In this study, we examine the market reaction to ad hoc disclosures, a form of early disclosure unique to Germany, associated with periodic financial reports using data from the German stock market for the period 2003--2009. Although the immediate release of ad hoc disclosures is mandatory if...

Based on the ongoing disclosure overload debate, this paper investigates how deregulation-driven decreases in quarterly disclosure affect information asymmetry. We exploit a German setting in which the minimum content requirements for quarterly reporting have been reduced for firms listed in the...

In 2006 Germany passed a disclosure enforcement law (EHUG) that strengthened the enforcement of financial statement disclosure in particular for non-listed firms whose compliance before the law was just about 16%. After introducing recurring fines of €2,500 to €25,000 disclosure rates surged...

This paper investigates the determinants of firms' decisions to disclose ‘pro forma' earnings, voluntarily performance metrics, in a largely unregulated setting, the German capital market. For a sample of earnings releases published by large German firms, we address the role of informative and...

IPO allocations have been a topic of regulatory and legal attention. Prudent economics may explain the use of friends and family shares by private company owners going public, as well as underwriters' allotments of shares of initial public offerings (IPOs). However, systematic inquiry into...

Goodwill accounting standards, according to International Financial Reporting Standard 3 (IFRS 3) and International Accounting Standard 36 (IAS 36), oblige firms to describe the circumstances that form the basis of the annual impairment testing. We observe that managers' interpretation or...