"When IR Meets GenAI," a paper co-authored by faculty members and students from Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM), received the 2026 Lazaridis Award for Best Paper on Accounting Issues Relevant to Technology Firms at the 2026 Canadian Academic Accounting Association (CAAA) Annual Conference. The paper was co-authored by Professor Jia Ning and Associate Professor Xu Da of Tsinghua SEM, Zhang Yuwen, a PhD student at Tsinghua SEM, and Professor Li Ningzhong of the University of Texas at Dallas.

The Lazaridis Award is a distinguished academic honor presented by the CAAA to recognize outstanding accounting research on issues relevant to technology firms. The award highlights high-quality theoretical and empirical work that advances understanding of accounting questions in the context of technological innovation and digital transformation. This recognition underscores the academic contribution of the study and reflects its broad recognition within the international accounting research community.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that firms have increasingly adopted generative AI (GenAI) in their investor relations (IR) activities to enhance external communications. The paper investigated whether generative AI (GenAI) has amplified or diminished the communication advantage of firms with investor relations (IR) programs relative to those without.

The researchers found that following ChatGPT's release in November 2022, firms with IR programs experienced a significantly greater improvement in their information environments relative to firms without IR programs. The effect strengthened when IR officers were more AI-savvy and was concentrated in firms with lower institutional ownership. The improvements stemmed primarily from enhanced disclosures and communications and accelerated market assimilation of disclosed information. They chiefly came from nontraditional channels, such as corporate websites, and mainly benefit retail investors. The improvements were concentrated in the dissemination of good news, amplifying the asymmetric withholding of bad news by IR firms.

Overall, the findings suggest that GenAI complements IR programs by enhancing their communication efficiency. The research provides a new lens through which to understand the multifaceted role of emerging technologies in corporate disclosures and capital market information transmission.

Source: Academic Affairs Office

Editor: Ren Zhongxi