This paper examines the informational role a Property & Casualty (P&C) insurers’ loss accrual (an estimate of expected losses) provides in a merger. This accrual is the largest liability for an insurer and an accurate evaluation of this liability is important in valuing a merger. Our focus is on one specific aspect of the loss accrual. This is the loss accrual’s transparency (or how easy is it to be modeled) and used in a valuation exercise. We propose a two-stage methodology to examine how transparency affects the valuation of acquirers in mergers. In the first stage, we use an event study to measure the acquirer’s cumulative abnormal stock return following the merger announcement. This is a measure of how the market values the transaction.  In the second stage, we then investigate whether, and to what extent, the merger parties’ loss accrual transparencies are related to the market’s valuation of the acquirer. / Business Administration/Accounting