Search results

This study aims to examine the influence of voluntary disclosure on bank value in Pakistan, considering the moderating effect of corporate governance characteristics: ownership control, board independence and board size.

The study uses data from 20 listed Pakistani banks for the period 2011–2021. The estimation contains robust fixed effect and its assumptions, and a model of standard error with panel corrections.

The findings revealed a weak positive impact of voluntary disclosure on bank value. However, the increase in the number of independent directors strengthens the positive impact of voluntary disclosure on a bank’s value. Conversely, increasing the ownership concentration, and board size (other than independent directors) may strongly decrease the impact of voluntary disclosure on a bank’s value in Pakistan.

The study’s limitations include its exclusive focus on the Pakistani banking industry. Future research should take into account newer contexts and data. The findings suggest that future research should investigate the topic in various contexts, including a comparison of Islamic and conventional banks.

The practical implications for Pakistani banks emphasize transparency, board composition and ownership structure. In terms of managerial implications, using independent directors, aligning ownership interests and addressing disclosure challenges are highlighted.

Focusing on independent directors, ownership concentration and board size, this study enhances knowledge of the impact of voluntary disclosure on bank value in Pakistan. It contributes to agency theory and the literature in this domain.

This paper aims to investigate the extent of sustainability disclosure through websites at Spanish universities and analyse the determinants that affect such disclosure.

This study uses as methodology a content analysis of the sustainability information disclosed by universities on their official websites in 2022 and a regression of ordinary least squares.

Findings emphasise that Spanish universities have moderate levels of online sustainability disclosure, close to 50%, showing prevalent attention to dimensions concerning “organisation profile and governance”, “economic aspects” and “labour practices”, while “curriculum and teaching on sustainability topics” and “environmental” dimensions were less addressed. On the other hand, the findings indicate that public and larger universities are the ones most engaged in the online disclosure of information about sustainability issues. Likewise, universities led by female rectors exert a positive influence on sustainability disclosure on websites.

The results could be useful for policymakers and regulators to implement and standardise sustainability reporting at higher education institutions, as well as for managers at universities who wish to increase the diffusion of sustainability outreach to satisfy stakeholders’ demands and legitimise their actions in society.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first Spanish approach to identify the explanatory factors for sustainability reporting in Spanish higher education institutions.

This study aims to investigate the use of voluntary disclosure on mainstream social media platforms to examine strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the influential factors and institutional pressures organisations faced when making disclosures on social media during the pandemic.

A two-stage qualitative approach was adopted. Stage one used content analysis to examine voluntary disclosures made by international organisations on social media during the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stage two comprised semi-structured interviews with individuals who were involved in the decision-making process around the social media disclosures.

This study’s findings reveal significant changes in disclosure practices due to COVID-19-related pressures. In addition to the utilisation of social media for signalling conformance with new pandemic-related norms and connecting with stakeholders, the evidence also reveals how organisations made use of strategic responses to COVID-19-related institutional pressures.

The findings reveal how social media was used as a means of timely voluntary disclosure during the examined crisis. The findings can inform the development of organisational guidelines and policies for the use of social media as a disclosure medium.

This study reveals how organisations used voluntary disclosure on social media as a strategic response to institutional pressures and the COVID-19 pandemic; this context is under-researched. The study also extends the application of the strategic response framework regarding voluntary disclosure via social media.

While the determinants of voluntary political spending disclosure have been extensively studied in the literature, there remains a lack of clear evidence regarding the specific impacts of managerial ability and political risk on such disclosure. Thus, the purpose of this study is to shed light on whether and how managerial ability and political risk influence firms’ political spending disclosure.

This study uses a sample of 2,242 firm-year observations of S&P 500 companies between 2013 and 2021.

This study finds that firms with high-ability managers generally disclose more information about political spending. This positive relationship between managerial ability and political spending disclosure holds even after conducting additional tests to address potential endogeneity concerns. Furthermore, this study finds that firms operating in high-risk political environments also exhibit a greater propensity to disclose information regarding their political spending. The results remain robust to alternative measures of managerial ability and political risk.

