IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/accper/v7y2008i4p317-340.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Voluntary Disclosure of Good and Bad Earnings News in a Low Litigation Setting

Author

Listed:
  • Philip T. Sinnadurai

Abstract

This study uses a historical setting in which expected litigation costs were low (i.e., Australia, from 1993 to 1996) to investigate whether companies with good news were more likely to preempt annual earnings than their counterparts with bad news. Empirical tests compare the probability of preemption conditional on having good news with the probability of preemption conditional on having bad news. The models control for other potential determinants of disclosure policy that have been documented in the literature. The results do not support the research hypothesis that companies with good news were more likely to preempt annual earnings than companies with bad news. This finding suggests that there may be other factors driving disclosure of bad news, in addition to those acknowledged in the extant literature. The evidence also indicates that in Australia during the investigation period, the probability of preemption was positively associated with firm size and analyst following and differed as a function of industry membership.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip T. Sinnadurai, 2008. "Voluntary Disclosure of Good and Bad Earnings News in a Low Litigation Setting," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(4), pages 317-340, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:accper:v:7:y:2008:i:4:p:317-340
    DOI: 10.1506/ap.7.4.3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1506/ap.7.4.3
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1506/ap.7.4.3?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. Skinner, Dj, 1994. "Why Firms Voluntarily Disclose Bad-News," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 38-60.
    2. Marilyn F. Johnson & Ron Kasznik & Karen K. Nelson, 2001. "The Impact of Securities Litigation Reform on the Disclosure of Forward‐Looking Information By High Technology Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 297-327, September.
    3. Bamber, LS & Cheon, YS, 1998. "Discretionary management earnings forecast disclosures: Antecedents and outcomes associated with forecast venue and forecast specificity choices," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 167-190.
    4. Henry Choon & Michelle Smith & Stephen Taylor, 2000. "What do Australian Annual Reports Say About Future Earnings?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 10(20), pages 17-25, March.
    5. Julie Cotter & Irem Tuna & Peter D. Wysocki, 2006. "Expectations Management and Beatable Targets: How Do Analysts React to Explicit Earnings Guidance?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(3), pages 593-624, September.
    6. 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.
    7. John Holland, 1996. "Corporate and institutional control over the dissemination of price sensitive information," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 77-102.
    8. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "Corrigendum to "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings"; [Journal of Accounting and Economics 29 (2000) 1-51]," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 241-241, October.
    9. Skinner, Douglas J., 1997. "Earnings disclosures and stockholder lawsuits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 249-282, November.
    10. Huddart, Steven & Lang, Mark, 2003. "Information distribution within firms: evidence from stock option exercises," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-3), pages 3-31, January.
    11. Darrough, Masako N. & Stoughton, Neal M., 1990. "Financial disclosure policy in an entry game," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 219-243, January.
    12. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    13. Jay Dahya & John J. McConnell & Nickolaos G. Travlos, 2002. "The Cadbury Committee, Corporate Performance, and Top Management Turnover," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 461-483, February.
    14. Tristan Boyd & Philip Brown & Alex Szimayer, 2007. "What determines early exercise of employee stock options in Australia?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 47(2), pages 165-185, June.
    15. Scott Richardson & Siew Hong Teoh & Peter D. Wysocki, 2004. "The Walk†down to Beatable Analyst Forecasts: The Role of Equity Issuance and Insider Trading Incentives," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(4), pages 885-924, December.
    16. Aboody, David & Kasznik, Ron, 2000. "CEO stock option awards and the timing of corporate voluntary disclosures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 73-100, February.
    17. Field, Laura & Lowry, Michelle & Shu, Susan, 2005. "Does disclosure deter or trigger litigation?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 487-507, September.
    18. Skinner, Douglas J., 1993. "The investment opportunity set and accounting procedure choice : Preliminary evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 407-445, October.
    19. Martin Conyon & Annita Florou, 2002. "Top executive dismissal, ownership and corporate performance," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 209-225.
    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. Annette Köhler & Lars Junc, 2010. "Die Qualität von Corporate-Compliance-Systemen," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 299-322, November.

    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. 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.
    2. Hurwitz, Helen, 2017. "The understatement of large negative earnings news in managers’ annual guidance," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 119-133.
    3. Walter Aerts & Ann Tarca, 2010. "Financial performance explanations and institutional setting," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(5), pages 421-450.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. S. P. Kothari & Susan Shu & Peter D. Wysocki, 2009. "Do Managers Withhold Bad News?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 241-276, March.
    8. 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.
    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. Ball, Ray & Jayaraman, Sudarshan & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2012. "Audited financial reporting and voluntary disclosure as complements: A test of the Confirmation Hypothesis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 136-166.
    11. Ruth V. Aguilera & Kurt A. Desender & Mónica López-Puertas Lamy & Jun Ho Lee, 2017. "The governance impact of a changing investor landscape," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(2), pages 195-221, February.
    12. Iatridis, George & Valahi, Styliani, 2010. "Voluntary IAS 1 accounting disclosures prior to official IAS adoption: An empirical investigation of UK firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-14, January.
    13. Ertimur, Yonca & Sletten, Ewa & Sunder, Jayanthi, 2014. "Large shareholders and disclosure strategies: Evidence from IPO lockup expirations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 79-95.
    14. Stewart, Christopher R., 2023. "Appraisal rights and corporate disclosure during mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    15. Dayanandan, Ajit & Donker, Han & Karahan, Gökhan, 2017. "Do voluntary disclosures of bad news improve liquidity?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 16-29.
    16. Rogers, Jonathan L. & Van Buskirk, Andrew, 2009. "Shareholder litigation and changes in disclosure behavior," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1-2), pages 136-156, March.
    17. Jae B. Kim, 2016. "Accounting flexibility and managers’ forecast behavior prior to seasoned equity offerings," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1361-1400, December.
    18. Guojin Gong & Laura Y. Li & Jeff J. Wang, 2011. "Serial Correlation in Management Earnings Forecast Errors," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 677-720, June.
    19. Chen, Jing & Jung, Michael J. & Tang, Michael, 2023. "Does lowball guidance work? An analysis of firms that consistently beat their guidance by large margins," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(6).
    20. Ashok Robin & Qiang Wu, 2015. "Firm growth and the pricing of discretionary accruals," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 561-590, October.

    More about this item

    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:wly:accper:v:7:y:2008:i:4:p:317-340. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1911-3838 .

    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.