April Klein

About

April Klein is a Professor of Accounting and the KPMG Faculty Fellow at New York University Stern School of Business. She serves as the Director of the Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research. Professor Klein teaches a joint MBA – NYU Law School class in Financial Accounting and Finance, as well as a PhD research course in corporate governance and regulation. Her primary research areas include the board of directors, hedge fund activism, equity analysts, and ESG, with a focus on cyber risk, board diversity, and the influence of financial institutions on their investees’ ESG policies. She has published extensively in leading academic journals across Accounting, Finance, and Law. Professor Klein has been with NYU Stern since 1987 and has also taught at Columbia Law School, Baruch College, and Warwick Business School. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA, and a PhD in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Finance
• Business
• Law
• Accounting
• International trade
• Engineering

Selected publications

• Entrepreneurial Shareholder Activism: Hedge Funds and Other Private Investors

  The Journal of Finance · 2009-01-23 · 871 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT We examine recent confrontational activism campaigns by hedge funds and other private investors. The main parallels between the groups are a significantly positive market reaction for the target firm around the initial Schedule 13D filing date, significantly positive returns over the subsequent year, and the activist's high success rate in achieving its original objective. Further, both activists frequently gain board representation through real or threatened proxy solicitations. Two ma…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Impact of Hedge Fund Activism on the Target Firm's Existing Bondholders

  Review of Financial Studies · 2011-03-10 · 274 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  In contrast to previous studies documenting positive abnormal returns to target shareholders, we find that hedge fund activism significantly reduces bondholders' wealth. The average excess bond return is −3.9% around the initial 13D filing, and is an additional −4.5% over the remaining year. Excess bond returns are related inversely to subsequent changes in cash and assets (loss of collateral effects) and directly to changes in total debt. Confrontational campaigns and the acquisition of at leas…

  PublisherDOI

• The Contextual Impact of Nonprofit Board Composition and Structure on Organizational Performance: Agency and Resource Dependence Perspectives

  VOLUNTAS International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations · 2009-11-09 · 119 citations

  article

  Abstract We study the relation between stability of the nonprofit organization’s environment and its board structure and the impact of this relation on organizational performance from the perspectives of both Agency Theory and Resource Dependence (Boundary Spanning) Theory. The impact of board characteristics on organizational performance is contextual. Specifically, we predict and show for a sample of U.S. nonprofits that board mechanisms related to monitoring are more likely to be effective fo…

  PublisherDOI

• Investors’ response to the #MeToo movement: does corporate culture matter?

  Review of Accounting Studies · 2022 · 57 citations

  Abstract This paper provides evidence that the #MeToo movement revised investors’ beliefs about the costs (benefits) of fostering an exclusive (inclusive) culture, as reflected by the absence (presence of a critical mass) of women directors in the board room. Tracking a timeline of events associated with the #MeToo movement that begin with the Harvey Weinstein exposé in October 2017 in the New York Times , we document contrasting market reactions to the movement depending on the existing culture…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Did the 1999 NYSE and NASDAQ Listing Standard Changes on Audit Committee Composition Benefit Investors?

  The Accounting Review · 2017-02-01 · 46 citations

  articleSenior author

  ABSTRACT In December 1999, the SEC instituted a new listing standard for NYSE and NASDAQ firms. Listed firms were now required to maintain fully independent audit committees with at least three members. In July 2002, the U.S. Congress legislated these standards through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Our research question is whether all investors benefited from the 1999 new rule. Using both an event study and a difference-in-differences methodology, we find no evidence of higher market value or better f…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Emanuel Zur

  13 shared

• James Rosenfeld

  7 shared

• Yanting Shi

  7 shared

• Mary Brooke Billings

  New York University

  5 shared

• Raffaele Manini

  4 shared

• Seil Kim

  Baruch College

  4 shared

• Jeffrey L. Callen

  University of Toronto

  4 shared

• Lee‐Seok Hwang

  4 shared

Awards & honors

• Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institu…
• WBS Distinguished Research Environment Professor at Warwick…

Similar researchers at New York University

• Stephen Ryanh-46
• Eli Bartovh-38
• Joshua Ronenh-31