Informação Contábil e Fake News

 Resumo:

We investigate the role of accounting information in deterring the production of financial fake news and attenuating its market impact. Specifically, for firms that have issued more management forecasts, provided a 10-K with higher readability, or released major accounting information more recently, we find an 8-14% reduction in the probability of being targeted by a fake article on Seeking Alpha and an 8-18% reduction in the number of fake articles. We also find a reduction in abnormal trade volume and idiosyncratic return volatility following the publication of a fake article for these firms. Furthermore, analyses using a bunching identification strategy find that fake news production peaks prior to earnings announcements and drops upon announcement, providing evidence that impending accounting information releases induce fake news authors to avoid publishing post-disclosure when the accounting information environment is relatively stronger. Overall, our results are consistent with accounting information reducing the production of and the market reaction to fake news, providing evidence of an ex ante and ex post role of accounting information in safeguarding firms from financial misinformation. 

Fonte: The Role of Accounting Information in an Era of Fake News- Moss and Liu- 2021.