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Managers' private communications with analysts: The effect of SEC v. Siebel Systems, Inc
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Managers' private communications with analysts: The effect of SEC v. Siebel Systems, Inc

Ashiq Ali, Michael T. Durney, Jill Fisch and Hoyoun Kyung
Contemporary accounting research, Vol.40(3), pp.1641-1670
Autumn 2023
DOI: 10.1111/1911-3846.12858
url
https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.12858View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

In 2005, the SEC suffered a high-profile loss in its first court case, SEC v. Siebel Systems, Inc., in an effort to enforce Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD). We examine the impact of this loss on managers' selective disclosure to sell-side analysts. We provide evidence that the informativeness of analyst reports increased after the Siebel decision, especially for observable instances of private meetings. This finding suggests that such selective disclosure increased significantly after the court's decision. Our results also suggest that the increased selective disclosure faded as the SEC resumed enforcement actions related to Reg FD in 2009. In exploratory analyses, we survey and interview law firm partners to investigate possible mechanisms for our results; their responses suggest that the Siebel outcome reduced manager concern about liability from selective disclosure. Collectively, our results highlight how the anticipated costs of regulatory enforcement affect private information flow from managers to analysts in particular.

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