This paper investigates the extent to which voluntary disclosure quality (VDQ) of firms is reflected in equity prices. As a novel contribution, we explore the idea that the speed with which equity prices reflect any benefits or costs of VDQ varies across firms. We find that in environments where...

This paper explores the relationship between disclosing corporate targets and value creation. Our empirical results show the value relevance of voluntarily disclosing a low number of targets, whereas there is a clear additional positive effect of disclosing exactly one corporate target in the...

This paper explores whether Chinese capital providers can benefit from the integrated reporting (IR) approach. Using a sample of 7168 observations selected from 1169 firms listed in China between 2006 and 2019, we examine the relation between the integration level of ESG disclosures and firm...

Theories of delegated monitoring predict that when public disclosure is costly, monitoring by a large investor leads management to supply more private information to that investor, and less public disclosure to other similarly aligned investors who free-ride off the monitor. We test this...

To answer the question what causes an asset to be illiquid, we analyze the impact that transparency of corporate accounting information has on the liquidity of its traded bonds. In particular, we focus on how this relationship depends on aggregate liquidity and the financial state of the firm....

This paper examines how the quality of firm information disclosure affects shareholders' use of dividends to mitigate agency problems. Managerial compensation is linked to firm value. However, because the manager and shareholders are asymmetrically informed, the manager can manipulate the firm's...

This paper examines the implications of the option value of equity for firms' disclosures. Merton (1974) shows that the equity of levered firms is equivalent to a call option whose value increases in the expected variance of future cash flows. I use this equivalence to calculate firms' vega,...

This paper investigates the efficiency consequences of firm disclosure. Using accounting and financial data in the Chinese market, the largest emerging market dominated by noise traders, we find that disclosure attracts noise trading and reduces the amount of information learned by firms from...

This paper examines changes in corporate behavior around the 2003 modification to SEC Rule 10b-18, which mandates enhanced disclosure of repurchase transactions. Firms announce significantly fewer and slightly smaller open market repurchase plans in the enhanced disclosure environment. However,...

Combining databases with unique strengths I show that stray firms, i.e. those lacking a controlling owner, have lower disclosure in financial reports. This finding illustrates managers' preference to withhold information (“the fundamental agency problem”). I contribute to the literature by...