Mandatory Disclosure and Operational Risk: Evidence from Hedge Fund Registration

55 Pages Posted: 21 Jul 2006 Last revised: 11 Sep 2009

See all articles by Stephen J. Brown

Stephen J. Brown

New York University - Stern School of Business

William N. Goetzmann

Yale School of Management - International Center for Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Bing Liang

University of Massachusetts Amherst - Department of Finance

Christopher Schwarz

University of California, Irvine - Finance Area

Abstract

Mandatory disclosure is a regulatory tool intended to allow market participants to assess operational risk. We examine the value of disclosure through the controversial SEC requirement, since overturned, which required major hedge funds to register as investment advisors and file Form ADV disclosures. Leverage and ownership structures suggest that lenders and equity investors were already aware of operational risk. However, operational risk does not mediate flow-performance relationships. Investors either lack this information or regard it as immaterial. These findings suggest that regulators should account for the endogenous production of information and the marginal benefit of disclosure to different investment clienteles.

Keywords: Hedge funds, operational risk, SEC filing, Form ADV

JEL Classification: G2, K2

Suggested Citation

Brown, Stephen J. and Goetzmann, William N. and Liang, Bing and Schwarz, Christopher, Mandatory Disclosure and Operational Risk: Evidence from Hedge Fund Registration. Journal of Finance, Forthcoming, Yale ICF Working Paper No. 06-15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=918461

Stephen J. Brown

New York University - Stern School of Business ( email )

Stern School of Business
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New York, NY 10012-1126
United States
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212-995-4233 (Fax)

William N. Goetzmann

Yale School of Management - International Center for Finance ( email )

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P.O. Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
United States
203-432-5950 (Phone)
203-436-9252 (Fax)

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
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Bing Liang (Contact Author)

University of Massachusetts Amherst - Department of Finance ( email )

Amherst, MA 01003
United States

Christopher Schwarz

University of California, Irvine - Finance Area ( email )

Irvine, CA 92697-3125
United States

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