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Change You Can Believe In? Hedge Fund Data Revisions

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  • ANDREW J. PATTON
  • TARUN RAMADORAI
  • MICHAEL STREATFIELD

Abstract

type="main"> We analyze the reliability of voluntary disclosures of financial information, focusing on widely-employed publicly-available hedge fund databases. Tracking changes to statements of historical performance recorded between 2007 and 2011, we find that historical returns are routinely revised. These revisions are not merely random or corrections of earlier mistakes; they are partly forecastable by fund characteristics. Funds that revise their performance histories significantly and predictably underperform those that have never revised, suggesting that unreliable disclosures constitute a valuable source of information for investors. These results speak to current debates about mandatory disclosures by financial institutions to market regulators.

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  • Andrew J. Patton & Tarun Ramadorai & Michael Streatfield, 2015. "Change You Can Believe In? Hedge Fund Data Revisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(3), pages 963-999, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:70:y:2015:i:3:p:963-999
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    7. Sinclair, Andrew J., 2023. "Do prime brokers intermediate capital?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    8. François-Éric Racicot & Raymond Théoret, 2022. "Tracking market and non-traditional sources of risks in procyclical and countercyclical hedge fund strategies under extreme scenarios: a nonlinear VAR approach," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-56, December.
    9. Aiken, Adam L. & Kilic, Osman & Reid, Sean, 2016. "Can hedge funds time global equity markets? Evidence from emerging markets," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 2-11.
    10. Arpit Gupta & Kunal Sachdeva, 2019. "Skin or Skim? Inside Investment and Hedge Fund Performance," NBER Working Papers 26113, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Auer, Benjamin R. & Marohn, Marcel, 2024. "Computational dynamics of information ratios," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    12. Adam L. Aiken & Osman Kilic & Sean Reid, 2016. "Can hedge funds time global equity markets? Evidence from emerging markets," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 2-11, April.
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    14. Mark Grinblatt & Gergana Jostova & Lubomir Petrasek & Alexander Philipov, 2020. "Style and Skill: Hedge Funds, Mutual Funds, and Momentum," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(12), pages 5505-5531, December.
    15. Bali, Turan G. & Weigert, Florian, 2021. "Hedge funds and the positive idiosyncratic volatility effect," CFR Working Papers 21-01, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
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    17. Qifei Zhu, 2020. "The Missing New Funds," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1193-1204, March.
    18. Hao Liang & Lin Sun & Melvyn Teo, 2022. "Responsible Hedge Funds [Role of managerial incentives and discretion in hedge fund performance]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1585-1633.
    19. Kosowski, Robert & Joenväärä, Juha & Kaupila, Mikko & Tolonen, Pekka, 2019. "Hedge Fund Performance: Are Stylized Facts Sensitive to Which Database One Uses?," CEPR Discussion Papers 13618, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

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