Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Accounting

Advisor

Cory Cassell

Committee Member

Kristian Allee

Second Committee Member

Michael Crawley

Keywords

disclosure bias, geographic segment disclosure, non-GAAP disclosure, segment reporting requirements, strategic disclosure, voluntary disclosure

Abstract

In this study, I examine whether companies are more likely to disclose revenue growth adjusted to remove the effects of foreign currency fluctuations (constant-currency revenue growth rates) when currency fluctuations decrease revenue growth (i.e., there is a currency headwind) than when currency fluctuations increase revenue growth. Public companies increasingly cite non-GAAP performance metrics when announcing earnings. While regulators see value in non-GAAP reporting, they continue to express concern that it is carried out inconsistently and in a misleading manner. Because the disclosure of constant-currency revenue growth is discretionary, companies have an incentive to strategically disclose it only when it benefits them to do so. I first create a novel proxy for the exchange rate impact on revenue and hand collect data on whether or not companies provide constant-currency revenue growth disclosures in earnings announcements. I find that when a company has a currency headwind, it is 146 percent more likely to disclose constant-currency growth rates. In addition, I examine aspects of the information environment and find some evidence suggesting that the effect decreases when information asymmetry is low.

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