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1 – 10 of 663Richard Nana Boateng, Vincent Tawiah and George Tackie
The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical evidence concerning the influence of Corporate governance and voluntary disclosures in annual reports: a post-International…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical evidence concerning the influence of Corporate governance and voluntary disclosures in annual reports: a post-International Financial Reporting Standards adoption evidence from an emerging capital market.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from the annual reports of all 22 listed non-financial firms over a five-year period. Using content analysis, the audited annual reports of the firms were scored on the extent of overall and four specific types of voluntary disclosures made. The panel data obtained were analyzed using a generalized ordinary least squares regression model.
Findings
The findings of the study show that voluntary disclosures among the firms are low even after the adoption of IFRS. Corporate governance attributes of board size and board leadership structure are significant determinants of the extent of voluntary disclosures made by the firms. However, board independence and auditor type exhibit only a significant positive effect on voluntary financial and forward-looking information disclosures.
Research limitations/implications
Firms’ voluntary information disclosure and governance variables were restricted to those in annual reports, which may partially reflect the reality of firms’ disclosure and governance practices.
Practical implications
The present study offers useful insights to regulators of the capital market to strengthen monitoring of firms to ensure strict adherence to corporate governance best practice guidelines as a means of improving information environment.
Originality/value
This study is one of the very few ones in Africa, especially in the context of Ghana Stock Exchange, to use post-IFRS data and examine a disaggregated voluntary disclosure by firms.
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The objective of the present study is to examine the impact of corporate characteristics on human resource disclosures in Indian corporate sector.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of the present study is to examine the impact of corporate characteristics on human resource disclosures in Indian corporate sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The study investigates the annual reports of 336 Indian listed companies of NSE-500 Index. The data are collected for the latest time period which contains eight years (FY 2012–13 to 2019–2020). The data of independent variables (company characteristics) have collected from annual reports and CMIE ProwessIQ Database of the Indian listed companies. The data of human resource dissclosure index (HRDI) is collected form annual reports using content analysis approach. For analysis purpose, descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation matrix, Two-way Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) regression model have been used.
Findings
The outcomes show that net sales, market capitalisation, ROTA, return on equity, quick ratio, PAR have significant positive and age, profit after tax, current ratio have significant negative effect on HRDI. On the contrary, debt-equity ratio, earnings per share, type of auditor, listing status have insignificant positive and net fixed assets, promoter's holding have insignificant negative effect on HR disclosures of the selected Indian listed companies.
Originality/value
The HRDI constructed in the present study helps the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and other regulatory bodies to make some standards regarding voluntary HR disclosure practices in Indian corporate sector.
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Chengyun Liu, Kun Su and Miaomiao Zhang
This study aims to examine whether and how gender diversity on corporate boards is associated with voluntary nonfinancial disclosures, particularly water disclosures.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether and how gender diversity on corporate boards is associated with voluntary nonfinancial disclosures, particularly water disclosures.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses corporate water information disclosure data from Chinese listed firms between 2010 and 2018 to conduct regression analyses to examine the association between female directors and water information disclosure.
Findings
Empirical results show that female directors have a significantly positive association with corporate water information disclosure. Additionally, internal industry water sensitivity of firms moderates this significant relationship.
Originality/value
This study determined that female directors can promote not only water disclosure but also positive corporate water performance, reflecting the consistency of words and deeds of female directors in voluntary nonfinancial disclosures.
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Gultakin Gahramanova and Özlem Kutlu Furtuna
There has been an increase in research examining whether and how companies disclose climate change impacts and how these disclosures influence capital structure strategies in…
Abstract
Purpose
There has been an increase in research examining whether and how companies disclose climate change impacts and how these disclosures influence capital structure strategies in recent years. However, prior literature has generally focused on developed countries. This paper proposes to examine the impact of voluntary climate change disclosures on corporate financing decisions in an emerging economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The dataset includes 335 firm-year observations listed in the Borsa Istanbul (BIST) 100 manufacturing industry firms that participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire from 2016 to 2020, characterized by high public awareness of greenhouse gas emissions in Turkey. To accomplish this aim, two models have been constructed that link capital structure strategies with voluntary corporate climate change disclosures while controlling for firm-level attributes in terms of size, profitability, market value and free float ratio (FFR).
Findings
The significant and negative relationship between the voluntary disclosure of climate-related activities and long-term borrowing is consistent with the arguments that companies with high commitments are unlikely to reduce default risk in emerging markets. This paper also provides empirical evidence that the high size and the level of low profitability magnify this relationship between CDP and financial leverage.
