W&L’s Afshad Irani Presents at Cass Business School and CeFARR Conference The one-day conference on the role analysts play in today’s financial markets took place at Cass Business School in London on Sept. 13, 2019.

By Taylor Meeker
October 13, 2019

Afshad Irani, professor of accounting and head of the accounting department, delivered a presentation at the Cass Business School and the Centre for Financial Analysis and Reporting Research (CeFARR) Conference at the Cass Business School Executive Education in London, UK on Sept. 13, 2019.

CeFARR at Cass Business School invited practitioners and academics from around the world for a one-day conference to answer the question “What role do analysts play in today’s financial markets?”

“Why Do Firms Disclose Their Analyst Following on Their Corporate Websites?” delivered by Irani in collaboration with Irene Karamanou of the University of Cyprus, examined the firm practice of disclosing analyst following on their corporate websites. They find that about two-thirds of the firms they examined divulge their analyst following.

Irani and Karamanou’s further analysis reveals evidence consistent with firms exploiting the unregulated practice of voluntarily disclosing their analyst following on corporate websites to deceive investors.

The 2019 conference featured several presentations by practitioners and academics on the changing landscape of sell-side analyst research.