we then apply a number of filters that result in the elimination of some of the firms incorporated with in our sample coutries. similar to mahajan and rartatoglu (2008), we restrict our sample to firms which report consolidated financial statements. consistent with deAngelo et al.(2006), we exclude firms with negative total equity as well as those firms operating in the regulated in dustries of financials. utilities and real estate. we also exclude those firm-year observations for which compustat to data in other periods. and companies with multiple issues of common stock. we also eliminate firm-year observations containing a chang in fiscal year.