IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v70y2024ipas027553192400103x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of readability of risk disclosures in bond prospectuses on credit risk premium

Author

Listed:
  • Yao, Yanzhen
  • Wei, Lu
  • Jing, Haozhe
  • Chen, Meiqi
  • Li, Zhan

Abstract

This paper for the first time analyzes the impact of the readability of risk disclosures in bond prospectuses on the credit risk premium. In the empirical analysis, the textual data including 5194 corporate bond prospectuses and structured data related to the corporate financial factors and the bond characteristics from 2006 to 2021 are used to perform the fixed effect regression analysis. The empirical results show that increasing the readability of the risk factor chapter in bond prospectuses will increase the credit risk premium by raising the investors’ risk perception. Additional tests demonstrate that ceteris paribus, the positive impact of the readability of risk disclosure in the bond prospectus on the credit risk premium will be weakened by implicit government guarantees carried by a state-owned issuer and the listing status of the bond issuer but be strengthened by better corporate business performance, more financing constraints, and higher financial distress risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Yao, Yanzhen & Wei, Lu & Jing, Haozhe & Chen, Meiqi & Li, Zhan, 2024. "The impact of readability of risk disclosures in bond prospectuses on credit risk premium," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:70:y:2024:i:pa:s027553192400103x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027553192400103X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102310?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sudipto Sarkar, 1999. "Illiquidity Risk, Project Characteristics, And The Optimal Maturity Of Corporate Debt," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 22(3), pages 353-370, September.
    2. Hanley, Kathleen Weiss & Hoberg, Gerard, 2012. "Litigation risk, strategic disclosure and the underpricing of initial public offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 235-254.
    3. Lo, Kin & Ramos, Felipe & Rogo, Rafael, 2017. "Earnings management and annual report readability," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-25.
    4. Andreou, Christoforos K. & Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Lambertides, Neophytos, 2021. "Financial distress risk and stock price crashes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    5. Bonsall, Samuel B. & Leone, Andrew J. & Miller, Brian P. & Rennekamp, Kristina, 2017. "A plain English measure of financial reporting readability," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 329-357.
    6. Biddle, Gary C. & Hilary, Gilles & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2009. "How does financial reporting quality relate to investment efficiency?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 112-131, December.
    7. Shiyi Chen & Li Wang, 2015. "Will Political Connections Be Accounted for in the Interest Rates of Chinese Urban Development Investment Bonds?," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(1), pages 108-129, January.
    8. Jin, Jong-Dae, 1992. "The relationship between accounting earnings and bond returns," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 245-267.
    9. Zhang, Yuzhao & Liu, Haifei, 2021. "Stock market reactions to social media: Evidence from WeChat recommendations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 562(C).
    10. Chen, Wen & Wu, Weili & Zhang, Tonghui, 2023. "Fintech development, firm digitalization, and bank loan pricing," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    11. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2014. "Measuring Readability in Financial Disclosures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1643-1671, August.
    12. Sarkar, Sudipto, 1999. "Illiquidity Risk, Project Characteristics, and the Optimal Maturity of Corporate Debt," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 22(3), pages 353-370, Fall.
    13. Andreas Charitou & Neophytos Lambertides & Lenos Trigeorgis, 2007. "Earnings Behaviour of Financially Distressed Firms: The Role of Institutional Ownership," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 43(3), pages 271-296, September.
    14. Loughran, Tim & McDonald, Bill, 2013. "IPO first-day returns, offer price revisions, volatility, and form S-1 language," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 307-326.
    15. William Q. Judge & Helen W. Hu & Jonas Gabrielsson & Till Talaulicar & Michael A. Witt & Alessandro Zattoni & Félix López-Iturriaga & Jean Jingham Chen & Dhirendra Shukla & Majdi Quttainah & Emmanuel , 2015. "Configurations of Capacity for Change in Entrepreneurial Threshold Firms: Imprinting and Strategic Choice Perspectives," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 506-530, June.
    16. Dominique C. Badoer & Cem Demiroglu & Christopher M. James, 2019. "Ratings Quality and Borrowing Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(5), pages 2619-2665, October.
    17. Lagazio, Corrado & Persico, Luca & Querci, Francesca, 2021. "Public guarantees to SME lending: Do broader eligibility criteria pay off?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    18. Kristina Rennekamp, 2012. "Processing Fluency and Investors’ Reactions to Disclosure Readability," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(5), pages 1319-1354, December.
