L'impatto dell'informativa contabile di tipo volontario sui mercati finanziari: principali evidenze empiriche e problemi di misurazione

This book explores the alternative corporate financial communication choices, identifying different categories of value-relevant information (not only the traditional classification into voluntary and mandatory information) that companies could disclose to analysts. Considering the dynamic communication process between companies and the market, the book reviews the international literature on corporate disclosure, trying to summarize the mixed evidence of the main effects of disclosure policies on stock prices, liquidity, cost of capital, and analyst following as well. Covering studies from “reaction” to “value-relevance” ones, the book provides a basis for designing disclosure guidance that companies can follow to develop their model for corporate financial communication. Additionally, the book presents a disclosure index to estimate the quality of voluntary disclosure, providing theoretical evidence supporting its reliability and validity. The purpose of the index is to produce a cross-sectional ranking of disclosure level based on the amount of voluntary disclosure disseminate by firms in their annual reports. The index is based both on a clear definition of voluntary information (not only based on a traditional dichotomy) and on disclosure that firms provide in their annual reports. The focus on this channel is justified by past studies that demonstrate that the annual report is a good proxy for the level of voluntary disclosure provided across all disclosure avenues. The selection of items included in the index was guided by past international studies on the topic and, with reference to the evaluation of disclosure quality, the weight we assign to each item reflects the categories identified as useful in investment decision making by financial analysts. The book is organized as follow. Chapter 1 discusses the dynamic of corporate financial disclosure, the main avenues that companies can use to disseminate financial information, and the users of financial information and their information needs. Chapter 2 describes the different approaches took by literature (especially from USA) to measuring the effects of corporate mandatory disclosure on stock prices, summarizing related research and results and distinguishing reaction studies from value relevance ones. Chapter 3 shifts the focus on voluntary disclosure, underling the main effects of this kind of disclosure on stock prices, volatility, and cost of capital. Finally, Section 4 presents a disclosure index to estimate the quality of voluntary disclosure. Based on 79 weighted-items that reflect information used in investment decisions by analysts, the disclosure index defines a useful procedure to estimate firms’ level of disclosure that could be use in empirical studies on financial disclosure.