讲座人：Yue Zhang

讲座主题：Private versus public channels for corporate disclosure of good and bad news

摘要：This study examines whether U.S. firms disclose through private channels more good news than bad news in quarterly management forecasts when private channels are available. Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) prohibits firms from using private channels of communication for disclosing corporate information. We examine and find that after Reg FD implementation until 2010, the percentage (likelihood) of good news in management forecasts was significantly higher than before Reg FD, controlling for the percentage (likelihood) of good news in actual earnings. We also find that the mean and skewness of the abnormal return around the management forecast date was significantly after Reg FD implementation. These results are consistent with the notion that before Reg FD firms used private channels to disclose more good news than bad news, and after Reg FD implementation firms switched from private to public disclosure of more good news than bad news. Moreover, we find that after Reg FD implementation, firms increased the precision of their management forecasts, and that the increase was more significant for good news than for bad. The absolute values of the abnormal returns and abnormal turnover around the management forecast date with good news remained unchanged; however, those with bad news significantly dropped after Reg FD implementation. The extent that the overall news in a calendar year can be explained by the news in management forecasts did not change, but increased for good news management forecasts following Reg FD implementation. These results suggest that the overall information content of management forecasts did not change after Reg FD implementation: good news that was switched from private to public channels had information content similar to those that were publicly disclosed before Reg FD. Bad news that was switched from private to public channels had a smaller magnitude than that publicly disclosed before Reg FD, consistent with the notion that firms disclose significant bad news publicly even though private disclosure is allowed due to litigation constraints. These findings contribute to the literature of firms’ private disclosure, the disclosure of good news versus bad news, and the effects of Reg FD.

讲座时间：2014年11月05日，周三，13:30开始

讲座地点：学院南路校区学术会堂202会议室

讲座人简介：Yue Zhang（张玥），2000年本科毕业于南开大学；2009年毕业于The University of Texas at Dallas，获得会计学博士学位。现任香港城市大学会计学系助理教授。研究成果被接受发表于Review of Accounting Studies以及Production and Operations Management。

本次论坛参加人员范围：会计学院教师、博士生、本硕博连读生以及本科生学术创新实验班成员。

[编辑]：孙颖