    19. Toni M. Whited & Guojun Wu, 2006. "Financial Constraints Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 531-559.
    20. Tom Arnold & Raymond P.H. Fishe & David North, 2010. "The Effects of Ambiguous Information on Initial and Subsequent IPO Returns," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(4), pages 1497-1519, December.
    21. Jin Boon Wong, 2021. "Stock market reactions to different types of oil shocks: Evidence from China," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(2), pages 179-193, February.
    22. Rui Ding, 2016. "Disclosure of Downside Risk and Investors' Use of Qualitative Information: Evidence from the IPO Prospectus's Risk Factor Section," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 73-126, March.
    23. Rebecca L. Rosner, 2003. "Earnings Manipulation in Failing Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 361-408, June.
    24. Wei Xu & Zhenye Yao & Donghua Chen, 2019. "Chinese annual report readability: measurement and test," China Journal of Accounting Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 407-437, July.
    25. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    26. Popli, Manish & Raithatha, Mehul & Fuad, Mohammad, 2021. "Impact of institutional imprinting on the persistence of superior profits: A study of regulatory punctuation in India," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 223-235.
    27. Dmitry Livdan & Horacio Sapriza & Lu Zhang, 2009. "Financially Constrained Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1827-1862, August.
    28. Rangel, José Gonzalo, 2011. "Macroeconomic news, announcements, and stock market jump intensity dynamics," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 1263-1276, May.
    29. Lahmar, Oumaima & Piras, Luca, 2023. "Making sense and transparency in finance literature: Evidence from trends in readability," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    30. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    31. Li, Feng, 2008. "Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 221-247, August.
    32. Guay, Wayne & Samuels, Delphine & Taylor, Daniel, 2016. "Guiding through the Fog: Financial statement complexity and voluntary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 234-269.
    33. Yang Bao & Anindya Datta, 2014. "Simultaneously Discovering and Quantifying Risk Types from Textual Risk Disclosures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1371-1391, June.
    34. W. Heynderickx & J. Cariboni & W. Schoutens & B. Smits, 2016. "The relationship between risk-neutral and actual default probabilities: the credit risk premium," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(42), pages 4066-4081, September.
    35. Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1990. "Financial distress, reorganization, and organizational efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 419-444, October.
    36. Ajina, Aymen & Laouiti, Mhamed & Msolli, Badreddine, 2016. "Guiding through the Fog: Does annual report readability reveal earnings management?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 509-516.
    37. Wang, Yuyue & Fang, Hongyan & Luo, Ronghua, 2022. "Does state ownership affect rating quality? Evidence from China's corporate bond market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    38. Christian Leuz & Catherine Schrand, 2009. "Disclosure and the Cost of Capital: Evidence from Firms' Responses to the Enron Shock," NBER Working Papers 14897, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    39. Kong, Dongmin & Shi, Lu & Zhang, Fan, 2021. "Explain or conceal? Causal language intensity in annual report and stock price crash risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 715-725.
    40. Ole-Kristian Hope & Danqi Hu & Hai Lu, 2016. "The benefits of specific risk-factor disclosures," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1005-1045, December.
    41. Sun, Li, 2023. "Asset redeployability and readability of annual report," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    42. Mirko S. Heinle & Kevin C. Smith, 2017. "A theory of risk disclosure," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1459-1491, December.
    43. Richard Lambert & Christian Leuz & Robert E. Verrecchia, 2007. "Accounting Information, Disclosure, and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 385-420, May.
    44. Lawrence, Alastair, 2013. "Individual investors and financial disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 130-147.
    45. Lehrer, Steven & Xie, Tian & Zhang, Xinyu, 2021. "Social media sentiment, model uncertainty, and volatility forecasting," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    46. An, Zhe & Chen, Chen & Naiker, Vic & Wang, Jun, 2020. "Does media coverage deter firms from withholding bad news? Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    47. Samuel B. Bonsall & Brian P. Miller, 2017. "The impact of narrative disclosure readability on bond ratings and the cost of debt," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 608-643, June.
    48. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1553-1583 is not listed on IDEAS
    49. Erik P. Gilje & Jerome P. Taillard, 2016. "Do Private Firms Invest Differently than Public Firms? Taking Cues from the Natural Gas Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(4), pages 1733-1778, August.
