The Information Content of 10-K Narratives: Comparing MD&A and Footnotes Disclosures

This paper examines the characteristics and variations within firms’ 10-K filings over a 20 year time period. We find that investors’ reaction to textual characteristics of the MD&A in 10-Ks is much stronger and more timely than their reaction to textual characteristics of the notes to the financial statements. Characteristics of the MD&A and footnotes are also predictive of future returns, volatility, and firm profitability. Our evidence suggests that investor pay limited attention to the footnotes compared to the MD&A and that firms exploit biases in investors’ information processing through their disclosure choices within 10-K filings

Detecting Heatsink Types for Socketed Processors

Servers often are designed to support a socketed processor in order to allow the end user the ability to customize their compute solution for their needs. Server processor vendors offer a variety of different processor models that can be installed. These various processor models can have differing technical specifications that include core count, cache size, operating frequency limitations, memory capacity, as well as power and thermal cooling requirements. An individual server design could easily support a range of processor models from those that have few cores, providing low performance, all the way up to dozens of cores that providing high performance. Since compute resources such as cores consume power, the range of processor power can be as wide as 200W. To keep costs of a total solution down, different heatsinks are often designed and sold to support this wide range: cheap extruded aluminium heatsinks for lower performing CPUs and expensive heat piped heatsinks for higher performing CPUs

Are All Insider Sales Created Equal? Evidence from Form 4 Footnote Disclosures

This paper is the first to examine the information contained in executives’ voluntary supplementary disclosures in footnotes on SEC Form 4 filings that accompany stock sales. Analysing these supplementary disclosures we are able to distinguish between discretionary sales, for which insiders have discretion over the amount and timing of the sale, and nondiscretionary sales. We find that discretionary sales involve significantly larger trades and produce significantly lower abnormal announcement returns than nondiscretionary sales, particularly when internal controls are perceived to be weak. Our findings suggests that discretionary sales reveal negative information to investors who do not seem to fully impound the information into stock prices in a timely manner as these sales are predictive of negative future stock returns. Investigating the type of bad news that these insider sales predict, we find a positive association with the likelihood of future analyst downgrades, negative earnings surprises and future litigation

The impact of side effect framing on COVID-19 booster vaccine intentions in an Australian sample

Objective: To evaluate the effect of presenting positively attribute-framed side effect information on COVID-19 booster vaccine intention relative to standard negatively-framed wording and a no-intervention control. Design and participants: A representative sample of Australian adults (N = 1204) were randomised to one of six conditions within a factorial design: Framing (Positive; Negative; Control) × Vaccine (Familiar (Pfizer); Unfamiliar (Moderna)). Intervention: Negative Framing involved presenting the likelihood of experiencing side effects (e.g., heart inflammation is very rare, 1 in every 80,000 will be affected), whereas Positive Framing involved presenting the same information but as the likelihood of not experiencing side effects (e.g., 79,999 in every 80,000 will not be affected). Primary outcome: Booster vaccine intention measured pre- and post-intervention. Results: Participants were more familiar with the Pfizer vaccine (t(1203) = 28.63, p <.001, Cohen's dz = 0.83). Positive Framing (M = 75.7, SE = 0.9, 95% CI = [73.9, 77.4]) increased vaccine intention relative to Negative Framing (M = 70.7, SE = 0.9, 95% CI = [68.9, 72.4]) overall (F(1, 1192) = 4.68, p =.031, ηp2 = 0.004). Framing interacted with Vaccine and Baseline Intention (F(2, 1192) = 6.18, p =.002, ηp2 = 0.01). Positive Framing was superior, or at least equal, to Negative Framing and Control at increasing Booster Intention, irrespective of participants’ pre-intervention level of intent and vaccine type. Side effect worry and perceived severity mediated the effect of Positive vs. Negative Framing across vaccines. Conclusion: Positive framing of side effect information appears superior for increasing vaccine intent relative to the standard negative wording currently used. Pre-registration: See: aspredicted.org/LDX_2ZL

How distressing is it to participate in medical research? A calibration study using an everyday events questionnaire

Objectives: To investigate how distressing participating in medical research is perceived to be, compared to everyday events. Design: Anonymous questionnaire. Setting: Scotland and New Zealand. Participants: One hundred members of the Scottish general public, 94 University of Auckland students, 22 New Zealand Ministry of Health ethics committee members. Main outcome measures: Distress ratings made on a 0-10 scale for everyday events and common medical research procedures. Results: Both general population and student samples generally rated the distress caused by participating in various medical research procedures as low or very low. Most research procedures were rated less than the distress caused by not being able to find a car park at a supermarket. In contrast, the ethics committee members rated the distress caused by most of the medical research procedures at a significantly higher level than the ratings of the student and general population samples. Ethics committee members overestimated the distress caused by interview or questionnaire assessments (M&thinsp;=&thinsp;203.31%, SE&thinsp;=&thinsp;11.42, 95% CI [179.79, 226.83]) more than medical testing for research (M&thinsp;=&thinsp;158.06%, SE&thinsp;=&thinsp;12.33, 95% CI [132.66, 183.46], p&thinsp;=&thinsp;0.04) and everyday events (M&thinsp;=&thinsp;133.10%, SE&thinsp;=&thinsp;7.80, 95% CI [117.03, 149.16], p&thinsp;&lt;&thinsp;0.001). Conclusions: Common medical research procedures are not rated as particularly distressing by the general public, and ethics committees may be adopting an over-protective role when evaluating research applications that involve the use of questionnaire or survey methodology

A new transoceanic invasion? First records of <i>Neomysis americana</i> (Crustacea: Mysidae) in the East Atlantic

First records in the East Atlantic are reported for the North-West Atlantic endemic mysid Neomysis americana (S. I. Smith, 1873), previously known as an invader of South-West Atlantic coasts. Two specimens were caught in 2010 in coastal waters of The Netherlands. The new records provide the first evidence for a west to east transfer of a mysid species across the Atlantic, whereas previously published transfers were observed only in the opposite direction. Major diagnostic characters are reconsidered and the validity of the European species of Neomysis and Acanthomysis is discussed. A pictorial key to these species is given to facilitate future assessments of potential range expansions of N. americana