Marie-Josée Ledoux’s research while affiliated with Université de Montréal and other places

In this study, we investigate the association between earnings management and information asymmetry considering environmental uncertainty. Results show that a complex and dynamic environment weakens the relationship between discretionary accruals and information asymmetry measured as share price volatility and bid-ask spread. More specifically, the positive relationship between earnings management and information asymmetry is weakened for diversified firms, those intensively investing in R&D, and those facing high sales volatility. This highlights the difficulty for investors to assess earnings management in an uncertain environment. Finally, in such a context, discretionary accruals are more likely to be detected by investors for firms cross-listed on a U.S. stock exchange, a more liquid and transparent stock market compared with the Canadian stock market.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the incidence of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) on stock market assessment of intangibles and voluntary disclosure about innovation. Design/methodology/ approach - The authors develop three regression models. The first model investigates the stock market valuation of intangible assets and disclosure about innovation. The second model desegregates earnings to assess the relevance of components related to intangibles. The third model investigates how intangible expenses and voluntary disclosure affect analysts forecast dispersion. Findings - Results show that the value relevance of intangible assets and expenses improves with the adoption of IAS 38. Overall, results indicate a decrease in the value relevance of voluntary disclosure about innovation under IFRS. More specifically, results suggest some overlap in the information content of mandated and voluntary disclosure for stock market valuation of intangible assets under IFRS. Findings also suggest that voluntary disclosure moderates market's assessment of expensed intangibles under both Canadian GAAP and IFRS. Research limitations/implications - IAS 38 requires entities to recognize an intangible asset if certain criteria are met and to disclose specific information about it. In such a context, market participants may refer to a greater extent to financial reporting and to a lesser extent to voluntary disclosure when valuating intangibles. Practical implications - Managers will have an incentive to better target their communications to ensure a degree of complementarity with financial reporting. In this sense, this study contributes to the voluntary disclosure literature. Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relationship between mandatory disclosure and voluntary disclosure about intangibles and evaluate the impact of IFRS on this matter.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the economic benefits of a pro-active disclosure strategy in a dynamic environment. More specifically, the paper explores the relationships between customer value disclosure, analyst following, and earnings forecasts, taking into account environmental dynamism as captured by R&D intensity, sales variability, and the reverse of industry concentration. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers the possibility that a firm's information dynamics may simultaneously affect disclosure strategy, analyst following, and analyst forecasts. Regression models are used in the testing of the hypotheses. Findings – First, results show that customer value disclosure is positively associated with analyst following and consensus in analyst earning forecasts. Second, environmental dynamism enhances the association between customer value disclosure and analyst following as well as consensus among analysts. Those results suggest that customer metrics attract analysts and improve their ability to forecast earnings. Moreover, customer value disclosure appears particularly relevant for forecasting earnings of firms involved in dynamic environments. Practical implications – Customer value disclosure would allow financial analysts to better assess future earnings in a context of uncertainty. Moreover, analysts may be reluctant to follow a firm facing high environmental dynamism without a clear corporate disclosure commitment. In such a context, managers may consider disclosing strategic information in an attempt to attract financial analysts. Originality/value – The findings reveal that the relations between customer value disclosure, analyst following, and analyst forecasts are not straightforward but are affected by a firm's environmental uncertainty.

This study investigates how web-based voluntary disclosure affects the relation between earnings quality and information asymmetry, considering governance attributes. Our results show that both earnings quality and web-based disclosure are associated with reduced information asymmetry. In addition, web-based disclosure has a moderating effect on the relation between earnings quality and information asymmetry, irrespective of earnings quality. This is consistent with the argument that stock market participants assess the quality of financial reporting taking into account a firm's overall disclosure strategy. Finally, corporate governance is found to underlie both disclosure and earnings quality.

