Seemingly Self-Sabotaging Disclosures
By Anil Arya, Ram Ramanan
The Accounting Review | November 2024
Citation
Arya, Anil., Ramanan, Ram. (2024). Seemingly Self-Sabotaging Disclosures The Accounting Review .
Copyright
The Accounting Review, 2024
Share:
Abstract
Firm disclosures are observed by multiple audiences with diverse interests. Recognizing this practical feature, studies have examined how conflicting incentives provided by the multiple recipients of the information affect disclosure outcomes. Understandably, studies have not examined scenarios wherein disclosure incentives from recipients align in the same direction. With aligned incentives, disclosure incentives are presumably “additive.” This paper challenges such thinking. We model a firm that faces a potential entrant and a scrutinizing regulator so each individually incentivizes the firm to withhold favorable market news. However, we show that their joint presence can drastically change the disclosure equilibrium: the firm may voluntarily disclose good news seemingly in self-sabotage. Such disclosures attract entry, compelling the firm to yield its monopoly position. However, by ceding market power, the firm boosts consumer surplus and soothes regulatory concerns. The ensuing reduction in regulatory costs borne by the firm can then increase the firm’s overall value.

Ram Ramanan is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Before joining ISB, he served as a faculty member at the University of California, Davis and at SUNY, Binghamton.

Professor Ramanan’s research focuses on the role of accounting in management decisions. Specifically, he examines the incentive effects of financial reports and disclosures on various managerial decisions both inside an organisation and within supply chains. His work has been published in leading academic journals, including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, The Review of Accounting Studies, Contemporary Accounting Research, Management Science, and Production and Operations Management.

At ISB Professor Ramanan teaches the core Managerial Accounting course and the elective in Strategic Performance Management.

Professor Ramanan holds a PhD in Accounting from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He is also a Chartered Accountant.

Nv Ramanan
Ram Ramanan