Straight from the Horse's Mouth : Determinants and Consequences of Managers’ Conference Call Participation

We examine the factors firms consider when deciding which managers participate in their earnings conference calls and the consequences of this decision. We find significant variation in participation, with frequent participation by non-CEO/CFO/IR managers (38% of calls) and managers who only participate in the Q&A (27%). Participation is also not static (only 37% have the same managers as the prior four quarters). Firms are more likely to add new managers to calls to address increased information demands following unusual firm events and to showcase managerial talent when succession planning is critical. However, firms recognize costs of adding inexperienced managers and are less likely to add managers when fewer managers have experience communicating with external stakeholders. Adding a new manager changes the textual content of calls and is negatively associated with analysts’ outputs, perhaps because of their unfamiliarity with the manager. Overall, our findings suggest that who discloses information matters