BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20260411T130134EDT-3273PjDFx9@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20260411T170134Z DESCRIPTION:Ken Duan\, a doctoral student at şŁ˝ÇÉçÇř in the Accou nting area will be presenting his thesis defense entitled:\n\nTwo Essays o n Analyst Expertise\n\nFriday\, April 17\, 2026\, at 12:00 p.m. \n (The def ense will be conducted online\, via Zoom)\n\nStudent Committee Co-chairs: Prof. Hongping Tan\n\nPlease note that the Defence will be conducted on Zo om. Only the student and their committee members may participate in the de fence.​​​​\n\n\nAbstract\n\nFinancial analysts serve as important informat ion intermediaries in capital markets\, helping investors process and inte rpret complex information. While prior research has extensively studied an alysts’ numerical forecasts\, much less is known about the qualitative con tent of their written reports and whether domain-specific information in t hese reports creates value. This thesis examines whether and how financial analysts engage in domain-specific information collection and processing in their equity analysis and whether such activities create value for inve stors and underlying firms. Across two studies\, I provide evidence that t he qualitative content of analyst reports\, spanning competitive dynamics and tax matters\, reflects analysts’ expertise that improves their own for ecast accuracy and informs capital market participants.\n\nIn the first st udy\, I investigate the role of competition analysis in financial analyst reports and its value to investors. Using textual analysis on a large samp le of analyst reports for U.S. firms\, I find that analysts’ earnings fore cast revisions accompanied by more competition-related discussion are more accurate. This effect is stronger when the discussion comes from analysts with greater industry expertise and when firms face more intense competit ion. Further analyses show that both investors and managers find these dis cussions informative: revisions with detailed competition analysis elicit stronger market reactions\, and firms covered by more competition-focused analysts exhibit higher investment efficiency. Overall\, the results indic ate that competition discussions enhance analysts’ forecast accuracy and p rovide valuable insights to capital markets.\n\nIn the second study\, I ex amine whether analysts’ tax-specific expertise\, as reflected in the quali tative discussion of tax matters in their written reports\, improves forec ast accuracy and conveys value-relevant information to investors. Prior wo rk shows that when analysts issue pre-tax income forecasts\, their earning s forecasts are more accurate\, they are better able to detect earnings ma nagement through tax expense\, and their coverage helps monitor tax aggres siveness (Baik et al.\, 2016\; Mauler\, 2019\; Chen et al.\, 2018). These findings suggest that tax-specific expertise has observable benefits\, and I predict that the qualitative tax discussion in analyst reports should s imilarly improve forecast quality and inform investors. Consistent with th is prediction\, I find that analysts who discuss more tax matters in their research reports produce more accurate effective tax rates and earnings f orecasts\, and that this effect is incremental to whether analysts issue e xplicit pre-tax income forecasts. Further analysis shows that the benefit is particularly pronounced when analysts discuss transitory tax items. I a lso find that negative tax discussion is associated with significantly neg ative short-window market reactions\, while positive tax discussion has no significant effect. Taken together\, the findings suggest that analysts’ tax expertise is both helpful for forecast accuracy and informative for in vestors\, contributing to our understanding of how domain-specific knowled ge shapes the value of analyst research.\n DTSTART:20260417T160000Z DTEND:20260417T180000Z SUMMARY:PhD Thesis Defense Presentation: Ken Duan URL:/desautels/channels/event/phd-thesis-defense-prese ntation-ken-duan-372403 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR