The Information Content of Discretionary Disaggregation

Abstract

I examine the information content embedded in firms' decision to disaggregate financial statement line items. I find that the level of disaggregation predicts both current and future performance. I also find that significant changes in discretionary disaggregation are indicative of weak fundamentals. In particular, I document a hump-shaped pattern such that both increases and decreases in discretionary disaggregation are negatively associated with measures of performance. Investors do not unravel this information at the time of filing, resulting in predictable return patterns over time. Together, these findings are consistent with discretionary disaggregation providing an informative-but low saliency-signal regarding firms' fundamental performance.