Disclosure “Scriptability”

Abstract

In response to the increasing use of computer programs to process firm disclosures, this registered report develops a new measure of “scriptability” that reflects computerized, rather than human, information processing costs. We validate our measure using SEC filing-derived data from prior research and identify firm and disclosure characteristics related to it. In our planned hypothesis tests, we find some evidence that the speed of the market response to filings increases with scriptability, but find little evidence that scriptability affects the incidence and speed of news dissemination by Dow Jones. In additional analyses, we find that scriptability exhibits both positive and negative associations with changes in information asymmetry between market participants, depending on the filing, trading window, and measure examined. We also find little evidence that XBRL interacts with scriptability in a meaningful way. Overall, our study broadens our understanding of information processing costs and provides opportunities for new avenues of research.