Disclosure Committees: Implications for Disclosure Quality and Timeliness

To help companies comply with the certification requirements under Section 302 of SOX, the SEC recommends issuers form a disclosure committee. In this study, we examine the effects of disclosure committees on disclosure quality and timeliness. We find that the presence of disclosure committees is associated with higher quality and more timely corporate disclosure. In addition, we provide evidence that the benefits of disclosure committees on disclosure quality are greater if membership detail is publicly revealed and that benefits of the committee may be greatest for firms that experience a negative disclosure event. Lastly, we provide evidence that disclosure committees are associated with higher quality earnings announcements and lower likelihood of receiving a severe SEC comment letter. Collectively these results suggest disclosure committees are not merely ‘window dressing’, a conclusion with implications for practitioners, regulators, and academics interested in improving corporate disclosure practices.