Research

Peer-Reviewed Publication Abstracts and Links

The Pitch: Managers' Disclosure Choice During IPO Roadshows (with Bradley E. Hendricks and Gregory S. Miller) (2023, The Accounting Review, Vol 98(2), p.1-29)

Abstract: We examine firm disclosure choice during the initial public offering (IPO) roadshow presentation to understand the informativeness of a management presentation designed to attract investors. Although firms submit a comprehensive registration filing during the IPO, managers also prepare a roadshow presentation, which is shorter and typically allows managers more autonomy to select the information released and how it is discussed. We find that IPO roadshows have significantly more positive, less negative, and less uncertain language than the SEC filing. Using machine learning to classify roadshow sentences into five major topics from the registration statement, we find that roadshows differ in both the topics selected and the language used within each topic. We then examine the predictive ability of the roadshow language, finding that roadshow language predicts future accounting performance while filing language does not. These results highlight the informational role of management presentations despite the flexibility they grant managers.

Understanding Investor Interaction with Firm Information: A Discussion of Lee and Zhong (2022) (2022, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol 74, 101523)

Abstract: Investors are central to the incorporation of firm information in capital markets, yet it is challenging to observe the particular information they use and struggle with. Lee and Zhong (2022) use online investor interactions with Chinese public firms to document evidence that investors face significant processing costs. They find that when investor interactions occur, capital markets behave as if the information environment has improved, with increased trading activity, liquidity, and timely pricing of the quarter’s earnings in returns. My discussion highlights the contributions of Lee and Zhong’s findings to the processing cost, retail investor, and investor interactions literatures. I also describe empirical challenges faced by this and similar studies. I encourage using the details of interactions to disentangle the nature of processing costs and to increase support for causal conclusions more generally. Finally, I note several topics related to investor interaction that would benefit from further research.

Real-time Revenue and Firm Disclosure (with Brad Hendricks, Joe Piotroski, and Christina Synn) (2022, Review of Accounting Studies, Vol 27(3), p.1079-1116)

Abstract: We examine firm disclosure choice when information is received on a real-time, continuous basis. We use transaction-level credit and debit card sales for a sample of retail firms to construct a weekly measure of abnormal revenue for each firm. We validate the informativeness of this abnormal real-time revenue information, confirming its positive correlation with abnormal returns, unexpected revenue realizations, and management revenue forecast news. Using revenue forecasts, we find that firms are less likely to disclose abnormally negative news early in the quarter. As the quarter progresses, firms reduce their withholding of negative news. These results are consistent with impending earnings announcements disciplining managers to provide negative news. This pattern of initial withholding and then disclosure exists primarily in firms with high analyst coverage, high institutional ownership, or high litigation risk. Finally, we find increased insider stock sales in weeks with abnormally negative news and no firm disclosure. Overall, our study provides evidence of the informativeness of real-time information and manager discretion in its release.

A Hard Look at SPAC Projections (with Brad Hendricks, Greg Miller, and DJ Stockbridge) (2022, Management Science, Vol. 68(6), p.4742-4753)

Firms' use of SPACs to go public has increased dramatically, leading to market and regulatory debate about their use of projections. Examining SPAC mergers from 2004 through 2021, we find that 80% of firms provide projections for four years ahead on average, with approximately one-quarter of recent projections extending more than five years. For the sample of SPAC mergers with observable post-merger revenue, we find that only 35% of firms meet or beat their projections. This proportion declines for forecasts that are longer horizon, and non-serial SPAC sponsors miss forecasts by greater percentages. When we compare SPAC projected revenue growth to benchmark samples of IPO firms and matched firms, the SPAC projections are approximately 3 times larger on average than benchmark firms' actual revenue growth, with even greater differences for long-term projections. After the merger, firms reduce their use of projections, providing them at statistically similar rates as benchmark firms. Overall, the evidence supports concerns that the SPAC merger includes highly optimistic projections.

