Financial Reporting Information and Labor Market Decisions: Survey Evidence

Abstract

We propose a large-scale survey investigating how public company employees use financial reporting information in their employment-related decisions. Despite employees being key stakeholders in firms, research on their consumption of financial information remains limited. Our survey will explore the extent to which employees use financial reporting information and their specific information-seeking behaviors—including which metrics they find most relevant and their preferred information sources. We will also probe firms’ own internal dissemination of financial reporting information and how employees weigh internal versus external signals about a firm’s financial condition. By leveraging a broad panel of public company employee contacts, we will provide generalizable insights into the heterogeneity of financial information use across different segments of public company employees. Our pilot survey of 200 public company employees already reveals significant variation in information use patterns: 67% of respondents factor their employer’s financial performance into employment-related decisions, 49% use earnings releases, conference calls, or SEC filings to evaluate employers, and 55% emphasize the importance of using both internal and external information sources. This research will provide novel insights into an understudied stakeholder group’s consumption of financial reporting information and contribute to the emerging literature examining the intersection of accounting information and labor markets.