More from the Author

• Article | Journal of Accounting Research

  Paper Versus Practice: A Field Investigation of Integrity Hotlines

  Eugene Soltes

  In an effort to motivate firms to more rapidly detect potential misconduct, legislators, regulators, and enforcement agencies incentivize firms to have integrity or “whistleblowing” hotlines. These hotlines provide individuals an opportunity to report alleged misconduct and seek guidance about how to appropriately respond. Beyond some isolated examples, little is known about the responsiveness of hotlines to actual claims of alleged misconduct. I undertake a field study to investigate how hotlines function in practice by making four different inquiries involving alleged misconduct to nearly 250 firms. I find that one-fifth of firms have impediments (e.g., phone line disconnected, email bounce back, direct to incorrect website) that hinder reporting and approximately 10% of firms do not respond in a timely manner. Overall, this investigation illuminates several differences between integrity hotlines “on paper” and how they actually perform in practice.

  Keywords: hotlines; compliance programs; corporate misconduct; Governance Compliance; Programs; Performance;

  Citation:

  Soltes, Eugene. "Paper Versus Practice: A Field Investigation of Integrity Hotlines." Journal of Accounting Research 58, no. 2 (May 2020): 429–472.  View Details

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• Background Note | HBS Case Collection | December 2019 (Revised January 2020)

  Background on Insider Trading Liability

  Trevor Fetter, Eugene F. Soltes and Grant Wahlquist

  There are numerous restrictions against trading on material, nonpublic information (MNPI)—typically called “insider trading.” This note describes the limitations facing managers and investors as enforced civilly and criminally within the United States.

  Keywords: insider trading; Legal Liability; Ethics; Crime and Corruption; Finance; United States;

  Citation:

  Fetter, Trevor, Eugene F. Soltes, and Grant Wahlquist. "Background on Insider Trading Liability." Harvard Business School Background Note 320-080, December 2019. (Revised January 2020.)  View Details

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• Article | Journal of Financial Reporting

  Creating Firm Disclosures

  Amir Amel-Zadeh, Alexandra Scherf and Eugene F. Soltes

  Managers expend significant time and effort preparing disclosures about firm performance and strategy. Although prior literature has explored how variation in the style and presentation of disclosures impacts investors' perceptions of firms, little is known about how firms actually create these disclosures and how this process impacts presentation. Based on field data collected from nearly 200 firms, we show that there is considerable variation in who prepares disclosures, when they are prepared, and the amount of effort expended by different types of managers (e.g., legal, public relations/marketing, finance, investor relations, senior leadership). We find that these differences in organizational processes are associated with differences in the structure, style, and tone of 10-Ks and conference calls. Ultimately, our investigation begins to illuminate how individual managerial efforts vary across firms and contribute to differences in public disclosures.

  Keywords: disclosure; earnings conference call; field study; MD＆A; textual analysis; Corporate Disclosure;

  Citation:

  Amel-Zadeh, Amir, Alexandra Scherf, and Eugene F. Soltes. "Creating Firm Disclosures." Journal of Financial Reporting 4, no. 2 (Fall 2019): 1–31.  View Details

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