Strategic Disclosure and CEO Media Visibility (with Ed deHaan) (2020, Journal of Financial Reporting, Vol. 5(1), p.25-50)

Abstract: Prior research indicates that CEO media visibility significantly impacts firm value and CEO career outcomes. We investigate whether and how CEOs strategically use disclosures to influence media coverage of themselves. We develop a measure of “CEO promotion” based on the CEO’s presence in firm press releases and the linguistic style of the CEO’s quotes. Determinants tests are consistent with our measure of CEO promotion being an intentional act based on cost/benefit considerations. Using our new measure, we find evidence consistent with CEO promotion being effective in reducing journalists’ production costs, thereby increasing CEO media coverage and spinning media articles in the firm’s favor. These results provide new insights as to specific ways in which CEOs influence media coverage. We also provide an empirical measure of abnormal CEO promotion that can be used in future research.

Disclosure Processing Costs, Investors' Information Choice, and Equity Market Outcomes: A Review (with Ed deHaan and Ivan Marinovic) (2020, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol. 70, 101344)

Abstract: This paper reviews the literature examining how costs of monitoring for, acquiring, and analyzing firm disclosures - collectively, "disclosure processing costs" - affect investor information choices, trades, and market outcomes. The existence of disclosure processing costs means that disclosures are not "public" information as traditionally defined, but instead can be a form of costly private information. Conceptualizing disclosures as private information makes it clear that learning from disclosures is an active economic choice and that disclosure pricing cannot be perfectly efficient. We review the analytical and empirical literature on sources of processing costs and how these costs affect equity market outcomes, primarily within rational equilibria. We also discuss studies of the feedback effects of investors' processing costs on managers' choices about disclosure and corporate actions. We conclude that disclosure processing costs have implications for a wide array of accounting research and phenomena, but we are only just beginning to understand their effects.

The Impact of Information Processing Costs on Firm Disclosure Choice: Evidence from the XBRL Mandate (2019, Journal of Accounting Research Vol. 57, No. 4)

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of market participants’ information processing costs on firms’ disclosure choice. Using the recent eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) regulation, I find that firms increase their quantitative footnote disclosures upon implementation of XBRL detailed tagging requirements designed to reduce information users’ processing costs. These results hold in a difference-in-difference design using matched non-adopting firms as controls, as well as two additional identification strategies. Examination of the disclosure increase by footnote type suggests that both regulatory and non-regulatory market participants play a role in monitoring firm disclosures. Overall, these findings suggest that the processing costs of market participants can be significant enough to impact firms’ disclosure decisions.

Why Do Individual Investors Disregard Earnings News? The roles of information awareness and acquisition costs (with Ed deHaan, John Wertz, and Christina Zhu) (2019, Journal of Accounting Research Vol. 57, No.1)

Abstract: We investigate the frictions that impede individual investors' use of accounting information and, in particular, their costs of monitoring and acquiring accounting disclosures. We do so using an archival setting in which individuals are presented with automated media articles that report both current earnings news and past stock returns. Although these investors have earnings information readily available, we find no evidence that their trades incorporate it. Instead, we find that their trading responds to the trailing stock returns presented in the articles. Our study raises questions about the efficacy of regulations that aim to aid less sophisticated investors by increasing their awareness of and access to accounting information.

Capital Market Effects of Media Synthesis and Dissemination: Evidence from Robo-Journalism (with Ed deHaan and Christina Zhu) (2018, Review of Accounting Studies Vol. 23, No. 1) (Internet Appendix)

Abstract: In 2014, the Associated Press (AP) began using algorithms to write media articles about firms' earnings announcements. These "robo-journalism" articles synthesize information from firms' press releases, analyst reports, and stock performance, and are widely disseminated by major news outlets a few hours after the earnings release. The articles are available for thousands of firms on a quarterly basis, many of which previously received little or no media attention. We use AP's staggered implementation of robo-journalism to examine the effects of media synthesis and dissemination, in a setting where the articles are devoid of private information and are largely exogenous to the firm's earnings news and disclosure choices. We find compelling evidence that automated articles increase firms' trading volume and liquidity. The effects are most likely driven by retail traders. We find no evidence that the articles improve or impede the speed of price discovery. Our study provides novel evidence on the impact of pure synthesis and dissemination of public information in capital markets, and initial insights on the implications of automated journalism for market efficiency.

