Accounting Seminar (2019-12)

Topic: Organizational Complexity and Voluntary Disclosure

Speaker: Bok Baik,Professor,Seoul National University College of Business

Time: Monday, 14 Oct, 10:00-11:30

Location: Room 217, Guanghua Building 2

Abstract:

We examine the effects of organizational complexity on voluntary disclosure. While organizational complexity impedes information flows within the organization, it also increases investor demand for information about the firm. Using corporate subsidiary structure on the LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations Data for the years 2001-2017, we find that there is a positive relation between organizational complexity and voluntary disclosure. Our results also reveal that organizational complexity influences voluntary disclosure through both a direct path from organizational complexity to voluntary disclosure and an indirect path that is mediated by financial statement complexity (i.e., an indirect effect). However, firms with complex organizational structures release less accurate forecasts. Overall, our study suggests that organizational complexity plays an important role in voluntary disclosure.

Introduction:

Bok Baik, is Professor at Seoul National University. Prof. Baik worked for Bank of Korea and was an assistant professor at Florida State University prior to joining Seoul National University. He did his undergraduate work in Business Administration at Seoul National University, an MA in economics at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and received his PhD in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.

He focuses his research on security analysts’ behavior, voluntary disclosure, and institutional investors’ performance. He published papers in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, and Journal of Financial Economics. He also wrote "Financial Statement Analysis and Firm Valuation" and "Lectures on Financial Accounting".

He was selected as one of productive researchers in 2011 and one of outstanding teachers in 2015 at College of Business, Seoul National University. His papers received the best paper awards at Asia-Pacific Association of Derivatives in 2011 and at Korean Academic Society of Business Administration in 2009 and 2011.

Your participation is warmly welcomed!