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

Posted: 28 Nov 2013

See all articles by Nemit Shroff

Nemit Shroff

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

Amy X. Sun

University of Houston

Hal D. White

University of Notre Dame

Weining Zhang

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 26, 2013

Abstract

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 pre-offering 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.

Keywords: Securities Offering Reform, Information Asymmetry, Voluntary Disclosure, Management Forecasts, Press Releases, Seasoned Equity Offerings, Market efficiency

Suggested Citation

Shroff, Nemit and Sun, Amy X. and White, Hal D. and Zhang, Weining, Voluntary Disclosure and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from the 2005 Securities Offering Reform (November 26, 2013). Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 51, No. 5, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2360177

Nemit Shroff

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management ( email )

100 Main St.
E62-688
Cambridge, MA MA 02142
United States
6173240805 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/detail.php?in_spseqno=51407&co_list=F

Amy X. Sun

University of Houston ( email )

Bauer College of Business
334 Melcher Hall, 390H
Houston, TX 77204
United States
7137435682 (Phone)

Hal D. White (Contact Author)

University of Notre Dame ( email )

389C Mendoza College of Business
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
United States
574-361-3809 (Phone)

Weining Zhang

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business ( email )

Oriental Plaza, Tower E3
One East Chang An Avenue
Beijing, 100738
China

HOME PAGE: http://english.ckgsb.edu.cn/FacultyResearch/Faculty/Accounting/ZhangWeining.aspx

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
1,701
PlumX Metrics