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on Accounting and Auditing |
| By: | Abramova, Inna; Barrios, John Manuel |
| Abstract: | Private equity (PE) has moved rapidly into professional services, yet its impact on accounting, where licensing regimes, reputational capital, and partnership governance traditionally limit external ownership, remains poorly understood. We examine how PE ownership alters the organization and market structure of accounting firms using data from 1999-2024 that link more than 3, 600 PE transactions to detailed information on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), labor markets, and audit pricing. PE investment increases sharply after 2020 and extends to both CPAlicensed audit firms and non-CPA advisory practices, with most activity in large mid-tier PCAOBregistered firms. After PE entry, firms grow faster: non-audit revenues rise, employment expands, and cross-state M&A accelerates, consistent with platform-building and consolidation. These adjustments have market-level implications. PE investment raises labor-market concentration in key accounting occupations and drives up ERISA audit fees in a standardized setting, as confirmed by a synthetic difference-in-differences design. Our results reveal a key tension at the core of professions: preserving independence and competition in a market increasingly driven by financial capital. |
| Keywords: | Private equity, accounting firms, audits, consolidation, market power, labormarket concentration, M&A, professional services |
| JEL: | G23 G34 L22 L84 M41 M42 J44 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cbscwp:336743 |
| By: | Katarzyna Bilicka; Simone Traini; Katarzyna Anna Bilicka |
| Abstract: | We examine whether the public revelation of sensitive tax information prompts firms to adopt reputation repair policies targeting shareholders. Between 2013 and 2021, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released leaked information on over 800, 000 offshore entities incorporated in tax havens, publicly revealing their use by multinational firms to avoid taxes. Leveraging this setting, we investigate whether firms implicated in the leaks improve their governance, increase investor remuneration, and reorganize their activities to restore shareholder trust relative to unaffected firms. We find that, after the leaks, firms appoint more directors, especially in operations, audit, and finance and accounting, pay higher dividends, and reduce their presence in tax havens, without increasing effective tax rates. Additional analyses suggest that concerns about managerial diversion and public scrutiny may drive these responses. Overall, data leaks appear to change the cost-benefit trade-off of tax strategies in ways that are, on net, favorable to shareholders. |
| Keywords: | offshore subsidiaries, tax havens, data leaks, corporate governance, dividend payouts, reputation repair |
| JEL: | G30 H25 L14 M41 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12435 |
| By: | Spengel, Christoph; Gaul, Johannes; Göbel, Alexander; Gschossmann, Emilia; Gundert, Hannah; Jungmann, Felix; Käshammer, Daniel; Kindler, Cornelia; Pfrang, Alina; Porebski, Thu Thao; Schmidt, Christin; Schmidt, Katharina; Schulz, Inga; Spix, Julia; Weck, Stefan; Wickel, Sophia; Winter, Sarah Marie |
| Abstract: | This study examines the evolving landscape of anti-tax avoidance measures in the European Union (EU), focusing on the interplay between the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD), the EU Blacklist Code of Conduct on Business Taxation, various unilateral regulations, and the global minimum tax. Drawing on a comprehensive survey of local tax experts, we investigate how Member States have implemented the five core ATAD measures - interest barrier rules, exit taxation, controlled foreign company (CFC) rules, hybrid mismatch provisions, and general anti-abuse rules (GAAR) - as well as the EU Blacklist and additional national provisions such as royalty deduction limitations. The findings reveal a generally consistent adoption of ATAD rules, albeit with notable variation in strictness and scope across Member States. Furthermore, the study evaluates the interplay with the newly introduced global minimum tax. While this global measure primarily targets rate-based profit shifting, our analysis indicates that it may reinforce or partially overlap the EU's other directives - especially for countries that have already implemented extensive anti-tax avoidance legislation. We conclude by highlighting areas where policy refinements could enhance coherence - reducing complexity, avoiding double regulation, and strengthening the overall framework for combating tax avoidance within the EU. |
| Keywords: | Anti-Tax Avoidance, Taxation in the European Union, Global Minimum Tax |
| JEL: | H25 H26 K34 F23 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:336766 |
| By: | Krishna Neupane |
