Conference Presentations and the Disclosure Milieu

44 Pages Posted: 29 Sep 2009 Last revised: 26 Jul 2017

See all articles by Brian J. Bushee

Brian J. Bushee

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School

Michael J. Jung

University of Delaware - Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics

Gregory S. Miller

University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Date Written: August 10, 2011

Abstract

Conference presentations differ from other voluntary disclosures in that the audience for the disclosure is co-located with managers in a well-defined physical and social setting, or “disclosure milieu.” The milieu affects the degree to which conference participants can update their prior beliefs about the firm with information signals obtained through interactions with management and other informed participants. While the average abnormal stock return and volume reactions to presentations are positive, there is a great deal of cross-sectional variation as indicated by negative median reactions. We find that conference characteristics that determine the nature of the audience and its interactions, such as sponsor, location, size, and industry-focus, are significantly associated with the market reaction, consistent with the disclosure milieu explaining the cross-sectional variation in the information content of the presentation. We also find that conference characteristics explain changes in subsequent analyst and institutional investor following, consistent with the disclosure milieu creating differences in access to management by potential new investors and analysts.

Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure, Conference Presentations, Managerial Presentations, Investor Conferences, Brokerage Conferences

JEL Classification: M41

Suggested Citation

Bushee, Brian J. and Jung, Michael J. and Miller, Gregory S., Conference Presentations and the Disclosure Milieu (August 10, 2011). Journal of Accounting Research, December 2011, Vol. 49, No. 5, pp. 1163-1192, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1480448

Brian J. Bushee (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School ( email )

3641 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6365
United States
215-898-4872 (Phone)
215-573-2054 (Fax)

Michael J. Jung

University of Delaware - Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics ( email )

221 Purnell Hall
Newark, DE 19716
United States

Gregory S. Miller

University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business ( email )

701 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI MI 48109
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
636
Abstract Views
4,616
Rank
76,978
PlumX Metrics