Disclosure Architecture Across Corporate Reporting Channels

Abstract

Corporate disclosure unfolds across formal filings, prepared managerial remarks, and interactive Q&A, yet these channels are usually studied separately. We introduce disclosure architecture, a two-dimensional construct that captures semantic alignment between MD&A and the prepared earnings call presentation and between the presentation and Q&A. We show that these dimensions are distinct and persistent, systematically related to firm characteristics, and responsive to current reporting conditions. More profitable firms exhibit greater MD&A–presentation similarity and lower presentation–Q&A similarity, while expected losses are associated with the opposite configuration. Disclosure architecture also contains incremental information about announcement returns and analyst forecast revisions after controlling for fundamentals and disclosure attributes. The evidence identifies disclosure architecture as an economically meaningful feature of how firms organize communication across regulated, prepared, and interactive channels.

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