    50. Meng, Qingbin & Li, Xinyu & Chan, Kam C. & Gao, Shenghao, 2020. "Does short selling affect a firm's financial constraints?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    51. Walker, Thomas & Zhang, Xueying & Zhang, Aoran & Wang, Yulin, 2021. "Fact or fiction: Implicit government guarantees in China’s corporate bond market," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    52. Ilan Cooper, 2006. "Asset Pricing Implications of Nonconvex Adjustment Costs and Irreversibility of Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 139-170, February.
    53. Stephen P. Ferris & (Grace) Qing Hao & (Stella) Min-Yu Liao, 2013. "The Effect of Issuer Conservatism on IPO Pricing and Performance," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(3), pages 993-1027.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Banerjee, Ameet Kumar & Pradhan, H.K. & Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Sensoy, Ahmet & Dann, Susan, 2024. "Anatomy of sovereign yield behaviour using textual news," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rjiba, Hatem & Saadi, Samir & Boubaker, Sabri & Ding, Xiaoya (Sara), 2021. "Annual report readability and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Habib, Ahsan, 2020. "Readability of narrative disclosures, and corporate liquidity and payout policies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Soliman, Marwa & Ben-Amar, Walid, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility orientation and textual features of financial disclosures," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Humphery-Jenner, Mark & Liu, Yun & Nanda, Vikram & Silveri, Sabatino & Sun, Minxing, 2024. "Of fogs and bogs: Does litigation risk make financial reports less readable?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    5. Mousa, Gehan A. & Elamir, Elsayed A.H. & Hussainey, Khaled, 2022. "The effect of annual report narratives on the cost of capital in the Middle East and North Africa: A machine learning approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Asiri, Mohammed & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Taylor, Grantley & Duong, Lien, 2020. "Is corporate tax avoidance associated with investment efficiency?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Jia, Jing & Li, Zhongtian, 2022. "Risk management committees and readability of risk management disclosure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3).
    8. Leye Li & Louise Yi Lu & Yi Wang & Yangxin Yu, 2023. "Workforce diversity and financial statement readability," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(S1), pages 1599-1631, April.
    9. Muhammad Nadeem, 2022. "Board Gender Diversity and Managerial Obfuscation: Evidence from the Readability of Narrative Disclosure in 10-K Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 153-177, August.
    10. Sun, Li & Johnson, Grace & Bradley, Wray, 2022. "CEO power and annual report reading difficulty," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    11. Banerjee, Pradip & Dutta, Shantanu & Zhu, Pengcheng, 2021. "Multidimensionality of text based financial constraints and working capital management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Drago, Carlo & Ginesti, Gianluca & Pongelli, Claudia & Sciascia, Salvatore, 2018. "Reporting strategies: What makes family firms beat around the bush? Family-related antecedents of annual report readability," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 142-150.
    13. Sun, Li, 2023. "Asset redeployability and readability of annual report," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    14. Asay, H. Scott & Libby, Robert & Rennekamp, Kristina, 2018. "Firm performance, reporting goals, and language choices in narrative disclosures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 380-398.
    15. Akhilesh Bajaj & Lori N. K. Leonard & Li Sun & Zhenze Xing, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and annual report reading difficulty," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1393-1428, May.
    16. Ling Tuo & Yu (Tony) Zhang & Zhenfeng Liu & Ruixue Du, 2019. "Business Education of CEO-CFO and Annual Report Readability," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 17, pages 16-34, August.
    17. de Souza, João Antônio Salvador & Rissatti, Jean Carlo & Rover, Suliani & Borba, José Alonso, 2019. "The linguistic complexities of narrative accounting disclosure on financial statements: An analysis based on readability characteristics," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 59-74.
    18. Pang, Xin & Wang, Kemin & Zhou, Lin, 2024. "When they say ‘not affected’, what do they mean? Evidence from trade disputes," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Danial Hemmings & Lynn Hodgkinson & Gwion Williams, 2020. "It's OK to pay well, if you write well: The effects of remuneration disclosure readability," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5-6), pages 547-586, May.
    20. Kuo Zhou & Xianghui Jin & Xinru Li & Yunqing Tao, 2024. "Enhancing sustainable development through effective disclosure: Corporate environmental performance and readability," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 274-291, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:70:y:2024:i:pa:s027553192400103x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ribaf .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.