Does the Mandatory Disclosure of Audit Information Affect Analysts’ Information Acquisition?

Abstract

By introducing the implementation of the Key Audit Matters (KAM) Disclosure Standards for China’s companies cross-listed in Hong Kong in 2017, we present evidence that KAM disclosure reduces analysts’ company visits, which is an important channel of information acquisition. The decreasing effect is particularly pronounced for companies with audit partner rotation and low institutional ownership. KAM disclosure by industrial leaders has a spillover effect on analyst visits for peer firms. Disclosure also improves the frequency and quality of analysts’ forecasts and firms’ information environments, indicating that KAMs are informative and audit information is an important determinant of analysts’ information acquisition.