Financial reporting quality and optimal capital structure
研究发现，财务报告质量能减少企业偏离最优资本结构的程度，尤其对过度负债的企业效果更明显，有助于缓解逆向选择导致的融资摩擦。
Abstract We investigate the role of financial reporting quality in reducing a firm's over‐ and underleverage problems. While the prior literature examining reporting quality and capital structure has focused on observed capital structure, research suggests that financing frictions arising from adverse selection concerns can result in differences between observed and optimal capital structures. Using the deviation from a predicted model of optimal capital structure, we find that approximately a third of firms that have more leverage than their industry's median firm are in fact underlevered and more than 15% of firms that have less leverage than their industry's median firm are in fact overlevered. Building off a large literature that provides evidence that financial reporting quality can mitigate adverse selection concerns and reduce financing frictions, we find that a firm's deviation from the predicted model of optimal capital structure is decreasing in financial reporting quality, and these results are larger in magnitude for firms that are overlevered.