In 2006 Germany strengthened the enforcement of mandatory financial statement disclosure for private firms. Since the law enforced disclosure but not its quality, we examine whether firms forced to disclose reduced financial reporting quality, for example to prevent competitors and other parties from inferring profitability, liquidity and other negotiation relevant information in time. We use proprietary data by the Deutsche Bundesbank, which covers information about firms that did not disclose financial statements before the law. Analyses based on differences-in-differences, regression discontinuity and PSM extend prior studies and suggest that firms did not significantly reduce financial reporting quality. These findings are potentially relevant for regulators as they document limits of private firms’ disclosure avoidance and emphasize the benefits of disclosure.

2006 年，德国加强了对私营企业财务报表披露的强制执行。由于法律强制披露而不是其质量，我们检查公司是否被迫披露降低的财务报告质量，例如防止竞争对手和其他方及时推断盈利能力、流动性和其他谈判相关信息。我们使用德意志联邦银行的专有数据，其中涵盖了未在法律前披露财务报表的公司的信息。基于差异中的差异、回归不连续性和 PSM 的分析扩展了先前的研究，并表明公司并未显着降低财务报告质量。