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November 2020
Article

Casting Conference Calls

By: Lauren Cohen, Dong Lou and Christopher J. Malloy

We explore a subtle but important mechanism through which firms can control information flow to the markets. We find that firms that “cast” their conference calls by disproportionately calling on bullish analysts tend to underperform in the future. Firms that call on... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Release; Firms; Conference Calls; Information; Strategy; Asset Pricing

Working Paper

Private Lending and Preferential Treatment in Earnings Conference Calls

By: Xinlei Li, Tianshuo Shi and Christopher Williams

02 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

Companies Choreograph Earnings Calls to Hide Bad News

The quarterly earnings conference call is a traditional way for public companies to disclose information regarding performance and strategy from the prior quarter. Wall Street... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Financial Services

16 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Earnings Calls That Get Lost in Translation

consideration to how they deliver important information during earnings calls. Between The Lines The research team studied 11,436 conference call transcripts by 4,540 firms... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2015
Article

Speaking of the Short-Term: Disclosure Horizon and Managerial Myopia

By: Francois Brochet, Maria Loumioti and George Serafeim

We study conference calls as a voluntary disclosure channel and create a proxy for the time horizon that senior executives emphasize in their communications. We find that our measure of disclosure time horizon is associated with capital market pressures and executives'... View Details

Keywords: Short-termism; Management Styles; Disclosure; Conference Calls; Investing; Earnings Management; Motivation and Incentives; Management Style; Forms of Communication

16 Sep 2013
News

Earnings Calls That Get Lost in Translation

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

Fast Answer

Companies: conference call transcripts

Where can I find transcripts of conference calls? Bloomberg On the single security main menu type EVT then hit GO for a calendar of corporate events. Check for audio and/or transcripts of View Details

Summer 2013
Article

A Tale of Two Stories: Sustainability and the Quarterly Earnings Call

By: Robert G. Eccles and George Serafeim

One of the challenges companies claim to face in making sustainability a core part of their strategy and operations is that the market does not care about sustainability, either in general or because the time frames in which it matters are too long. The response of... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Communication; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Investment; Environmental Sustainability

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02 Dec 2013
News

Companies Choreograph Earnings Calls to Hide Bad News

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

01 Mar 2005
News

Dean’s Conference Call Spotlights HBS Global Initiative

will play an increasingly important role aiding faculty in “creating new intellectual capital that spans the world in scope and impact,” Dean Kim B. Clark told HBS alumni who dialed into his January 11 conference call. Clark used the... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

07 Nov 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Causes and Consequences of Linguistic Complexity in Non-US Firm Conference Calls

Keywords: by Francois Brochet, Patricia Naranjo & Gwen Yu; Accounting

25 Oct 2013
News

Why Rigging Your Earnings Calls Is a Bad Idea

2016
Working Paper

Managers' Cultural Background and Disclosure Attributes

By: Francois Brochet, Gregory S. Miller, Patricia Naranjo and Gwen Yu

We examine how a manager’s ethnic cultural background affects managers’ communication with investors. Using a sample of earnings conference calls transcripts with 26,430 executives from 42 countries, we find that managers from ethnic groups that have a more... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure Tone; Individualism; Conference Calls; Ethnic Group; Management Style; Communication Intention and Meaning; Ethnicity; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Reporting

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Article

Creating Firm Disclosures

By: Amir Amel-Zadeh, Alexandra Scherf and Eugene F. Soltes

Managers expend significant time and effort preparing disclosures about firm performance and strategy. Although prior literature has explored how variation in the style and presentation of disclosures impacts investors' perceptions of firms, little is known about how... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Earnings Conference Call; Field Study; MD＆A; Textual Analysis; Corporate Disclosure

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July 2016
Article

The Capital Market Consequences of Language Barriers in the Conference Calls of Non-U.S. Firms

By: Francois Brochet, Patricia L. Naranjo and Gwen Yu

We examine how language barriers affect the capital market reaction to information disclosures. Using transcripts from the English-language conference calls of non-U.S. firms, we find that the calls of firms in countries with greater language barriers are more likely... View Details

Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure; Capital Market Consequences; Non-plain English; Spoken Communication; Complexity; Capital Markets; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

2022
Working Paper

Passing the Mic: Career and Firm Outcomes of Executive Interactions

By: Wei Cai, Ethan Rouen and Yuan Zou

We exploit a unique feature of conference calls to study one type of interaction among executives—directly inviting colleagues to respond to analysts’ questions. We find that the frequency of initiating interaction is positively associated with an executive’s ability,... View Details

Keywords: Conference Calls; CEO Succession; Executive Interactions; Promotion; Interpersonal Communication; Personal Development and Career; Retention