THE JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS·VOL.124, ISSUE.2·MAY 2017

妙笔生财

作者：Byoung-Hyoun Hwang (Cornell University, Korea University), Hugh Hoikwang Kim (University of South Carolina)

摘要：由于封闭型基金的价值可以脱离其标的资产单独估计，我们通过分析封闭型基金的股东报告来量化公司披露文件的可读性对公司价值的影响程度。通过使用一个校审软件对文档中影响其可读性的重要写作错误计数，我们证明了封闭型基金信息披露文档的低可读性将导致基金显著的折价率。我们估计得出可读性每下降一个标准差，封闭性基金的市值将下降2.5%。在投资者更依赖年报的情形下，可读性对公司价值的影响效应将上升到3.3%。

关键字：披露特征，可读性，公司价值

It Pays to Write Well

Byoung-Hyoun Hwang (Cornell University, Korea University), Hugh Hoikwang Kim (University of South Carolina)

ABSTRACT

We quantify the effects of easy-to-read disclosure documents on firm value by analyzing shareholder reports of closed-end investment companies in which the company's value can be estimated separately from the value of the company's underlying assets. Using a copy-editing software application that counts the pervasiveness of the most important ‘writing faults’ that make a document harder to read, our analysis provides evidence that issuing financial disclosure documents with low readability causes firms to trade at significant discounts relative to the value of their fundamentals. Our estimates suggest that a one-standard-deviation decrease in readability decreases firm value by a full 2.5%. In situations in which investors are more likely to rely on annual reports, the readability effect on firm value increases to 3.3%.

Keywords: Disclosure characteristics, Readability, Firm value

原文链接：

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X17300193

翻译：吴雨玲