Perceptions and Price: Evidence from CEO Presentations at IPO Roadshows (with Bradley E. Hendricks and Gregory S. Miller) (2017, Journal of Accounting Research Vol. 55, No. 2)

Abstract: This paper examines the relation between cognitive perceptions of management and firm valuation. We develop a composite measure of investor perception using 30-second content-filtered video clips of initial public offering (IPO) roadshow presentations. We show that this measure, designed to capture viewers' overall perceptions of a CEO, is positively associated with pricing at all stages of the IPO (proposed price, offer price and end of first day of trading). The result is robust to controls for traditional determinants of firm value. We also show that firms with highly perceived management are more likely to be matched to high-quality underwriters. In further exploratory analysis, we find the impact is greater for firms with more uncertain language in their written S-1. Taken together, our results provide evidence that investors' instinctive perceptions of management are incorporated into their assessments of firm value.

Initial Evidence on the Market Impact of the XBRL Mandate (with Brian P. Miller and Hal White) (December 2014, Review of Accounting Studies Vol. 19, No. 4)

Abstract: In 2009, the SEC mandated that financial statements be filed using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). The SEC contends that this new search-facilitating technology will reduce informational barriers that separate smaller, less sophisticated investors from larger, more sophisticated investors, thereby reducing information asymmetry. However, if some larger investors can leverage their superior resources and abilities to garner greater benefits from XBRL than smaller investors, information asymmetry is likely to increase. Using a difference-in-difference design, we find evidence of higher abnormal bid-ask spreads for XBRL adopting firms around 10-K filings in the year after the mandate, consistent with increased concerns of adverse selection. We also find a reduction in abnormal liquidity and a decrease in abnormal trading volume, particularly for small trades. Additional analyses suggest, however, that these effects may be declining somewhat in more recent years. Collectively, our evidence suggests that a reduction in investors' data aggregation costs may not have served its intended purpose of leveling the informational playing field, at least during the initial years after mandatory adoption.

The Role of Dissemination in Market Liquidity: Evidence From Firms' Use of Twitter (with Gregory S. Miller and Hal White) (March 2014, The Accounting Review Vol. 89, No. 1)

Abstract: Firm disclosures often reach only a portion of investors, which results in information asymmetry among investors, and therefore lower market liquidity. This issue is particularly salient for firms that are not highly visible, as they tend not to receive broad news dissemination via traditional intermediaries, such as the press. This paper examines whether firms can reduce information asymmetry by more broadly disseminating their news. To isolate the impact of dissemination, we focus our analysis on firms' use of Twitter and exploit the 140-character message restriction. Specifically, using a sample of technology firms, we examine the impact of using Twitter to send market participants links to press releases that are provided via traditional disclosure methods. We find this additional dissemination of firm-initiated news via Twitter is associated with lower bid-ask spreads and greater depths, consistent with a reduction in information asymmetry. Moreover, this result holds mainly for firms that are not highly visible, consistent with them being in greater need of this additional dissemination channel. We also examine the impact of dissemination on a volume-based measure of liquidity, and find that dissemination is positively associated with liquidity.

Fair Value Accounting for Financial Instruments: Does it Improve the Association Between Bank Leverage and Credit Risk? (with Thomas J. Linsmeier, Kathy Petroni, and Catherine Shakespeare) (July 2013, The Accounting Review Vol. 88, No. 4)

Abstract: Many have argued that financial statements created under an accounting model that measures financial instruments at fair value would not fairly represent a bank's business model. In this study we examine whether financial statements using fair values for financial instruments better describe banks' credit risk than less fair value-based financial statements. Specifically, we assess the extent to which various leverage ratios, which are calculated using financial instruments measured along a fair value continuum, are associated with various measures of credit risk. Our leverage ratios include financial instruments measured at 1) fair value; 2) US GAAP mixed-attribute values; and 3) Tier 1 regulatory capital values. The credit risk measures we consider are bond yield spreads and future bank failure. We find that leverage measured using the fair values of financial instruments explains significantly more variation in bond yield spreads and bank failure than the other less fair-value-based leverage ratios in both univariate and multivariate analyses. We also find that the fair value of loans and deposits appear to be the primary sources of incremental explanatory power.