IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/joares/v60y2022i3p755-804.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Mandatory Disclosure Requirements for Private Firms Increase the Propensity of Going Public?

Author

Listed:
  • CYRUS AGHAMOLLA
  • RICHARD T. THAKOR

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of mandatory disclosure requirements for private firms on their decision to go public. Using detailed project‐level data for biopharmaceutical firms, we explore the effects of a legal reform that exogenously required firms to publicly disclose information regarding clinical trials. Exploiting cross‐sectional heterogeneity in firms' exposure to the regulation based on their internal development portfolios, we find that affected firms are significantly more likely to transition to public equity markets following the reform. Moreover, firms that go public because of the increased disclosure requirements subsequently reduce the size of their project portfolios while shifting to safer investments acquired externally. We provide additional evidence for the main hypothesis using a second setting: a 2006 German reform which enhanced the enforcement of mandatory disclosure requirements for private firms. The results suggest that private firms' general information environment and disclosure requirements influence the propensity of going public.

Suggested Citation

  • Cyrus Aghamolla & Richard T. Thakor, 2022. "Do Mandatory Disclosure Requirements for Private Firms Increase the Propensity of Going Public?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 755-804, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:60:y:2022:i:3:p:755-804
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.12396
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679X.12396
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-679X.12396?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernard, Darren, 2016. "Is the risk of product market predation a cost of disclosure?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 305-325.
    2. Michael Ewens & Joan Farre-Mensa, 2020. "The Deregulation of the Private Equity Markets and the Decline in IPOs," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(12), pages 5463-5509.
    3. Durnev, Art & Mangen, Claudine, 2020. "The spillover effects of MD&A disclosures for real investment: The role of industry competition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1).
    4. Re‐Jin Guo & Baruch Lev & Nan Zhou, 2004. "Competitive Costs of Disclosure by Biotech IPOs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 319-355, May.
    5. Skinner, Dj, 1994. "Why Firms Voluntarily Disclose Bad-News," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 38-60.
    6. Acharya, Viral & Xu, Zhaoxia, 2017. "Financial dependence and innovation: The case of public versus private firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 223-243.
    7. Jie Gan, 2007. "The Real Effects of Asset Market Bubbles: Loan- and Firm-Level Evidence of a Lending Channel," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(6), pages 1941-1973, November.
    8. Biddle, Gary C. & Hilary, Gilles & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2009. "How does financial reporting quality relate to investment efficiency?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 112-131, December.
    9. Heitzman, Shane & Wasley, Charles & Zimmerman, Jerold, 2010. "The joint effects of materiality thresholds and voluntary disclosure incentives on firms' disclosure decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 109-132, February.
    10. Esther Duflo, 2001. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 795-813, September.
    11. Bernard, Darren & Burgstahler, David & Kaya, Devrimi, 2018. "Size management by European private firms to minimize proprietary costs of disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 94-122.
    12. DiMasi, Joseph A. & Grabowski, Henry G. & Hansen, Ronald W., 2016. "Innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: New estimates of R&D costs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 20-33.
    13. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Joshua D. Angrist & Peter D. Hull & Parag A. Pathak, 2016. "Charters without Lotteries: Testing Takeovers in New Orleans and Boston," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1878-1920, July.
    14. Dambra, Michael & Field, Laura Casares & Gustafson, Matthew T., 2015. "The JOBS Act and IPO volume: Evidence that disclosure costs affect the IPO decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 121-143.
    15. Celikyurt, Ugur & Sevilir, Merih & Shivdasani, Anil, 2010. "Going public to acquire? The acquisition motive in IPOs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 345-363, June.
    16. Henselmann, Klaus & Kaya, Devrimi, 2008. "Empirische Analyse des Offenlegungszeitpunkts von Jahresabschlüssen nach dem EHUG [Timing of Disclosure for Financial Statements in Germany after the 2007 EHUG Act]," Working Papers in Accounting Valuation Auditing 2008-1, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Accounting and Auditing.
