Download This PaperOwner Exposure Through Firm Disclosure
Forthcoming The Accounting Review
49 Pages Posted: 24 Apr 2020 Last revised: 11 Feb 2023
Date Written: January 4, 2023
Abstract
We study whether firms avoid financial disclosures to preserve their owners’ financial privacy. We find that firms named after their owner, for whom firm disclosure would more directly expose owner information, are more opaque. Eponymous owners prefer firm opacity when disclosure exposes sensitive owner information with social stigma, in rural and anti-capitalist areas, and in insider-oriented settings with high secrecy and distrust. When firms are forced to disclose, eponymous owners more frequently change their firms’ names, and new firms are less frequently named after their founding owners. These findings indicate that owner-level privacy concerns dampen firm-level disclosure incentives.
Keywords: Privacy cost, disclosure, private firms
JEL Classification: D82, L51, M41
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