IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ausman/v49y2024i2p192-213.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disclosure policy choice, stock returns and information asymmetry: Evidence from capital expenditure announcements

Author

Listed:
  • Jianguo Chen
  • David Smith

Abstract

This article investigates whether firms commit ex-ante to higher levels of investment transparency and the impact of transparency on stock returns and information asymmetry. We construct a novel measure of investment transparency based upon the extensiveness of profitability forecasts and cost disclosures in new project-level capital investment announcements. Using cross-sectional regression, we find that prior to announcement greater investment transparency is associated with lower information asymmetry. We further show that rather than reporting information strategically on a project-by-project basis, managers commit ex-ante to a disclosure policy that influences the disclosure level of new project announcements, and that a firm-level commitment to fuller disclosure reduces information asymmetry in the days surrounding the announcement. Using event study methodology, we also find that investors react more positively to announcements displaying greater investment transparency. JEL Classification: G14, D83, G31, G30, G38

Suggested Citation

  • Jianguo Chen & David Smith, 2024. "Disclosure policy choice, stock returns and information asymmetry: Evidence from capital expenditure announcements," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 49(2), pages 192-213, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:49:y:2024:i:2:p:192-213
    DOI: 10.1177/03128962221127128
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03128962221127128
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/03128962221127128?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cannizzaro, Anthony P. & Weiner, Robert J., 2015. "Multinational investment and voluntary disclosure: Project-level evidence from the petroleum industry," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 32-47.
    2. Atiase, Rk, 1985. "Predisclosure Information, Firm Capitalization, And Security Price Behavior Around Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 21-36.
    3. Timothy J. Brailsford & Daniel Yeoh, 2004. "Agency Problems and Capital Expenditure Announcements," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 77(2), pages 223-256, April.
    4. Jing He & Marlene A. Plumlee & He Wen, 2019. "Voluntary disclosure, mandatory disclosure and the cost of capital," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3-4), pages 307-335, March.
    5. Kathleen Weiss Hanley, 2010. "The Information Content of IPO Prospectuses," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2821-2864, July.
    6. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    7. Paul M. Healy & Amy P. Hutton & Krishna G. Palepu, 1999. "Stock Performance and Intermediation Changes Surrounding Sustained Increases in Disclosure," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 485-520, September.
    8. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    9. 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.
    10. Stephen A. Ross, 1977. "The Determination of Financial Structure: The Incentive-Signalling Approach," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(1), pages 23-40, Spring.
    11. Leuz, C & Verrecchia, RE, 2000. "The economic consequences of increased disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38, pages 91-124.
    12. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Milgrom, Paul R., 1985. "Bid, ask and transaction prices in a specialist market with heterogeneously informed traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 71-100, March.
    13. Amihud, Yakov & Mendelson, Haim, 1986. "Asset pricing and the bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 223-249, December.
    14. Jonathan L. Rogers, 2008. "Disclosure Quality and Management Trading Incentives," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1265-1296, December.
    15. Verrecchia, Robert E., 2001. "Essays on disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 97-180, December.
    16. 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.
    17. Boehmer, Ekkehart & Masumeci, Jim & Poulsen, Annette B., 1991. "Event-study methodology under conditions of event-induced variance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 253-272, December.
    18. Re‐Jin Guo & Baruch Lev & Nan Zhou, 2004. "Competitive Costs of Disclosure by Biotech IPOs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 319-355, May.
    19. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    20. Kim, O & Verrecchia, Re, 1991. "Trading Volume And Price Reactions To Public Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 302-321.
    21. Coller, M & Yohn, TL, 1997. "Management forecasts and information asymmetry: An examination of bid-ask spreads," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 181-191.
    22. Chen, Sheng-Syan, 2006. "The Economic Impact of Corporate Capital Expenditures: Focused Firms versus Diversified Firms," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 341-355, June.
    23. Diamond, Douglas W & Verrecchia, Robert E, 1991. "Disclosure, Liquidity, and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1325-1359, September.
    24. Core, John E., 2001. "A review of the empirical disclosure literature: discussion," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 441-456, September.
    25. Mark E. Evans, 2016. "Commitment and Cost of Equity Capital: An Examination of Timely Balance Sheet Disclosure in Earnings Announcements," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(3), pages 1136-1171, September.
    26. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    27. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April.
    28. Benjamin Segal & Dan Segal, 2016. "Are managers strategic in reporting non-earnings news? Evidence on timing and news bundling," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1203-1244, December.
    29. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    30. repec:oup:rfinst:v:21:y:2017:i:4:p:1355-1401. is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    32. X. Frank Zhang, 2006. "Information Uncertainty and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 105-137, February.
    33. Kingsley Y. L. Fong & Craig W. Holden & Charles A. Trzcinka, 2017. "What Are the Best Liquidity Proxies for Global Research?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(4), pages 1355-1401.
    34. Mohamed, Abdulkadir & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2016. "Voluntary disclosure of corporate venture capital investments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 69-83.
    35. Amiram, Dan & Owens, Edward & Rozenbaum, Oded, 2016. "Do information releases increase or decrease information asymmetry? New evidence from analyst forecast announcements," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 121-138.
    36. Diamond, Douglas W, 1985. "Optimal Release of Information by Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1071-1094, September.
    37. Corrado, Charles J., 1989. "A nonparametric test for abnormal security-price performance in event studies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 385-395, August.
    38. Wagenhofer, Alfred, 1990. "Voluntary disclosure with a strategic opponent," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 341-363, March.
    39. Chung, Kee H. & Wright, Peter & Charoenwong, Charlie, 1998. "Investment opportunities and market reaction to capital expenditure decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 41-60, January.
    40. Ole‐Kristian Hope & Wayne B. Thomas, 2008. "Managerial Empire Building and Firm Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 591-626, June.
    41. McConnell, John J. & Muscarella, Chris J., 1985. "Corporate capital expenditure decisions and the market value of the firm," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 399-422, September.
    42. Dichev, Ilia D. & Tang, Vicki Wei, 2009. "Earnings volatility and earnings predictability," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1-2), pages 160-181, March.
    43. Carolyn Wirth & Jing Chi & Martin Young, 2013. "The Economic Impact of Capital Expenditures: Environmental Regulatory Delay as a Source of Competitive Advantage?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1-2), pages 115-141, January.
    44. Cristi Gleason & Zhejia Ling & Rong Zhao, 2020. "Selective disclosure and the role of Form 8‐K in the post‐Reg FD era," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 365-396, March.
    45. Pavel Savor & Mungo Wilson, 2016. "Earnings Announcements and Systematic Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(1), pages 83-138, February.
    46. V. K. Narayanan & George E. Pinches & Kathryn M. Kelm & Diane M. Lander, 2000. "The influence of voluntarily disclosed qualitative information," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 707-722, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    2. Roychowdhury, Sugata & Shroff, Nemit & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2019. "The effects of financial reporting and disclosure on corporate investment: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2).
    3. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    4. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    5. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The Endogeneity Bias in the Relation Between Cost-of-Debt Capital and Corporate Disclosure Policy," Discussion Paper 2005-67, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    6. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The Endogeneity Bias in the Relation Between Cost-of-Debt Capital and Corporate Disclosure Policy," Other publications TiSEM 5960a342-0adc-4f85-bf87-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Stephan Hollander & Maarten Pronk & Erik Roelofsen, 2010. "Does Silence Speak? An Empirical Analysis of Disclosure Choices During Conference Calls," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 531-563, June.
    8. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The endogeneity bias in the relation between cost-of-debt capital and corporate disclosure policy," Other publications TiSEM 04869b30-e8a9-4ecf-84ae-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Imhof, Michael J & Seavey, Scott E., 2018. "How investors value cash and cash flows when managers commit to providing earnings forecasts," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 74-87.
    10. Heitzman, Shane & Wasley, Charles & Zimmerman, Jerold, 2010. "The joint effects of materiality thresholds and voluntary disclosure incentives on firms' disclosure decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 109-132, February.
    11. Sheng-Syan Chen & Chia-Wei Huang & Chuan-Yang Hwang & Yanzhi Wang, 2022. "Voluntary disclosure and corporate innovation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1081-1115, April.
    12. Omaima Hassan & Claire Marston, 2010. "Disclosure measurement in the empirical accounting literature - a review article," Accountancy Discussion Papers 1004, Accountancy Research Group, Heriot Watt University.
    13. Nagar, Venky & Schoenfeld, Jordan & Wellman, Laura, 2019. "The effect of economic policy uncertainty on investor information asymmetry and management disclosures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 36-57.
    14. Albring, Susan M. & Xu, Xiaolu, 2018. "Management earnings forecasts, managerial incentives, and risk-taking," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 48-69.
    15. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    16. Shiyan Yin & Kai Yao & Thanaset Chevapatrakul & Rong Huang, 2024. "Reduced disclosure and default risk: analysis of smaller reporting companies," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 355-395, July.
    17. Evgeny Petrov, 2020. "Voluntary Disclosure and Informed Trading," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 2257-2286, December.
    18. Jennifer Francis & Dhananjay Nanda & Per Olsson, 2008. "Voluntary Disclosure, Earnings Quality, and Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 53-99, March.
    19. Leonardo Fernandez, 2012. "Price Discovery, Investor Distraction and Analyst Recommendations Under Continuous Disclosure Requirements in Australia," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 1-2012, January-A.
    20. Andrew J. Leone & Steve Rock & Michael Willenborg, 2007. "Disclosure of Intended Use of Proceeds and Underpricing in Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 111-153, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital expenditures; committed disclosure; disclosure policy choice; information asymmetry; information disclosure; investment transparency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:ausman:v:49:y:2024:i:2:p:192-213. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agsm.edu.au .

    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.