Sandra Schafhäutle

Sandra Schafhäutle and Gurpal S. Sran, Redacted Identities in Shipment Records: Evidence from Forced Labor Scrutiny in Supply Chains.

Abstract: US Customs and Border Protection allows firms to request redaction of their own (and their suppliers') identifying information in transaction-level shipment records. We find that about 16% of shipment records from 2013 through 2023 have redacted identities, with significant variation across time, origin regions, and other shipment characteristics. Along with examining proprietary costs as a motive for firms to redact identities, we focus on an important but understudied force: supply chain scrutiny costs related to forced labor risks. Consistent with such costs, shipments from countries with forced labor vulnerabilities and weak government responses to forced labor are more likely to have redacted identities. We then exploit a series of events related to forced labor allegations in international cotton and apparel production that intensified supply chain scrutiny related to forced labor risks. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences design, we find an increase in redactions for affected cotton and apparel shipments after these events. Overall, our evidence suggests that importers redact identities from shipment records in the presence of supply chain scrutiny costs introduced by public and regulatory attention to corporate social responsibility.

Sandra Schafhäutle (Working), The Spillover Effects of Environmental Transparency and Enforcement Regulation: Evidence From Commodity Trading Firms.

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of local environmental regulation on the sourcing patterns of commodity trading firms (i.e., firms that source commodities from upstream producers and distribute these commodities further downstream). Exploiting a transparency and enforcement regulation targeting producers in deforestation-intense Brazilian municipalities, I find trading firms do not reallocate their sourcing from regulated to unregulated municipalities. However, trading firms reduce their exposure to upstream deforestation and scope 3 emissions associated with their sourcing in both regulated and unregulated locations. Although the direct effect in regulated municipalities could reflect the first-order responses by producers, the positive spillover effect in unregulated municipalities suggests trading firms actively invest in sustainable sourcing. Yet, not all firms exhibit a positive spillover effect: this effect is concentrated in trading firms exposed to stringent local enforcement actions and committed to zero deforestation sourcing. I conclude that upstream supply chain shocks can have transmission effects on agents further down in supply chains, evidenced by global trading firms adopting firm-wide sourcing strategies that can shape the efficacy of local environmental regulation.

Sandra Schafhäutle and David Veenman (2024), Crowdsourced Forecasts and the Market Reaction to Earnings Announcement News, The Accounting Review, March 1st 2024, 99 (2), pp. 421-456.

Abstract: This study examines whether crowdsourced forecasts of earnings and revenues help investors unravel bias in earnings announcement news, which is commonly derived from analyst forecasts. Our results suggest that investors, on average, understand and price the predictive signals reflected in crowdsourced forecasts about the bias in analyst-based earnings and revenue surprises. Using the staggered addition of firms to the Estimize platform, we find that crowdsourced coverage is associated with reductions in the mispricing of forecast bias and declines in earnings announcement premia. We further find some evidence that managers use income-increasing accruals to meet the crowdsourced forecast benchmark and that they respond to crowdsourced coverage through increased downward earnings and revenue guidance. Overall, we conclude that user-generated content on crowdsourced financial information platforms helps investors discount biases in traditional equity research and thereby better process the news in earnings announcements.

Sandra Schafhäutle (Working), Why Disclose Privately? Shareholder Litigation Risk and Managers’ Private Disclosure of Bad News.

Abstract: Although the disclosure literature largely focuses on managers' public disclosure decisions, managers can also disclose information privately to select market participants. By developing and validating a proxy that captures private bad news disclosure to sell-side analysts, I investigate a force long posited to influence managers' incentives to engage in private disclosure: shareholder litigation risk. Exploiting plausibly exogenous changes in shareholder litigation risk based on judge ideology, I find managers' propensity to communicate bad news privately is positively correlated with shareholder litigation risk. This effect is pronounced when private disclosure is relatively beneficial (low earnings persistence, high competition) and when managers issue less informative public disclosures (no earnings guidance, short conference calls). Consistent with private disclosure being an effective strategy to indirectly adjust market prices and thereby manage the risk of shareholder litigation, I find that private disclosure reduces the frequency of large and sudden stock price drops.