We assess the role of human discretion in lending outcomes using a randomized, controlled experiment. The lenders in our sample utilize a third party, machine-generated credit model as an input in their decision. We design a new feature for the credit-scoring platform – the slider feature – which invites lenders to incorporate additional discretion in their decision by adjusting the machine-based recommendation. We compare the loan outcomes for treatment lenders that randomly get the slider, relative to a control group. The treatment group's adjustments are predictive of forward looking portfolio characteristics – they show larger declines in future portfolio-level credit risk and larger increases in future sales orders, relative to the control group. The effects of our intervention are more pronounced when borrowers do not have social media accounts and in competitive markets. Our study provides insights about the role of human decisions, given the rapid evolution of machine-based lending models.

The capacity of firms to communicate effectively with investors during periods of disruption is a critical but understudied dimension of corporate adaptability. The COVID‐19 pandemic offers a rare empirical setting to observe such adaptability: It eliminated in‐person investor events almost overnight, forcing firms to either withdraw from investor engagement or pivot to virtual formats amid extreme uncertainty. Using hand‐collected data on investor relations (IR) events from 2019 to 2024, we examine who adapted to virtual IR, when they adapted, and the capital market consequences of that adaptation. We find that firms with higher digital readiness and more gender‐diverse boards were early and sustained adopters of virtual IR, that the informational benefits of virtual formats are concentrated in periods of heightened uncertainty, and that visibility benefits persist as conditions normalize. The findings imply that disclosure adaptability during a crisis hinges on organizational and digital capabilities built ex ante and suggest that virtual and in‐person formats serve distinct functions as conditions stabilize. Our study has practical implications: CEOs, CFOs, and IR teams may benefit from maintaining virtual IR as a crisis‐ready capability that broadens investor reach and preserves communication during disruption, while continuing to draw on in‐person engagement for richer interactions, credibility assessment, and deeper discussions.

Mandatory audits of internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR), intended to strengthen financial reporting processes, may also have implications for broader organizational compliance systems. Increased scrutiny of financial controls could either enhance overall control quality, yielding benefits for nonfinancial controls, or induce firms to reallocate resources away from those areas. We exploit quasi‐exogenous variation in financial control scrutiny arising from (1) the initial implementation of ICFR audits, (2) the subsequent relaxation of ICFR auditing standards, and (3) the introduction of management assessments of financial controls absent concurrent ICFR audits, to examine how changes in external scrutiny affect Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection findings, an important form of regulatory noncompliance with direct public health implications. Our results show that the introduction of ICFR audits is associated with a reduction in FDA inspection findings; however, these benefits reverse when ICFR audit scrutiny declines. Mechanism analyses suggest that remediation of control deficiencies, investments in information systems, and expanded internal audit functions facilitate spillovers to compliance controls. Importantly, we find limited evidence that management assessments alone, without concurrent ICFR audits, generate similar spillover effects. Overall, our findings suggest that internal control systems operate as integrated organizational processes rather than isolated financial reporting mechanisms and that external scrutiny plays a critical role in enabling spillovers across control domains. These insights have implications for audit committees, auditors, regulators, and other stakeholders.