This paper analyzes differences in target leverage and speed of adjustment across three life cycle stages of European listed firms: introduction, growth and maturity. We determine that profitability and tangibility are the most stable determinants, whereas growth opportunities and size exhibit changing effects across stages. The speed of adjustment does not increase as the firms evolve, as firms in introduction are able to adjust the fastest. Firms changing stage adjust leverage at a lower speed, and their target is more affected by profitability, primarily when the change is from growth to maturity. Finally, we confirm the existence of long-term debt targets, by providing evidence that the next-year target is a relevant factor to explain current debt when firms change from one stage to another.

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This article contributes to the literature by indicating how certain monetary policies impact the compensation incentives of US managers to adopt riskier business policies. Specifically, based on the agency problems between shareholders and managers and between shareholders and creditors, a research framework is developed to identify the influence of low interest rates on managers’ risk-taking incentives proxied by the sensitivity of executive compensation to stock return volatility (Vega). We examine 1,293 firms in the United States between 2000 and 2016, and the results indicate that low interest rates increase the managers’ short-term risk-taking incentives and that those incentives contribute to the risk effectively taken by the firm. Our results are robust to the use of alternative monetary proxies and to the presence of passive versus active institutional shareholders. JEL CLASSIFICATION E41; E43; E51; M12; M52

*Comments are welcome ABSTRACT:This study contrasts the reliability of Abnormal ROE (residual income scaled by beginning-of-period book value of equity) estimates based on value drivers with a contextual approach in the commercial bank industry of the OECD countries. We identify the key theoretical variables from the banking and accounting literature and analyze the impact on the prediction of future abnormal ROEs. After regressing the following year's abnormal ROE on those variables, we verify that some of them, related to the competitiveness of banks and the accounting system, play a determinant role. Our evidence suggests that the identification of 'other information' factors, by a contextual approach, might improve the empirical use of the Ohlson Model in commercial banks, especially when they act in competitive environments and/or relevant intangibles are not captured by accounting.