Seminar (Dept. of Accounting)

Theme：Look Who’s Talking: An Analysis of Market Responses to Executive Earnings Call Communication

Speaker：Yuan Zhang (Associate Professor, The University of Texas at Dallas)

Time：2021-09-29 10:00

Address：Zoom Meeting

Language：English

Venue：Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/81361664655?pwd=L3ZFMVdnR2FGOVFUZG1UZGRxR1ArQT09

Meeting ID：813 6166 4655

password：849690

ABSTRACT:

This study examines the different market implications of communication by CEOs versus other executives in earnings calls. We provide evidence of significantly stronger market responses to CEO tone than to non-CEO executive tone or CFO tone in earnings calls. This result is more pronounced for firms with higher information uncertainty and firms with greater growth opportunities. We also document a significantly positive association between market responses and the percentage of CEO communication relative to the executive team. Further analyses show that relative to non-CEO communication, CEO communication also significantly affects the earnings response coefficients, suggesting that CEO communication assists investors’ interpretation of the earnings news. Our results underscore the importance of CEOs’ direct communication with investors as part of corporate disclosure strategy.