Date of Graduation

7-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Accounting

Advisor/Mentor

Myers, Linda A.

Committee Member

Cassell, Cory A.

Second Committee Member

Myers, James N.

Third Committee Member

Xie, Kangzhen

Keywords

Social sciences; Accounting; Corporate governance; Disclosure; Disclosure committee; Earnings informativeness; Information asymmetry

Abstract

After the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission recommended that companies voluntarily adopt disclosure committees to aid in preparing company disclosures. In this paper, I investigate the determinants and consequences of disclosure committee adoption. I find that companies with material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting and less readable 10-K filings are more likely to adopt disclosure committees. In consequences analyses, using a propensity score matched control sample and a difference-in-differences research design, I find that 10-K filings are longer and less readable after disclosure committee adoption. However, consistent with institutional theory, I do not find evidence of a reduction in information asymmetry or an increase in the informativeness of earnings following disclosure committee adoption.

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