June 2, 2026

Alina Lerman University of Connecticut

Alina Lerman

Assistant Professor of Business

  • Storrs CT UNITED STATES
  • School of Business

Alina Lerman is an expert in the role of accounting information in capital markets, investor sophistication, and corporate reporting.

Contact More Open options

Biography

Alina Lerman researches the role of accounting information in capital markets, investor sophistication, corporate mandatory and voluntary disclosure, and accounting regulation. She teaches in the MBA, Executive MBA and Ph.D. programs. Prior to her own graduate studies, Lerman worked in the securities litigation and forensic accounting practice of LECG.

Areas of Expertise

Corporate Regulation
Economics
Accounting
Investment
Forensic Accounting

Education

New York University

Ph.D.

Accounting

New York University

B.S.

Economics, summa cum laude

Links

Social

Media

Articles

Information transfer and conference calls

Review of Accounting Studies

2018 A long-standing literature documents intra-industry capital market co-movements around earnings releases, yet the dynamics of these information transfers remain largely unexplored. We provide evidence on both the sources and channels of information transfers by separating two distinct events within the reporting window using intra-day data and by exploring potential mechanisms of information flows.

view more

The Changing Landscape of Accrual Accounting

Journal of Accounting Research

2015 A fundamental property of accrual accounting is to smooth temporary timing fluctuations in operating cash flows, indicating an inherent negative correlation between accruals and cash flows. We show that the overall correlation between accruals and cash flows has dramatically declined in magnitude over the past half century and has largely disappeared in more recent years.

view more

Who, if anyone, reacts to accrual information?

Journal of Accounting and Economics

2012 We show that the vast majority of investors ignore value-relevant accruals information when it is first released, but that investors who initiate trades of at least 5,000 shares tend to transact in the proper direction. These investors trade on accruals information only when the previously-announced earnings signal is non-negative.

view more

Anticipatory and Implementation Effects of FIN 46 on the Behavior of Different Market Participants

Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics

2012 We examine whether Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)-mandated modifications of the consolidation rules (FIN 46 and FIN 46R) resulted in perceptible changes in market participants’ decisions as manifested in a variety of financial indicia.

view more

The new Form 8-K disclosures

Review of Accounting Studies

2010 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has mandated new disclosure requirements in Form 8-K, which became effective on August 23, 2004. The SEC expanded the list of items that have to be reported and accelerated the timeliness of these reports. This study examines the market reactions to 8-Ks filed under the new SEC regime and investigates whether periodic reports (10-K/Qs) became less informative under the new 8-K disclosure rules. We observe that the newly required 8-K items constitute over half of all filings and that most firms disclose the required items within the new shortened period (four business days). We find that all disclosed items (old and new) are associated with abnormal volume and return volatility around both the event and the SEC filing dates, and some items have significant return drifts after the SEC filings.

view more

Individual investors' attention to accounting information: Message board discussions

SSRN

2010 Accounting standard setters and financial information providers are interested in individual investors’ use of accounting information but find it difficult to assess with conventional data sources. Financial message boards provide a unique medium with which to analyze individuals’ attention to accounting information on a large scale and in great detail.

view more

Powered By

Discover more about what’s happening at UConn

Our websites may use cookies to personalize and enhance your experience. By continuing without changing your cookie settings, you agree to this collection. For more information, please see our University Websites Privacy Notice.

What are cookies?

Web cookies (also called HTTP cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small pieces of data that websites store on your device (computer, phone, etc.) through your web browser. They are used to remember information about you and your interactions with the site.

Purpose of Cookies:

  1. Session Management:

    • Keeping you logged in
    • Remembering items in a shopping cart
    • Saving language or theme preferences
  2. Personalization:

    • Tailoring content or ads based on your previous activity
  3. Tracking & Analytics:

    • Monitoring browsing behavior for analytics or marketing purposes

Types of Cookies:

  1. Session Cookies:

    • Temporary; deleted when you close your browser
    • Used for things like keeping you logged in during a single session
  2. Persistent Cookies:

    • Stored on your device until they expire or are manually deleted
    • Used for remembering login credentials, settings, etc.
  3. First-Party Cookies:

    • Set by the website you’re visiting directly
  4. Third-Party Cookies:

    • Set by other domains (usually advertisers) embedded in the website
    • Commonly used for tracking across multiple sites
Authentication Cookies

Authentication cookies are a special type of web cookie used to identify and verify a user after they log in to a website or web application.


What They Do:

Once you log in to a site, the server creates an authentication cookie and sends it to your browser. This cookie:

  • Proves to the website that you’re logged in
  • Prevents you from having to log in again on every page you visit
  • Can persist across sessions if you select “Remember me”

What’s Inside an Authentication cookie?

Typically, it contains:

  • A unique session ID (not your actual password)
  • Optional metadata (e.g., expiration time, security flags)
Analytics Cookies

Analytics cookies are cookies used to collect data about how visitors interact with a website. Their primary purpose is to help website owners understand and improve user experience by analyzing things like:

  • How users navigate the site
  • Which pages are most/least visited
  • How long users stay on each page
  • What device, browser, or location the user is from

What They Track:

Some examples of data analytics cookies may collect:

  • Page views and time spent on pages
  • Click paths (how users move from page to page)
  • Bounce rate (users who leave without interacting)
  • User demographics (location, language, device)
  • Referring websites (how users arrived at the site)
Opt Out

Here’s how you can disable cookies in common browsers:

1. Google Chrome

  • Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner.
  • Go to Settings > Privacy and security > cookies and other site data.
  • Choose your preferred option:
    • Block all cookies (not recommended, can break most websites).
    • Block third-party cookies (can block ads and tracking cookies).

2. Mozilla Firefox

  • Open Firefox and click the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner.
  • Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
  • Under the Enhanced Tracking Protection section, choose Strict to block most cookies or Custom to manually choose which cookies to block.

3. Safari

  • Open Safari and click Safari in the top-left corner of the screen.
  • Go to Preferences > Privacy.
  • Check Block all cookies to stop all cookies, or select options to block third-party cookies.

4. Microsoft Edge

  • Open Edge and click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner.
  • Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > cookies and site permissions.
  • Select your cookie settings from there, including blocking all cookies or blocking third-party cookies.

5. On Mobile (iOS/Android)

  • For Safari on iOS: Go to Settings > Safari > Privacy & Security > Block All cookies.
  • For Chrome on Android: Open the app, tap the three dots, go to Settings > Privacy and security > cookies.

Be Aware:

Disabling cookies can make your online experience more difficult. Some websites may not load properly, or you may be logged out frequently. Also, certain features may not work as expected.