[This paper examines the relations between the disclosure practices of firms, the number of analysts following each firm and properties of the analysts' earnings forecasts. Using data from the Report of the Financial Analysts Federation Corporate Information Committee (FAF Report 1985-89), we provide evidence that firms with more informative disclosure policies have a larger analyst following, more accurate analyst earnings forecasts, less dispersion among individual analyst forecasts and less volatility in forecast revisions. The results enhance our understanding of the role of analysts in capital markets. Further, they suggest that potential benefits to disclosure include increased investor following, reduced estimation risk and reduced information asymmetry, each of which have been shown to reduce a firm's cost of capital in theoretical research.]

[This study provides evidence that fair value estimates of loans, securities and long-term debt disclosed under SFAS No. 107 provide significant explanatory power for bank share prices beyond that provided by related book values. In contrast to Eccher et al. (1996) and Nelson (1996), we consistently find incremental explanatory power for loans' fair values. Relatively stronger findings are obtained using a set of significant conditioning variables, including nonperforming loans, and interest-sensitive assets and liabilities. The joint significance of these loan-related variables and loans' fair values indicates that loans' fair values do not reflect completely loan default and interest rate risk. The loans' coefficient is significantly larger for banks with higher regulatory capital, which is consistent with market participants discounting unrealized gains on loans disclosed by less healthy banks. The findings are robust with respect to the inclusion of additional explanatory variables and to a first differences formulation.]

Examines the relations between the disclosure practices of firms, the number of analysts following each firm and properties of the analysts' earnings forecasts. Forecast dispersion and disclosure; Forecast accuracy and disclosure; Volatility of forecast revisions and disclosure.

Provides evidence that fair value estimates of loans, securities and long-term debt disclosed under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 107 provide significant explanatory power for bank share prices beyond that provided by related book values. First-difference estimation; Specifications.