We describe enabling technology for a system to actively support intelligence analysis tasks by (1) helping an analyst identify, structure, aggregate and visualize task-relevant information; (2) enabling an analyst to construct explicit models of alternative hypotheses (scenarios, relationships, causality, etc.); and (3) actively assist an analyst in analytical reasoning such as hypothesis refi...

That the implementation of automation is a systems problem and must involve a multidisciplinary approach has been stressed many times in this journal. The skills required to achieve effective automation inlude electronics, statistics, computer expertise, combined with business and organis-ational acumen. Indeed, there may, in the past, have been too much input from the experts in mini and micro...

Using data from 1990-2013, we show 1) the serial correlation of analyst forecast errors increases in the extent of international diversification, 2) PEAD based on analyst forecast errors increases in the extent of international diversification, and 3) the impact of international diversification on the serial correlation of analyst forecast errors and the associated drift is significantly reduce...

This study investigates the relationships among industry specialist auditors, outside directors, and financial analysts. Specifically, we examine the effect of analyst coverage on the association between auditor industry specialization and outside directorship. We find that outside directors are less likely to hire industry specialist auditors for firms with high analyst coverage than for firms...

Previous research finds some evidence that analysts affiliated with equity underwriters issue more optimistic earnings growth forecasts and optimistic recommendations of client stock than unaffiliated analysts. Unfortunately, these studies are unable to discriminate between three competing hypotheses for the apparent optimism. Under the bribery hypothesis, underwriting clients, with the promise...

This paper examines how equity analysts affect corporate liquidity policy and the value of cash. Greater analyst coverage reduces information asymmetry between a firm and outside shareholders and enhances the monitoring process, in turn increasing the value of cash and allowing firms to hold more cash. The cash-to-assets ratio increases by 5.2 percentage points when moving from the bottom analy...