Analysis of Market Reaction to Risk Disclosure Factors

Disclosure of information, especially information about company risks, provides investors with useful information about the inherent risks of the company. Whether this information signal has information content or not, it will lead to an increase in the investors' understanding and ultimately their reactions and changes in stock prices. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the market reaction to risk disclosure factors, which included financial risk, operational risk, and strategic risk. To measure risk disclosure in this study, a method based on the content analysis of the board of directors' activity report to the general meeting of shareholders was used. Also, to investigate the market reaction, abnormal returns accumulated around the date of publication of the board of directors’ activity report were utilized. In the period of 2011-2019, among the companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), 655 years-companies were selected as a sample. Multiple regression was applied to test the research hypotheses. The results indicated that the total risk disclosure and types of risk disclosure, including financial risk, operational risk, and strategic risk, had a positive and significant effect on the abnormal returns on stock accumulation. In other words, the disclosure of risk factors had information content and the market reacted to their disclosure in the report of the board of directors.