| Abstract: | Traditional models of market efficiency assume that equity prices incorporate information based on content alone, often neglecting the structural influence of reporting timing and cadence. This study introduces the Autonomous Disclosure Regulator, a multi-node AI framework designed to audit the intersection of disclosure complexity and filing unpredictability. Analyzing a population of 484, 796 regulatory filings, the research identifies a structural Strategic Gap: a state where companies use confusing language and unpredictable timing to slow down how fast the market learns the truth by 60%. The results demonstrate a fundamental computational asymmetry in contemporary capital markets. While investors are now good at spotting "copy-paste" text, they remain vulnerable to strategic timing that obscures structural deterioration. The framework isolates 39 high-priority failures where the convergence of dense text and temporal surprises facilitated significant information rent extraction by insiders. By implementing a recursive agentic audit, the system identifies a cumulative welfare recovery potential of over 360\% and demonstrates near-perfect resilience against technical data interruptions. The study concludes by proposing a transition toward an agentic regulatory state, arguing that as information integration costss rise, infrastructure must evolve from passive data repositories into active auditing nodes capable of real-time synthesis to preserve market integrity. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2602.17895 |
| By: | Andrea L. Eisfeldt; Barney Hartman-Glaser; Edward T. Kim; Ki Beom Lee |
| Abstract: | We develop a text-based measure of intangible investment intensity derived from firms’ 10-K filings, and offer a general methodology for semantic theme scoring (STS). Our approach further classifies disclosure text into knowledge, customer, and organization capital. Firms with high intangible intensity are smaller, younger, and invest heavily in R&D and human capital. The three subcomponents map cleanly to distinct economic firm types: knowledge-intensive firms are R&D-driven with high valuations and skilled labor; customer-intensive firms are mature, profitable, and commercially oriented; and organization-intensive firms are large, asset-heavy incumbents. Managerial expenditure descriptions thus provide informative signals about intangible investment, complementing financial statements in capturing corporate capital stocks. |
| JEL: | A0 C0 E0 E01 G0 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34882 |
| By: | Benjamin Eyal; Dave Na; Arsenios Skaperdas |
| Abstract: | Since the Global Financial Crisis, central banks have used the size and composition of their balance sheets to influence financial conditions and economic activity when policy rates are constrained by the effective lower bound. A common measure of the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet is the System Open Market Account (SOMA) securities holdings expressed as a share of nominal gross domestic product (NGDP). |
| Date: | 2026–02–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:102443 |
| By: | Luc Marco (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Anis Gnichi (IHEC Sousse - IHEC) |
| Abstract: | The authors of this book, pioneers of modern finance, were the Sala brothers. The elder, Eugène, became the accountant and then the manager of the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in Paris. The younger, Adolphe, was a former career soldier who ended his professional life as the general manager of the Suez Canal, where he was killed by local inhabitants. The editor of this work is Luc Marco, honorary professor of management science at Sorbonne Paris Nord University, a member of the CEPN-CNRS laboratory, and president of the Institute for the History and Foresight of Management, based in Castres (Tarn). The afterword is written by Anis Gnichi, lecturer at the University of Sousse in Tunisia. |
| Abstract: | Les auteurs de ce livre, précurseurs de la finance moderne, étaient les frères Sala. L'aîné, Eugène, deviendra le comptable puis le gérant du Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle à Paris. Le cadet, Adolphe, était un ancien militaire de carrière qui finira son activité professionnelle comme intendant général du Canal de Suez où il mourra tué par les indigènes. L'éditeur de cet ouvrage est Luc Marco, professeur honoraire de sciences de gestion à l'Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, membre du laboratoire CEPN-CNRS, et président de l'Institut d'histoire et de prospective du management, basé à Castres (Tarn). La postface est signée par Anis Gnichi, maître-assistant à l'Université de Sousse en Tunisie. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Transformation, July Monarchy, Emerging Technologies, Economic History, Industrial Values, Monarchie de Juillet, Technologies émergentes, Transformation industrielle, Histoire économique, Valeurs industrielles, France |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05511951 |