This study suggests that when designing policy to motivate firms to disclose political spending information, policy makers need to be aware of the critical role of managerial ability and idiosyncratic political risk the firm faces. In addition, this study offers insights to shareholders, advocacy groups, regulators and academics interested in understanding the determinants of political spending disclosure.

This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence that political spending disclosure can be explained by managerial ability and political risk. In addition, this study complements the literature on the consequences of managerial ability and political risk. Focusing on voluntary political spending disclosure, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors shaping the overall corporate information environment.

The aim of this study is to analyse the factors that contribute to the disclosure of relational liabilities (RLs) of the US companies.

The study uses content analysis to examine the disclosure of RLs in annual reports of the US companies listed on the Nasdaq-100 index from 2013 to 2015.

The study finds a positive correlation between the disclosure of RLs and gender diversity of the board of directors as well as the education level of the CEO. By contrast, the disclosure of RLs is negatively associated with the age of the CEO. Companies in knowledge-intensive industries also tend to disclose more information about their RLs than those in other industries.

This study focuses on the determinants of RLs, whereas previous research has mainly examined the positive impact of voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital on financial performance. The main objective of this study is to shed light on the factors that influence the disclosure of RLs.

This paper analyzed the effect of voluntary corporate disclosure on firm value and how audit quality and cross-border stock market listing moderate this relationship.

The paper analyzed S&P BSE index constituents’ 90 Indian enterprises for 2017–2019. The India Disclosure Index Report was used to fetch the voluntary disclosure scores. Further, the study was conducted in two parts using six different panel-data regression models in the framework of legitimacy, agency, signaling and market segmentation theory. First, the study investigated the direct impact of voluntary disclosures on return on assets (ROA) and Tobin’s Q. Second, the moderating effect of the “Big 4” was tested. Third, the paper also examined the moderating role of “cross-border stock market listing” in the direction of voluntary disclosure-firm value relationships.

Primarily, the results postulate a significant positive impact of voluntary disclosures on ROA and Tobin’s Q. A higher voluntary disclosure leads to a higher ROA and Tobin’s Q for firms. Moreover, the improvement effect of such disclosures on ROA and Tobin’s Q is more pronounced for companies “listed abroad” and audited by “Big 4.”

The findings will enhance managers’ learning about the financial impact of voluntary disclosures. The choice of a “Big 4” and “Cross border stock market listing” indicates firms’ future positive perspectives, strengthening investor trust in the market.

The results suggest that companies’ potential auditing, agency and litigation issues could be addressed through fairness in the information content of voluntary disclosures.

This examination presents a firm valuation model in which voluntary disclosure tackles an ethical issue, the resolution of which depends on the “audit quality” and “cross-border stock market listing.”

This paper aims to examine the impact of female board directorship on the quality of key performance indicators voluntary disclosure (hereafter QKPI). Further, this paper explores whether the presence of family board members mitigates the female directors’ effect on the QKPI.

This study explores closely held family firms listed on the CAC All-Tradable during 2015–2022.

The initial findings provide consistent evidence indicating a positive association between female board directorship and the QKPI. However, testing for the moderating effect of family board members on the linkage between female representation in the company’s boardroom and the QKPI reveals a negative relation.

This study focuses on gender equality in French-listed companies, a topic that has received little attention from researchers. The country and the period considered in this paper are noteworthy characteristics that enhance the value of this research. This study sheds light on issues concerning the 2016 law that requires quotas for women on boards of directors in French firms.

Narrative disclosures offer further elucidation of a company's financial performance beyond what is presented in numerical format. This can assist stakeholders in gaining a deeper comprehension of the elements that impact reported earnings, thereby improving the quality of financial information. The current research explores the impact of narrative disclosure on the earnings quality of firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE).

Appropriating an index to measure the narrative disclosure level in the research sample firms, the research utilizes an analysis of the textual content of nonfinancial reports and statements issued by the management of the ASE-listed nonfinancial firms between 2013 and 2022. The financial statements issued in the annual financial reports are also adopted to extract data on earnings quality and the controlling variables. The analysis of the data and attainment of the findings necessitate using the panel data.

