It is really hard for fresh finance phd to publish paper on A level jounal when they are on the job market. If you have five papers on A level journal, you will get tenured at 99% the universities in the states.
As a layman to the Finance area, let me ask this basic question: how is a "working paper" defined? According to wiki, a "working paper" is a draft of certain ideas before sending out for peer review. Sounds like a technical report to me. It seems that there might not be a hard criterion to judge whether a "working paper" will be accepted as a "peer-reviewed paper". Correct me if I am wrong.