The Impact of Securities Litigation Reform on the Disclosure of Forward‐Looking Information By High Technology Firms
研究1995年《私人证券诉讼改革法案》的安全港条款是否增加了高科技企业发布盈利和销售预测的频率，并发现诉讼风险高的企业披露增加更明显，且预测质量未受影响。
This study evaluates corporate voluntary disclosure of forward‐looking information under the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Using a sample of 523 computer hardware, computer software, and pharmaceutical firms, we find a significant increase in both the frequency of firms issuing earnings and sales forecasts and the mean number of forecasts issued following the Act’s passage. To provide more direct evidence that our findings are attributable to the Act reducing firms’ legal exposure, we develop a proxy for litigation risk and examine whether the increase in disclosure is more pronounced for firms at greatest risk of a lawsuit. As expected, we find that the change in disclosure is increasing in firms’ ex ante risk of litigation. Finally, we report that the safe harbor had no adverse impact on the quality of forward‐looking information. Forecast errors, whether directional or non‐directional, were not significantly affected by the Act’s passage.