Capital Structure, Earnings Management, and Risk of Financial Distress

Pietro Gottardo holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Pavia (Italy) and a PhD in Financial Markets from the University of Bergamo. He is currently Associate Professor of Corporate Finance in the Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia. His main research interests are family firms, asset pricing, market microstructure, and risk management. His current teaching includes Corporate Finance on the undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Economics and Financial Modeling on the Master's degree in Management. Anna Maria Moisello graduated in Economics at the University of Pavia and received a PhD in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan. She is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia, where she teaches Business Administration and Managerial Accounting. She is a member of the PhD Committee in Applied Economics and Management at the Universities of Pavia and Bergamo. Her main research interests are family firms, corporate governance, and managerial accounting.

1 Introduction.- 2 Family control and capital structure choices.- 3 Family influence, leverage and probability of financial distress.- 4 Equity and bond issues and earnings management practices.- 5 Earnings management, issues and firm market value.- 6 Conclusions.