会计学系学术讲座

讲座题目：Freedom of Expression Protection and Corporate Concealment of Bad News: Evidence from State Anti-SLAPP Laws

时间：2025年4月21日（周一） 10:00-11:30

地点：科研楼202

主讲人：Professor Liandong Zhang

 

主讲人简介：Liandong Zhang, 新加坡管理大学会计学院副院长，获得2017年的Lee Kong Chian Fellowship、2016年麻省理工学院亚洲会议的Best Paper Award，以及香港城市大学授予的多个荣誉，包括2016年的The President’s Award和2014年的Research Excellence Award。他在Journal of Financial Economics和Journal of Accounting Research等国际顶尖会计学和金融学期刊上发表了多篇学术论文，探讨了公司金融和会计领域的重大问题，包括避税、股价暴跌风险、商业秘密法，以及卖空与管理层预测之间的相互作用。

讲座简介：

The protection of free speech enhances the ability of various public stakeholders to disseminate privately observed adverse information about public firms, making it difficult for corporate managers to conceal negative information about their companies. Using the staggered enactment of anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation （SLAPP） laws across U.S. states as a shock that increases the strength of free speech protection, we show that stronger protection is associated with less concealment of bad news. This is evidenced by a lower likelihood of stock price crashes, a decreased probability of accounting fraud, and an increased frequency of firm-initiated negative press releases. These results are more pronounced for states with stronger anti-SLAPP laws and where such laws are likely to be more influential. Moreover, the impact of free speech protection on bad news concealment is more significant for firms with greater ex ante incentives to conceal negative information. Further analyses suggest that free speech protection likely enhances the ability of short sellers, employees, and the media, among others, in revealing bad news about public firms. Finally, we find evidence that strengthened free speech protection also improves financial reporting quality. Our study highlights the role of the protection of free speech in enhancing corporate transparency.