Voluntary disclosure in R&D-Intensive industries

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jones, Denise A.
• 署名单位: William & Mary
• 刊物名称: CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0823-9150
• DOI: 10.1506/G3M3-2532-514H-1517
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 489-+
• 关键词: Information asymmetry; CORPORATE DISCLOSURE; ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE; EARNINGS FORECASTS; management; ANALYST; MARKET; POLICY; fd

摘要

Disclosures about research and development (R&D) activities could potentially help market participants understand the future prospects of R&D-intensive firms, but at the same-time could be costly to make if the disclosure is related to proprietary information. I examine R&D-related disclosures made by R&D-intensive firms in their annual reports, as well as those made throughout the year to financial analysts. I find that the level of R&D-related voluntary disclosure is higher when proprietary costs are lower and when the book-to-market ratio is lower, perhaps because the basic financial statements are less informative about market value. In addition, after controlling for the level of general disclosure and forward-looking disclosure, I find a negative relation between disclosures about development-stage R&D and both analysts' one-year-ahead sales forecast error and dispersion. This is consistent with disclosures about development-stage R&D reducing analyst uncertainty about one-year-ahead sales. I find mixed evidence about earnings forecasts. A higher level of disclosure about both R&D projects in progress and development-stage R&D is associated with less error in analysts' one-year-ahead earnings forecasts. However, I find no evidence of a relation between R&D-related disclosure and dispersion in one year-ahead earnings forecasts.