The literature examining analyst activity assumes that access to management is valued by analysts and their employers. We propose a readily observable measure of access: How often an analyst is invited to be among the first to ask questions in the Q&A session of an earnings conference call. These “early participants” are more successful in the labor market than peers from the same brokerage when their brokerages close. Our results show that access is valued by both sell-side and buy-side employers and reflects connectivity to management as well as analyst skill dimensions not captured in traditional measures of performance.

Effective in 2009, SFAS 161 requires enhanced disclosures about derivative use and hedging activities. We test for changes to the information environment of firms whose disclosure policy is unaffected by this standard directly. Using a sample of non-users of derivatives, we find an increase in stock liquidity after their critical customers expand derivative disclosures under SFAS 161. The effect persists for one year and becomes insignificant in subsequent years as the firms dial back their voluntary disclosure. The effect is also more salient for firms that have stronger economic links with their customers and for firms whose customers exhibit more significant improvements in derivative disclosures. The findings suggest that the mandatory derivative disclosures due to SFAS 161 lead to short-term positive information externalities along supply chains. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.