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This study investigates how accounting harmonization affects one particular group of financial statement users-financial analysts. We find that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption attracts foreign analysts, particularly those from countries that are simultaneously adopting IFRS along with the covered firm's country and those with prior IFRS experience. We also find that mandatory IFRS adoption improves foreign analysts' forecast accuracy. The change in analyst following increases with the distance between prior local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and IFRS and with the extent to which IFRS adoption eliminates GAAP differences between the firm's country and the analyst's country. IFRS adoption also attracts more local analysts, particularly those with prior IFRS experience and with an international portfolio prior to mandated IFRS adoption in their home country. Local analysts' forecast accuracy is not affected by IFRS adoption. Overall, our results suggest that accounting harmonization brings comparability benefits that enhance the usefulness of accounting data. versity. We are grateful for comments from a very helpful anonymous referee, the editor, and workshop participants at

This paper examines whether analysts resident in a country make more precise earnings forecasts for firms in that country than analysts who are not resident in that country. Using a sample of 32 countries, we find that there is an economically and statistically significant analyst local advantage even after controlling for firm and analyst characteristics. The importance of the local advantage is inversely related to the quality of the information provided by firms. In particular, the local advantage is high in countries where earnings are smoothed more, less information is disclosed by firms, and firm idiosyncratic information explains a smaller fraction of stock returns. The local advantage is also negatively related to market participation by foreign investors and by institutions and positively related to holdings by insiders. U.S. investors underweight a country's stocks more in their portfolios if that country has a higher analyst local advantage.

This paper examines whether analysts resident in a country make more precise earnings forecasts for firms in that country than analysts who are not resident in that country. Using a sample of 32 countries, we find that there is an economically and statistically significant analyst local advantage even after controlling for firm and analyst characteristics. The importance of the local advantage is inversely related to the quality of the information provided by firms. In particular, the local advantage is high in countries where earnings are smoothed more, less information is disclosed by firms, and firm idiosyncratic information explains a smaller fraction of stock returns. The local advantage is also negatively related to market participation by foreign investors and by institutions and positively related to holdings by insiders. U.S. investors underweight a country's stocks more in their portfolios if that country has a higher analyst local advantage.

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This paper investigates the relation between differences in accounting standards across countries and foreign analyst following and forecast accuracy. We develop two measures of differences in generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for 1,176 country-pairs. We then examine the impact of these measures of accounting differences on foreign analysts. In so doing, we utilize a unique database that identifies the location of financial analysts around the world, creating a sample that covers 6,888 foreign analysts making a total of 43,968 forecasts for 6,169 firms from 49 countries during 1998–2004. We find that the extent to which GAAP differs between two countries is negatively related to both foreign analyst following and forecast accuracy. Our results suggest that GAAP differences are associated with economic costs for financial analysts.

BackgroundHeat stress can be acutely cytotoxic, and heat stress-induced apoptosis is a prominent pathological feature of heat-related illnesses, although the precise mechanisms by which heat stress triggers apoptosis are poorly defined.MethodsThe percentages of viability and cell death were assessed by WST-1 and LDH release assays. Apoptosis was assayed by DNA fragmentation and caspase activity. Expression of cleaved PARP, Apaf-1, phospho-PERK, Phospho-eIF2a, ATF4, XBP-1s, ATF6, GRP78, phospho-IP3R, RYR and SERCA was estimated by Western blot. The effect of calcium overload was determined using flow cytometric analysis with the fluorescent probe Fluo-3/AM. The generation of ROS (O2 −, H2O2, NO) was labeled by confocal laser scanning microscopy images of fluorescently and flow cytometry.ResultsIn this study, we found that heat stress in HUVEC cells activated initiators of three major unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling transduction pathways: PERK-eIF2a-ATF4, IRE1-XBP-1S and ATF6 to protect against ER stress, although activation declined over time following cessation of heat stress. Furthermore, we show that intense heat stress may induce apoptosis in HUVEC cells through the calcium-mediated mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, as indicated by elevation of cytoplasmic Ca2+, expression of Apaf-1, activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, PARP cleavage, and ultimately nucleosomal DNA fragmentation; Reactive oxygen species (ROS) appear to act upstream in this process. In addition, we provide evidence that IP3R upregulation may promote influx of Ca2+ into the cytoplasm after heat stress.ConclusionOur findings describe a novel mechanism for heat stress-induced apoptosis in HUVEC cells: following elevation of cytoplasm Ca2+, activation of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway via the IP3R upregulation, with ROS acting as an upstream regulator of the process.

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