Voluntary Disclosure of Corporate Political Spending and the Cost of Debt: Evidence from the Public Debt Market

Seminar Abstract

This study contributes to the literature by providing evidence of US firms' voluntary disclosure on political spending within the public debt market.

Based on a sample of 2882 bonds issued by constituent firms of the Standard and Poor's 500 index between 2013 and 2018, the study finds that voluntary disclosure of political spending reduces the cost of newly issued public debt.

Moreover, the effect holds irrespective of a firm exposure to political risk or the regulation imposed at the industry-level.

The findings of the study are robust to a series of sensitivity tests. In an additional test, the study shows that the channel through which political spending disclosure affects the cost of debt is through reduction in information uncertainty associated with political spending.

Booking

This seminar is free to attend and there is not need to book in advance. Please feel free to bring along your friends, colleagues and classmates.

Speaker bio

After completing his undergraduate studies at the Technological Education Institute of Athens with a BSc in Business Administration, Yannis undertook the MBA Programme at the University of Stirling with specialisation in corporate finance. In November 2009, he completed his PhD in Accounting at the University of Edinburgh.

Yannis' work experience includes positions as an Accounting Assistant (in Greece) and a s Financial Accountant and Reporting Analyst at Company Reporting Ltd in Edinburgh.

Prior to Joining the University of Glasgow in January 2015, Yannis was a Lecturer in Accounting at the University of Stirling.

In parallel to his current position of Professor of Accounting and Finance at the University of Glasgow, Yannis is also;

• A member of the ICAS Corporate and Financial Reporting Panel Chair of the European Financial Reporting Network (EUFIN)
• Treasurer of the Financial Accounting Special Interest Group (FARSIG) of the British Accounting and Finance Association
• Section Editor for Accounting and Finance for European Management Journal

Yannis' research interests are in accounting and reporting (with an appeal to practitioners, investors and academic community). In particular companies' reporting practices under International Finance Reporting Standards across different jurisdictions, along with any economic consequences that may arise from divergence in practice. He is also interested in corporate governance as an influential factor of companies' financial reporting practices.