The accounting literature has used the midpoint of range forecasts in various research settings, assuming that the midpoint is the best proxy for managers' earnings expectations revealed in range forecasts. We argue that given managers' asymmetric loss functions regarding earnings surprises,...

This article is developed from the authors' keynote speeches at the Chinese Accounting Association's Research Conference in November 2014 in Beijing. We discuss the importance of corporate disclosure and the landscape of disclosure in U.S. We then discuss opportunities of disclosure research in...

We examine whether financial analysts—sophisticated market participants—are subject to limited attention. We find that when analysts have another firm in their coverage portfolio announcing earnings on the same day as the sample firm (a “concurrent announcement”), they are less likely to...

In this study we use the recently mandated risk factor disclosure to examine the spillover effect of the SEC review of qualitative corporate disclosure. We find that firms not receiving any comment letter (“No-letter Firms”) modify their subsequent year's disclosures to a larger extent if...

Chinese regulators mandate management earnings forecasts when managers' earnings expectations meet bright-line thresholds and allow voluntary forecasts in other circumstances. We examine the effects of this mixed approach. We find that Chinese mandatory forecasts have significant information...

While managers' accounting and financial decisions are, for many, fascinating topics, selection bias poses a serious challenge to researchers estimating the decisions' effects using non-experimental data. Selection bias potentially occurs because managers' decisions are non-random and the...

Using hand-collected data, we show that disclosure of non-earnings guidance, especially that about a firm's long-term value creation — capital expenditure (CAPEX) guidance and strategic plan disclosure (SPD) — was common even before the debate on earnings guidance gained momentum. Firms with...

Firms are required to provide financial information via the financial statements and the MD&A—a narrative explanation of the financial statements. Our study examines how firms use the MD&A channel when their financial statement channel is inadequate. We proxy for the adequacy of the financial...

The expectations management literature has so far focused on firms meeting the analyst consensus forecast — the expectations of analysts as a group — at earnings announcements. In this study we argue that investors may use individual analyst forecasts as additional benchmarks in evaluating...

The rule change for segment reporting in 1998 has arguably made segment reporting more relevant through the adoption of the management approach. Meanwhile, the management approach has resulted in a decrease in the comparability of segment income. We introduce firm-specific measures of changes in...