Investigating Some Factors and Consequences of Disclosing the Financial Effects of The Coronavirus on the Tehran Stock Exchange

The purpose of this study is to determine some of the factors affecting the disclosure of the financial effects of the coronavirus in the Earnings Conference Calls available in the Tedan system of the Exchange and Securities Organization and also to investigate the market reaction to the disclosure of the financial implications of the coronavirus in these conferences.
The method of the present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of nature. In this research, the information of 542 Earnings Conference Calls published in Tehran Stock Exchange during the period from (February 2020 to the end of March 2021) has been examined.
The results obtained from multiple regression show that the frequency of the word coronavirus during conferences has a direct and significant relationship with the size of the company and an inverse and significant relationship with financial leverage and growth opportunity. Also, the frequency of the word corona has a direct and significant relationship with membership in some industries. In addition, the results show that the prevalence of coronavirus reduces the tone of conferences and negates it, which means that when management discusses the spread of coronavirus, it is really concerned about its impact. The findings also show that investors in conferences respond to discussions about the coronavirus, because the amount of discussion is significantly related to the abnormal short-term returns in the post-conference period.
Earnings Conference Calls have become an important channel for voluntary disclosure of companies, and the features of these conferences (including their tone) are instructive for investors. Stock investors react to coronavirus issues when presenting conferences because the amount of discussion is associated with abnormal returns shortly after the conference date.
Contribution: This study contributes to the relevant literature by providing evidence on the factors affecting corona-related disclosures during the corona virus outbreak and its consequences. So far, there is no systematic research in Iran that can examine the impact of this disease on business activities, especially from an accounting perspective.