.
: aspiration of total hip arthroplasty (THA) is commonly performed to assist in the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI). This study aimed to determine whether fluoroscopic- or ultrasound- ...guided hip aspiration differs in the ability to acquire synovial fluid and in the accuracy of diagnosing infection.
all THA aspirations performed between 2014 and 2021 at our institution were retrospectively identified. Aspirations were classified as successful or dry. If successful, the volume of fluid obtained was recorded. The sensitivity and specificity of hip aspiration in identifying PJI were calculated with four methods: (1) culture results excluding saline lavage, (2) culture results including saline lavage, (3) 2018 Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) International Consensus Meeting (ICM) criteria, and (4) 2021 European Bone and Joint Infection Society (EBJIS) criteria. Analyses were performed using Student's
test or Wilcoxon rank sum for continuous variables and chi-squared or Fisher's exact test for categorical variables.
290 aspirations were included (155 fluoroscopic-guided and 135 ultrasound-guided). Success of aspiration (
mL) was more common in the ultrasound cohort (69 %) than fluoroscopy (53 %) (
). When successful, more volume was obtained in the ultrasound cohort (mean 13.1 mL vs. 10.0 mL;
). Ultrasound-guided aspiration was more sensitive than fluoroscopy in diagnosing PJI using culture results excluding saline lavage (85 % vs. 73 %;
), culture results including saline lavage (85 % vs. 69 %;
), 2018 MSIS-ICM criteria (77 % vs. 52 %;
), and 2021 EBJIS criteria (87 % vs. 65 %;
). Ultrasound-guided aspiration was more specific than fluoroscopy in diagnosing PJI using 2021 EBJIS criteria (100 % vs. 96 %;
).
ultrasound-guided aspiration is more frequently successful and yields more fluid than fluoroscopic-guided aspiration of THA. Ultrasound-guided aspiration is more sensitive in diagnosing PJI than fluoroscopy using culture data, 2018 MSIS-ICM criteria, and 2021 EBJIS criteria.
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