Aghamolla and Smith (2023) make a significant contribution to enhancing our understanding of how managers choose financial reporting complexity. I outline the key assumptions and implications of the theory, and discuss two empirical implications: (1) a U-shaped relationship between complexity and returns, and (2) a negative association between complexity and investor sophistication. However, the robust equilibrium also implies a counterfactual positive market response to complexity. I develop a simplified approach in which simple disclosures indicate positive surprises, and show that this implies greater investor skepticism toward complexity and a positive association between investor sophistication and complexity. More work is needed to understand complexity as an interaction of reporting and economic transactions, rather than solely as a reporting phenomenon.

Aghamolla 和 Smith（2023）为增强我们对管理者如何选择财务报告复杂性的理解做出了重大贡献。我概述了该理论的关键假设和含义，并讨论了两个实证含义：(1) 复杂性和回报之间的 U 形关系，以及 (2) 复杂性和投资者成熟度之间的负相关关系。然而，稳健均衡也意味着市场对复杂性的反事实积极反应。我开发了一种简化的方法，其中简单的披露表明积极的惊喜，并表明这意味着投资者对复杂性更加怀疑，以及投资者的成熟度和复杂性之间存在正相关关系。需要做更多的工作来理解复杂性作为报告和经济交易的相互作用，而不仅仅是作为一种报告现象。