Case study of Chinese and Korean airlines’ MD&As across countries, markets, and ownership—A regulatory perspective

ABSTRACT We compare the management discussion and analysis sections (MD&As) of 1) Korean and Chinese airlines in their home countries, with different MD&A regulations; 2) a Chinese airline dual-listed in both the Chinese and U.S. markets, with different levels of information disclosure discretion; and 3) ownership types such as state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs with different regulatory pressure. We find that the more liberal the management’s discretion regarding information disclosure and the higher the government’s regulatory pressure, the higher the MD&A quality. Although requiring more forward-looking information in the MD&A is also conducive to enhancing quality, the impact of regulations on MD&A quality is weaker than that of the first two measures. The results have important implications for regulatory agencies. Promulgating legal provisions, such as the safe harbour provision and improving regulatory pressure, is more efficient for augmenting MD&A quality than modifying regulations.