Amy X. Sun

Voluntary Disclosure and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from the 2005 Securities Offering Reform

In 2005, the SEC enacted the Securities Offering Reform (Reform), which relaxes ‘gun jumping’ restrictions, thereby allowing firms to more freely disclose information before equity offerings. We examine the effect of the Reform on voluntary disclosure behavior before equity offerings and the associated economic consequences. We find that firms provide significantly more preoffering disclosures after the Reform. Further, we find that these pre-offering disclosures are associated with a decrease in information asymmetry and a reduction in the cost of raising equity capital. Our findings not only inform the debate on the market effect of the Reform, but also speak to the literature on the relation between voluntary disclosure and information asymmetry by examining the effect of quasi-exogenous changes in voluntary disclosure on information asymmetry, and thus a firm’s cost of capital. JEL Classification: G14; M41

Long-Term Growth in Housing Prices and Stock Returns: Long-Term Growth in Housing Prices and Stock Returns

A firms long�?term stock returns are negatively related to past growth in housing prices in the state where the firm is located. The housing price effect is persistent and robust to controlling for the long�?term stock return reversal effect, changes in mortgage interest rates across the states, cyclicality in housing prices and overall local economic conditions. There is no evidence that extant asset pricing models can adequately explain the effect. The study discusses potential explanations for, and the implications of, the cross�?regional housing price effect.

Long-Term Growth in Housing Prices and Stock Returns

A firm’s long-term stock returns are negatively related to past growth in housing prices in the state where the firm is located. The housing price effect is persistent, and robust to controlling for the long-term stock return reversal effect, changes in mortgage interest rates across the states, cyclicality in housing prices, and overall local economic conditions. There is no evidence that extant asset pricing models can adequately explain the effect. The study discusses potential explanations for, and the implications of, the cross-regional housing price effect.

Abnormal Accruals and Managerial Intent: Evidence from the Timing of Merger Announcements and Completions

We examine the extent to which managers report opportunistically prior to corporate events by analyzing the association between the timing of stock swap announcements and completions and acquirers’ reporting behaviors. Using the timing of merger announcements and completions to infer managerial intent, we show that stock-for-stock acquirers’ reporting behaviors are opportunistic. More specifically, we show that stock-for-stock acquirers that inflate earnings the most tend to announce mergers on Fridays, while distancing some of their earnings management activities from the merger announcement date. The negative association between the post-merger announcement market performance and pre-merger announcement abnormal accruals is more pronounced for Friday announcers than for non-Friday announcers. Furthermore, the differential pre-merger abnormal accruals across Friday and non-Friday announcers are observed mainly when the announcement date is relatively close to the completion date. Overall, the evidence supports the notion that pre-acquisition abnormal accruals are related to deliberate opportunistic managerial decisions.