Accounting Theses and Dissertations
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/10288
2024-03-29T01:37:34ZHuman-Interaction-based Information and Managerial Learning from Stock Prices: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/29228
Human-Interaction-based Information and Managerial Learning from Stock Prices: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Park, Seyoung
Despite growing evidence managers learn information from stock prices that guide their investment decisions, the forms of information that underlie this learning mechanism are not well understood. This paper explores whether information produced by investors’ in-person human interactions is a key form of this information. Using foot traffic based on GPS location data from customers’ smartphones as a proxy for human-interaction-based information in stock prices, I find that investment-q sensitivity increases with foot traffic, consistent with managerial learning from prices increasing with the amount of human-interaction-based information in prices. To mitigate omitted variable bias, I use lockdowns triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic as exogenous shocks to information produced by human interactions. I find a decrease in investment-q sensitivity during the pandemic. The decrease is more pronounced when foot traffic decreases in places where human interactions are most likely to produce new information (e.g., cafés and restaurants) and among local firms, for which human-interaction-based information production was more active pre-pandemic. I further find that the decrease is more marked among young and growing firms, which investors have a comparative advantage in evaluating. Lastly, I show that my findings are not explained by noise trading, financial constraints, managers’ direct acquisition of human-interaction-based information, and local economic conditions. Taken together, I provide novel evidence of human-interaction-based information being a key form of information underlying managerial learning from stock prices.
2024-01-10T00:00:00ZThe Effect of SEC Staff Diversity on Investigation Decisions
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/29142
The Effect of SEC Staff Diversity on Investigation Decisions
Gabrielsen, Lance
I explore how ethnic and gender diversity at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affects its investigation decisions. Employing a novel dataset of SEC employees, I find a positive association between SEC office-level diversity and the propensity of the Commission to open investigations. These results strengthen when interacted with the occurrence of a trigger that an investigation may be warranted. This evidence is consistent with diversity improving the investigative abilities of the agency. Additionally, I study how diversity influences investigation outcomes. I find that more diverse offices open investigations that are shorter and less likely to lead to enforcement. While potentially suggestive of the inefficiencies of diversity, this evidence is also consistent with more diverse staff being assigned less serious, easier-to-resolve investigations. Lastly, I find that SEC-firm similarity moderates the diversity-investigation relation. Specifically, when both the SEC staff and firm executives have high levels of diversity, the Commission is less likely to open investigations, highlighting a potential leniency bias towards diverse firms.
2024-01-09T00:00:00ZUltimate Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Regulation and the Real effects of Investment: A Cross-Country Analysis
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/28078
Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Regulation and the Real effects of Investment: A Cross-Country Analysis
Berry, Erica
In this study, I examine whether laws mandating disclosure of ultimate beneficial ownership of entities influence outbound foreign direct investment activities. The secrecy provided by anonymous companies allows the individuals controlling a company to be obscured, a factor that can be used to hide improper or illicit activity. I take advantage of the staggered enactment of laws in countries that require disclosure of beneficial owners to assess whether firms change their foreign direct investment behavior in response to increased transparency. I find limited evidence that, on average, firms reduce their outbound foreign direct investment behavior in response to ultimate beneficiary ownership disclosure laws. However, in a cross-sectional analysis, I find that the level of perceived corruption, the existence of country-by-country reporting requirements, and location as a known tax haven affect how firm investment changes upon enactment of laws mandating disclosure of ultimate beneficial ownership.
2023-03-24T00:00:00ZDo Private Tax Disclosures Affect the Quality of Public Financial Reporting?
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/27653
Do Private Tax Disclosures Affect the Quality of Public Financial Reporting?
Wu, Juan
This study investigates whether increased private tax disclosures have implications for the quality of public financial reporting in the context of Schedule UTP. In terms of the predictive value of tax reserves, I find that firms reverted from being over-reserved to being adequately reserved post-Schedule UTP. In terms of the confirmatory value of tax reserves, I find that firms report more accurate tax reserves post-Schedule UTP, as evidenced by the higher explanatory power of the UTB prediction model (Rego and Wilson, 2012) and reduced tax expense management post-Schedule UTP. In terms of the informativeness of tax reserves, I find that analysts’ ETR forecast accuracy is improved post-Schedule UTP, suggesting reduced information asymmetry between firms and financial statement users. Overall, this study provides evidence that other stakeholders beyond tax authorities benefit from increased private tax disclosures, and Schedule UTP may have achieved the goal intended by the FASB.
2022-10-04T00:00:00Z