Although the importance of press releases as part of a firm’s disclosure strategy is widely accepted (Lang and Lundholm 2000; Bushman and Smith 2001; Francis et al. 2002), academic research on this area has been limited. Press releases are easily accessible by the public and represent an important instrument for managers to communicate firm performance. However, through them, managers can influence the perceptions of third parties for their own benefit (Bowen et al. 2005). Oftentimes, managers provide self-serving disclosures that cast their performance in a positive light or that blame poor performance on temporary external factors (Barton & Mercer, 2005). In this paper, we analyse the role of internal corporate governance mechanisms in limiting self-serving disclosure practices by management in press releases.
Extant research provides mounting evidence of the monitoring and disciplining role of governance mechanisms, and highlights the role of boards of directors in facilitating and improving the control exerted over senior managers, ensuring that management acts in the interests of investors. Prior academic work confirms that efficient governance mechanisms limit earnings management practices (Dechow, Sloan & Sweeney, 1996; Peasnell, Pope & Young, 2005) demand more conservative accounting (Ahmed & Duellman, 2007) and increase voluntary disclosure in annual reports (Cheng & Courtenay, 2006; Lim, Matolcsy & Chow, 2007). However, while there is general agreement that governance influences accounting information quality, there is limited evidence on its association with voluntary disclosure practices, and no previous evidence on whether these mechanisms can influence impression management practices in narrative disclosures.
If you’re like many individuals, you don’t fully appreciate how essential good credit and money management are until you need them. Perhaps you’ve been renting an apartment for several years, but now you’d like to buy a house. Maybe it’s just not worth fixing your 10-year-old car, but you need a way to get to work so you need a car loan—fast! Or suppose your house has a damaged roof and the cost of repairs exceeds your savings. To resolve emergency situations like these while continuing to manage your existing financial obligations, you’ll need good credit and good money management skills.
Good credit is the result of careful planning of your finances. Your credit record affects everything from renting an apartment to buying a home. Without good credit, it’s difficult to save money, become a homeowner, and build financial security.
The accumulation of knowledge, a non-rival and partially non-excludable good, is a key determinant of economic growth of nations (Barro and Sala-i-Martin 2003; Romer 1990; Lucas 1988). Not surprisingly, many empirical studies have found that the emergence of multi-purpose technologies, e.g. computers, and the increased globalization have raised the knowledge or skill intensity of production processes (Berman et al. 1994; Feenstra and Hanson 1997). However, the growth and trade literature often assume that the resulting economic gains apply uniformly across firms or regions of a country.