    17. Sudipto Bhattacharya & Jay R. Ritter, 1983. "Innovation and Communication: Signalling with Partial Disclosure," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(2), pages 331-346.
    18. Loughran, Tim & Ritter, Jay R. & Rydqvist, Kristian, 1995. "Initial public offerings: International insights," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 139-140, May.
    19. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    20. Dirk Jenter & Fadi Kanaan, 2015. "CEO Turnover and Relative Performance Evaluation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(5), pages 2155-2184, October.
    21. Roychowdhury, Sugata & Shroff, Nemit & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2019. "The effects of financial reporting and disclosure on corporate investment: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2).
    22. Daniel Ferreira & Gustavo Manso & André C. Silva, 2014. "Incentives to Innovate and the Decision to Go Public or Private," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 256-300, January.
    23. Matthias Breuer & Katharina Hombach & Maximilian A Müller, 2018. "How Does Financial Reporting Regulation Affect Firms’ Banking?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 1265-1297.
    24. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    25. Richard Lambert & Christian Leuz & Robert E. Verrecchia, 2007. "Accounting Information, Disclosure, and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 385-420, May.
    26. Jeremy C. Stein, 1989. "Efficient Capital Markets, Inefficient Firms: A Model of Myopic Corporate Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(4), pages 655-669.
    27. Matthew Spiegel & Heather Tookes, 2008. "Dynamic Competition, Innovation and Strategic Financing," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2500, Yale School of Management.
    28. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    29. Badertscher, Brad & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal D., 2013. "Externalities of public firm presence: Evidence from private firms' investment decisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 682-706.
    30. Michael Minnis & Nemit Shroff, 2017. "Why regulate private firm disclosure and auditing?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(5), pages 473-502, July.
    31. Boone, Audra L. & Floros, Ioannis V. & Johnson, Shane A., 2016. "Redacting proprietary information at the initial public offering," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 102-123.
    32. Matthias Breuer, 2021. "How Does Financial‐Reporting Regulation Affect Industry‐Wide Resource Allocation?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 59-110, March.
    33. Kim, Woojin & Weisbach, Michael S., 2008. "Motivations for public equity offers: An international perspective," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 281-307, February.
    34. Greene, William, 2010. "Testing hypotheses about interaction terms in nonlinear models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 291-296, May.
    35. Powers, Eric A., 2005. "Interpreting logit regressions with interaction terms: an application to the management turnover literature," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 504-522, June.
    36. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    37. Gao, Xiaohui & Ritter, Jay R. & Zhu, Zhongyan, 2013. "Where Have All the IPOs Gone?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(6), pages 1663-1692, December.
    38. Michelle Lowry & Roni Michaely & Ekaterina Volkova & Francesca Cornelli, 2020. "Information Revealed through the Regulatory Process: Interactions between the SEC and Companies ahead of Their IPO," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(12), pages 5510-5554.
    39. Shroff, Nemit & Verdi, Rodrigo S. & Yost, Benjamin P., 2017. "When does the peer information environment matter?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 183-214.
    40. Shai Bernstein, 2015. "Does Going Public Affect Innovation?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(4), pages 1365-1403, August.
    41. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    42. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April.
    43. Matthew Spiegel & Heather Tookes, 2008. "Dynamic Competition, Innovation and Strategic Financing," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2500, Yale School of Management.
    44. Lerner, Joshua, 1994. "Venture capitalists and the decision to go public," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 293-316, June.
    45. Boyan Jovanovic, 1982. "Truthful Disclosure of Information," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(1), pages 36-44, Spring.
    46. Skinner, Douglas J., 1997. "Earnings disclosures and stockholder lawsuits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 249-282, November.
    47. Bushee, Brian J. & Leuz, Christian, 2005. "Economic consequences of SEC disclosure regulation: evidence from the OTC bulletin board," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 233-264, June.
    48. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    49. James C. Brau & Stanley E. Fawcett, 2006. "Initial Public Offerings: An Analysis of Theory and Practice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 399-436, February.
