Ongoing SEC Disclosures by Foreign Firms
The Accounting Review, Forthcoming
Posted: 6 Jul 2015 Last revised: 23 Apr 2020
Date Written: April 9, 2020
Abstract
We study how home-market reporting requirements and listing choices associate with ongoing SEC disclosures by foreign firms and the investor response. The SEC defers material event and interim financial disclosure obligations to foreign firms’ home market regulator or exchange. We find a growing number of foreign firms incorporate in disclosure havens and have little or no event-driven disclosure obligations. These firms furnish fewer 6-K disclosures but experience greater investor interest and market response to each filing. There is little evidence that the SEC substitutes for lower information flow with additional monitoring. Our results indicate that the SEC’s one-size-fits-all approach to foreign firm disclosure has led to increasing disparity in information flow, despite the strong demand for and reaction to disclosures by firms from weaker regimes.
Keywords: Information Environment, Disclosure, Foreign Firms, Cross-Listing, SEC Form 6-K, Foreign Private Issuer
JEL Classification: G15, G34, G38
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )
c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium