This paper examines discretionary disclosures by a firm (whose owners enjoy limited liability) when it must rely on a
strategic certifier to make a credible disclosure to the capital market. In the ex post disclosure setting in which the firm
decides on hiring the certifier after observing the certifier's noisy signal, we find that the likelihood of disclosure by the firm
is non-monotonic in disclosure precision. However, in the ex ante disclosure setting when the firm decides on hiring the
certifier before observing the certifier's noisy assessment, this paper predicts that (a) the probability of disclosure can
actually decrease in the disclosure precision; (b) the probability of bad news disclosure is less than in the ex post disclosure
regime; (c) the market response to favorable versus unfavorable disclosures can be asymmetric because the firm's
disclosures contain additional information (about relatively favorable private information of the firm) beyond the literal
meaning of the certifier's disclosure; and (d) the market's asymmetric response to favorable versus unfavorable disclosures
can produce convexity of stock prices in firms' disclosures. Thus, ceteris paribus, the firm knowing less about the certifier's
signal can actually increase the information content of its disclosures.
Future research could consider oligopolistic certification. Competition among certifiers can potentially produce an
opportunity for firms to engage in “shopping for certifiers' opinions.” If the firm is able to observe or predict each certifier's
prospective signal, then the firm is likely to choose that certifier who is more likely to generate a more favorable report on
behalf of the firm (e.g., the alleged practice of some firms engaging in opinion shopping for bond ratings.) In such a setting,
each one of the certifiers would then anticipate this possible opinion shopping by the firm for their disclosures and such
anticipation would significantly affect their fee choices, which in turn would also influence firms' discretionary disclosure
behavior