Research Presentation by Dr. Nourhene Ben Youssef

Fri., Feb. 7, 2014 10:30 a.m.

Location: Education Building, Room 514

The Faculty of Business Administration hosts a regular Speakers Series, including regular Research Presentations by Faculty members (October through April).

Our next presentation will be "Lie to us: Restatement Announcements"

Presented by Dr. Nourhene Ben Youssef

Abstract

Lying, confusing, withholding key information, and/or delaying the release of pertinent explanations are manipulation techniques potentially used by companies to mislead investors. This paper explores whether and why publicly held companies manipulate restatement announcements. Merging accounting literature with Information Manipulation Theory, we developed a disclosure score encompassing the quantity, the quality, the manner and the timing of restatement information released in the Form 8-K and in the press releases (8K_PRs). Based on this score, we found misleading companies tend to do so by withholding critical information (quantity), disclosing inaccurate information (quality) in their 8K_PRs. To understand the reasons companies mislead investors, our findings suggest that some restatement characteristics affect the likelihood of manipulating restatement information in 8K_PRs.