It is indicated that narrative disclosure affects earnings quality. To be precise, the greater the narrative disclosure, the lower the absolute value of the voluntary discretionary accruals and thus the higher the quality of accounting earnings.

The findings contribute to new research on disclosure issues, particularly narrative disclosure, which enhances reader confidence in financial and nonfinancial reports and prevents misleading and manipulated information.

This research helps decision-makers understand the relationship between reports, statements and earnings quality in a firm. It's unique in exploring this relationship, especially in developing countries. The study is the first of its kind in Jordan, known for its economic stability and strategic location in the Middle East, making its findings applicable to similar environments.

This paper aims to investigate how integrated reporting quality (IRQ), as well as comprehensive disclosure score (CDS) (i.e. incorporating integrated and sustainable reporting quality), impacts value creation differently between companies operating under mandatory versus voluntary adoption of these reporting frameworks.

The sample comprises 1,195 firm-year observations (international data set) from 2018 to 2022, which are divided into groups based on mandatory vs voluntary adoption of the international integrated reporting framework (IIRF) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Furthermore, regression analysis is used in the analyses.

The findings revealed a significant and positive relationship between IRQ and value creation on a global scale. In addition, unlike voluntary adoption of the IIRF, mandatory adoption of it showed a significant and positive relationship between IRQ and value creation. Furthermore, an increase in the CDS had a greater impact on value creation compared to IRQ. Finally, in contrast to companies with voluntary adoption of both IIRF and SASB, companies with mandatory adoption of them exhibited a significant and positive relationship between these reports and value creation.

The findings have practical implications for various stakeholders. First, by enhancing the awareness and understanding of integrated reporting and sustainability reporting among users, these results can facilitate more informed economic decision-making and enable a more accurate assessment of a company's potential for value creation. Second, these findings can contribute to the development of more effective and tailored reporting guidelines that align with the nuances of value creation dynamics in different contexts. Ultimately, this research can lead to improvements in reporting practices and regulatory frameworks, benefiting both companies and their stakeholders.

The study's social implications are significant as it offers insights into the global debate surrounding the adoption of the IIRF and the objectives of the merger involving the Value Reporting Foundation and the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation. The findings provide a concrete basis for evaluating the value of adopting the IIRF and inform discussions on the future of reporting standards and practices.

Furthermore, it stands as one of the pioneering endeavors to investigate the value creation aspects of CDS. These unique aspects make a substantive contribution by expanding the frontiers of knowledge in the realm of corporate reporting and financial implications, offering novel insights and opportunities for further research in this crucial domain.

The aim of this study is to critically examine the transparency and reporting practice of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) controversies within the pharmaceutical and textile industry. Based on the four core dimensions of transparency, we explore which reporting medium is most frequently chosen for the disclosure of negative ESG contributions, the nature and information content of the disclosed incidents and how voluntary adherence to sustainability reporting standards and independent assurances affect the reporting.

We use conceptual content analysis and employ a counter-accounting approach to analyse the disclosure of 190 ESG controversies in 104 corporate reports from the pharmaceutical and textile industries, covering a three-year period from 2018–2020.

The very large majority of controversies are reported only once in the legal proceedings section of the annual report, but not again in the sustainability report, where it would be necessary to provide a balanced picture. Moreover, companies tend to disclose only those controversies that are either associated with high media attention or are expected to be related to litigation, resulting in 26 per cent of controversies not being disclosed at all. The overall quality of disclosure is unsatisfactory and in need of improvement, but comparably higher in the pharmaceutical industry than in the textile industry. Interestingly, neither the application of sustainability reporting standards nor independent assurance seems to positively impact the disclosure behaviour.

Our paper provides new insights into the shortcomings of current ESG controversy disclosures by revealing patterns of selective reporting practices and the strategic framing of issues. In addition, it contributes to the debates on corporate cherry-picking in the adoption of sustainability reporting guidelines and on the effectiveness of external assurance of sustainability reports. Based on the findings, it offers important implications for practitioners, in particular management, policy makers, rating agencies and assurance providers.