We document a growing disparity in earnings disclosure mechanisms. Firms are increasingly disclosing earnings announcements (EA) concurrently with the 10-K filing instead of first issuing a ‘stand-alone' EA. Firm adoption of concurrent EA/10-Ks is associated with lower investor sophistication,...

We document that the conventional disclosure practice of ‘stand-alone' earnings announcements (EAs), which preempt 10-K filings, is steadily disappearing over time. Instead, firms are increasingly adopting the disclosure strategy of releasing the EA concurrently with the 10-K. We first examine...