    50. Cheng, Mei & Dhaliwal, Dan & Zhang, Yuan, 2013. "Does investment efficiency improve after the disclosure of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 1-18.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Ewens & Joan Farre-Mensa, 2020. "The Deregulation of the Private Equity Markets and the Decline in IPOs," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(12), pages 5463-5509.
    2. Sara Casella & Hanbaek Lee & Sergio Villalvazo, 2023. "Disclosure Regulation, Intangible Capital and the Disappearance of Public Firms," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-050, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Michael Ewens & Joan Farre-Mensa, 2022. "Private or Public Equity? The Evolving Entrepreneurial Finance Landscape," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 271-293, November.
    4. Matthias Breuer, 2021. "How Does Financial‐Reporting Regulation Affect Industry‐Wide Resource Allocation?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 59-110, March.
    5. Zhao, Jing & Huang, Jingchang & Dou, Huan, 2023. "Internet searching and investment sensitivity to stock price: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    6. Zhao, Jing & Huang, Jingchang & Liu, Feng, 2023. "Green credit policy and investment-cash flow sensitivity: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Yost, Benjamin P., 2023. "Do tax-based proprietary costs discourage public listing?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2).
    8. Lo, Andrew W. & Thakor, Richard T., 2023. "Financial intermediation and the funding of biomedical innovation: A review," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aghamolla, Cyrus & Thakor, Richard T., 2022. "IPO peer effects," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 206-226.
    2. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    3. Badryah Alhusaini & Kimball L. Chapman & Hal D. White, 2023. "Private disclosure and myopia: evidence from the JOBS act," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1570-1617, September.
    4. Roychowdhury, Sugata & Shroff, Nemit & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2019. "The effects of financial reporting and disclosure on corporate investment: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2).
    5. Matthias Breuer, 2021. "How Does Financial‐Reporting Regulation Affect Industry‐Wide Resource Allocation?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 59-110, March.
    6. Michael Ewens & Joan Farre-Mensa, 2022. "Private or Public Equity? The Evolving Entrepreneurial Finance Landscape," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 271-293, November.
    7. Divakaruni, Anantha & Jones, Howard, 2021. "Disclosure, Firm Growth, and the JOBS Act," SocArXiv 3zumb, Center for Open Science.
    8. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    9. Christensen, Hans B. & Liu, Lisa Yao & Maffett, Mark, 2020. "Proactive financial reporting enforcement and shareholder wealth," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2).
    10. Park, Jihwon & Sani, Jalal & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal, 2019. "Disclosure incentives when competing firms have common ownership," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 387-415.
    11. Durnev, Art & Mangen, Claudine, 2020. "The spillover effects of MD&A disclosures for real investment: The role of industry competition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1).
    12. Jinhwan Kim & Rodrigo S. Verdi & Benjamin P. Yost, 2020. "Do Firms Strategically Internalize Disclosure Spillovers? Evidence from Cash‐Financed M&As," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1249-1297, December.
    13. Susan Chaplinsky & Kathleen Weiss Hanley & S. Katie Moon, 2017. "The JOBS Act and the Costs of Going Public," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 795-836, September.
    14. Signori, Andrea, 2018. "Zero-revenue IPOs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 106-121.
    15. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    16. Kim, Jinhwan & Valentine, Kristen, 2021. "The innovation consequences of mandatory patent disclosures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2).
    17. Kim, Jinhwan & Olbert, Marcel, 2022. "How does private firm disclosure affect demand for public firm equity? Evidence from the global equity market," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2).
    18. Ferracuti, Elia & Stubben, Stephen R., 2019. "The role of financial reporting in resolving uncertainty about corporate investment opportunities," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2).
    19. Abigail Allen & Melissa F. Lewis‐Western & Kristen Valentine, 2022. "The Innovation and Reporting Consequences of Financial Regulation for Young Life‐Cycle Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 45-95, March.
    20. Marcelo Ortiz, 2020. "Financial Disclosure Environment and the Cash Policy of Private Firms," Working Papers 1148, Barcelona School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:60:y:2022:i:3:p:755-804. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-8456 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.