We exploit the change in U.S. segment reporting rules (from SFAS No. 14
to SFAS No. 131) to examine two motives for managers to conceal segment profits:
proprietary costs and agency costs. Managers face proprietary costs of segment dis-
closure if the revelation of a segment that earns high abnormal profits attracts more
competition and, hence, reduces the abnormal profits. Managers face agency costs of
segment disclosure if the revelation of a segment that earns low abnormal profits re-
veals unresolved agency problems and, hence, leads to heightened external monitor-
ing. By comparing a hand-collected sample of restated SFAS No. 131 segments with
historical SFAS No. 14 segments, we examine at the segment level whether managers’
disclosure decisions are influenced by their proprietary and agency cost motives to
conceal segment profits. Specifically, we test two hypotheses: (1) when the proprietary
cost motive dominates, managers tend to withhold the segments with relatively high
abnormal profits (hereafter, the proprietary cost motive hypothesis), and (2) when the
agency cost motive dominates, managers tend to withhold the segments with relatively
low abnormal profits (hereafter, the agency cost motive hypothesis). Our results are
consistent with the agency cost motive hypothesis, whereas we find mixed evidence
with regard to the proprietary cost motive hypothesis.