The impact of shareholder litigation risk on income smoothing
利用1999年美国第九巡回上诉法院判决作为外生冲击，发现股东诉讼难度增加会减少企业盈余平滑行为，且对诉讼风险压力大的公司影响更强。
Abstract This paper investigates whether and how shareholder litigation influences income smoothing. Using the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1999 as an exogenous shock to the threat of litigation, we find that the increasing difficulty of class action lawsuits decreases income smoothing. This finding is robust to different model specifications. We also show that such an effect is stronger for firms that are more likely to face greater pressure from the threat of shareholder litigation risk. Overall, our findings extend the literature on investigating how class action lawsuits can affect the motivation of income smoothing.