The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in extreme uncertainty in the future earnings of many firms. In this paper, we examine how firms’ exposure to the pandemic affects their guidance withdrawals. Almost half the firms in our sample withdraw their management earnings guidance instead of...

We examine the impact of mandatory environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure on firms’ default risk. Using a comprehensive sample of 17 emerging countries, we empirically show that firms subject to the mandatory ESG regulation have decreased default risk subsequent to the mandate....

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires firms to disclose and discuss trends concerning their liquidity, capital resources, and operations. However, there is an ongoing debate on the value of these textual narratives. This study investigates the relation between a firm's...

In this study, we examine whether managers rank risk factors and list them in order of their importance in Item 1A of the 10-K. We focus on firms' credit risk disclosures and where they are positioned in Item 1A. Firms that place the credit risk factor closer to the beginning have lower credit...

The bankruptcy system plays an important role in resolving financial distress and reallocating resources in the economy. While many believe that transparency is central to an efficient bankruptcy system, the Bankruptcy Code lacks clear standards for disclosure and financial reporting. In this...

About two-thirds of S&P500 firms disclose their analyst following on their corporate websites. Half of these firms disclose their analyst following in an unbiased fashion, while the rest manage this disclosure by selectively omitting analysts with pessimistic views (selective disclosers)....