Are voluntary disclosures that disavow there liability of mandated
fair value information informative or opportunistic
a b s t r a c t
One consequenceoftheshifttofairvaluemeasurementistheemergenceofvoluntary
disclosuresinauditedfinancialstatementsthatquestionthereliabilityofmandatedfair
value information.Werefertothesedisclosuresasreliabilitydisavowals.Weexamine
stock optionvolatilityestimatesdisclosedunderSFAS123andtestwhetherdisavowals
are informative(opportunistic)byexaminingwhether ex ante firm characteristics,
forecastbias,andpredictiondifficultyareconsistentwithinformative(opportunistic)
disclosure.Ourresultssupportthehypothesisthatdisavowalsinformusersabout
the reliabilityofvolatilityestimates,butthereisalsolimitedevidenceconsistentwith
managersusingdisavowalsopportunistically.