Abstract
This paper investigates whether certain investors either prefer or dislike holding firms that exploit more of the available regulatory wiggle room and if such a strategy pays off. Exploited wiggle room (WR) is captured by relatively aggressive tax planning, financial reporting, and earnings management practices. I find that long-term, low-turnover investors hold firms with 3% higher exploited WR than those held by short-term, high- turnover investors. After experiencing misconduct that breaches their trust, investors significantly reduce the exploited WR of their holdings. Overall, investors seem to have heterogeneous preferences for WR exploitation and a liking for cautious firms that cannot be explained by a prot maximization motive alone.