abstract
Materiality has important implications for voluntary disclosures when there is an
affirmative duty to disclose. Using a change in rules on the disclosure of advertising
costs, Heitzman et al. (2009) empirically demonstrate that, indeed, it is important to
factor in the effect of the materiality constraint on firms’ disclosure behavior. This
discussion reviews the contributions and limitations of Heitzman et al. (2009).
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