Purpose The aim of the paper is to investigate whether social disclosure and environmental disclosure have a substituting or a complementing effect in reducing information asymmetry between managers and stock market participants Design/methodology/approach This study attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of a firm's social and environmental disclosure strategy. The authors posit that this strategy simultaneously affects information asymmetry and disclosure. Findings Findings suggest that social disclosure and environmental disclosure substitute each other in reducing stock market asymmetry. Research limitations/implications The measurement of social and environmental disclosure is based upon a coding instrument that makes some explicit assumptions about the value and relevance of information. Moreover, information asymmetry cannot be directly measured and is inferred from the behaviour of proxy variables such as share price volatility and bid‐ask spread. Practical implications Results suggest that social disclosure reinforces the informativeness of environmental disclosure for stock markets, even substituting for it under certain conditions. Stakeholders must assess and retain an increasing flow of information: a more efficient disclosure strategy becomes critical if firms want to convey the right picture of their CSR performance. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to explore the joint effect of social disclosure and environmental disclosure in reducing information asymmetry.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of governance on information asymmetry between managers and investors. Hence, the paper seeks to extend prior voluntary disclosure research. Design/methodology/approach The paper investigates how a firm's governance maps into the level of information asymmetry between managers and investors. Governance encompasses two complementary dimensions: formal monitoring attributes and voluntary disclosure about board processes. Information asymmetry is measured by either share price volatility or Tobin's Q. Findings The results show that some formal monitoring attributes (board and audit committee size) as well as the extent of voluntary governance disclosure reduce information asymmetry. This suggests that governance disclosure may complement a firm's governance monitoring attributes, especially in a country such as Canada where investors have good legal protection. It appears also that firms take into account ultimate costs and benefits to shareholders when determining their governance disclosure. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the impact of voluntary governance disclosure on information asymmetry.

Adopting a monitoring perspective, this study aims to explain how and why firms provide web-based disclosure about their value creation and its underlying processes. We rely on the balanced scoreboard approach to measure disclosure. Our results suggest that costs incurred by capital markets' participants as well as monitoring by the board and the media drive disclosure. Moreover, we argue and document that a firm's disclosure is actually a part of its governance configuration and influences some board processes.

Governance Disclosure, Board Characteristics, and Earnings Quality: Impact on stock markets In this study, we analyze the simultaneous relations between corporate governance, earnings quality and information asymmetry between managers and investors. We consider that governance encompasses both specific attributes such as board size as well as complementary information about underlying governance processes that is disclosed on corporate Web sites. We argue that enhanced transparency resulting from such disclosure enhances earnings quality and translates into reduced levels of information asymmetry between managers and investors. Our findings are consistent with these expectations. Moreover, it appears that governance disclosure complements a firm’s governance attributes in improving earnings quality and reducing stock market asymmetry.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of IFRS on earnings informativeness given environmental uncertainty for two different legal regimes, i.e. those in France and the United Kingdom. Our main results are the following. In a situation of sales decreasing (increasing), abnormal accruals are less (more) valued under IFRS than domestic GAAP, either for French or British GAAP. This is consistent with the view that investors are in a better position to detect opportunistic earnings management under IFRS. Concerning the stock market anticipation of earnings, except in France for sales decreasing firms, our results suggest that IFRS do not provide a significant improvement in this matter.

Adopting a stockholders' interests' perspective, we explore three related questions: (1) What are the scope and patterns of corporate performance disclosure on the Internet? (2) What are the determinants of the extent and scope of corporate performance disclosure on the Internet? (3) Is corporate performance disclosure on the Internet relevant for valuation of a firm's earnings? Corporate performance disclosure relates to corporate actions and initiatives that directly affect society and, ultimately, stockholders' wealth. We focus on Web (HTML) disclosure. Our sample comprises Canada's largest publicly-traded firms, many of which are also SEC registrants. The extent and scope of web disclosure by these firms is rated using a coding grid. Regarding the first question, three disclosure patterns emerge: (1) firms providing disclosure about innovation, development and growth also tend to report about customer value as well as maintaining a Web site with good capabilities (business-related disclosure), (2) disclosure about human/intellectual capital is linked to social responsibility disclosure (social-related disclosure) and, (3) the disclosure of financial performance and corporate governance practices are both closely linked together (financial-related disclosure). Regarding the second question, firms apparently take into account variables proxying for information costs and benefits accruing to stockholders when determining the extent of their Web disclosure. Finally, regarding the third question, a firm's web-based performance disclosure appears to affect its earnings valuation multiple, although in a differential manner according to the nature of the information being conveyed.