Originality/value
The Paris Agreement seems to be a significant point where corporate lenders have become aware of the commitment of policymakers to fight climate change. The results have significant implications for both managerial strategies and environmental regulatory policy-making issues. In addition, the findings shed light on the strategic behavior of managers in the consideration of climate change risks and related transparency.
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Samya Tahir, Sadaf Ehsan, Mohammad Kabir Hassan and Qamar Uz Zaman
This study examines the moderating effects of low and high levels of voluntary disclosures (VDs) between corporate governance and information asymmetry (IA).
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the moderating effects of low and high levels of voluntary disclosures (VDs) between corporate governance and information asymmetry (IA).
Design/methodology/approach
The study used PROCESS macro to construct bootstrap confidence intervals at the 95% level to estimate the model, and “simple slope analysis” to visualize the model.
Findings
The better corporate governance provides a monitoring mechanism that disseminates private information and reduces IA. The effect of corporate governance on IA is contingent on the levels of VDs within a firm, and this relationship is strengthened when the level of VDs within a firm is high, and results remain consistent when levels of sub-indices are high. Additional analysis reveals that effective boards and audit committees reduce IA. Increased inside, an associated company, family and foreign ownership exacerbate IA, whereas institutional owners act as effective monitors to overcome informational disadvantages.
Practical implications
The findings provide implications for policymakers to promote corporate governance and more relevant reporting practices as effective mechanisms for protecting shareholders' rights and attenuating IA in capital markets.
Originality/value
The study is valuable to understand the strength of the relationship between corporate governance and information asymmetries based on the moderating role of different VD levels.
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Stephen Bahadar and Rashid Zaman
Stakeholders' uncertainty about firms' value drives their urge to get information, as well as managerial disclosure choices. In this study, the authors examine whether and how an…
Abstract
Purpose
Stakeholders' uncertainty about firms' value drives their urge to get information, as well as managerial disclosure choices. In this study, the authors examine whether and how an important source of uncertainty – the recent COVID-19 pandemic's effect on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure – is beyond managerial and stakeholders' control.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a novel construct for daily CSR disclosure by employing computer-aided text analysis (CATA) on the press releases issued by 125 New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) listed from 28 February 2020 to 31 December 2020. To capture COVID-19 intensity, the authors use the growth rate of the population-adjusted cumulative sum of confirmed cases in New Zealand on a specific day. To examine the association between the COVID-19 outbreak and companies' CSR disclosure, the authors employed ordinary least squares (OLS) regression by clustering standard error at the firm level.
Findings
The authors find a one standard deviation increase in the COVID-19 outbreak leads to a 28% increase in such disclosures. These results remained robust to a series of sensitivity tests and continue to hold after accounting for potential endogeneity concerns. In the channel analysis, the study demonstrates that the positive relationship between COVID-19 and CSR disclosure is more pronounced in the presence of a well-structured board (i.e. a large, more independent board and with a higher proportion of women on it). In further analysis, the authors find the documented relationship varies over the pandemic's life cycle and is moderated by government stringency response, peer CSR pressure and media coverage.
Originality/value
This paper is the first study that contributes to the scant literature examining the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on CSR disclosure. Prior research either investigates the relationship of the CSR-stock return during the COVID-19 market crisis or examines the relationship between corporate characteristics including the quality of financial information and the reactions of stock returns during COVID-19. The authors extend such studies by providing empirical evidence that managers respond to COVID-19 by increasing CSR disclosure.
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Faizah Darus, Hidayatul Izati Mohd Zuki and Haslinda Yusoff
Climate change has become an increasingly important issue globally, and organisations are being urged to be more carbon friendly by taking initiatives to reduce carbon emissions…
Abstract
Purpose
Climate change has become an increasingly important issue globally, and organisations are being urged to be more carbon friendly by taking initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in their business operations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which climate change has been addressed and the influence of financial strength and corporate governance structure on the disclosure of carbon information.
Design/methodology/approach
The research process consists of an investigation via content analysis of the annual and sustainability reports of the top 100 public-listed companies in Malaysia for the year 2017.
Findings
The results of the study revealed that carbon information on carbon emissions accounting had the highest disclosure and that climate change risks and opportunities had the lowest disclosure. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that profitability is positively significant with carbon disclosure while leverage is negatively significant. However, the governance structure does not seem to have any influence on the disclosure of carbon information.
Research limitations/implications
The conclusions drawn from the study must be interpreted with caution as the sample companies only comprise of the top 100 public-listed companies in Malaysia to provide an initial insight into the situation in Malaysia. Furthermore, the interpretations and conclusions drawn from this study are based solely on a cross-sectional analysis of the data for only one year.
Practical implications
This finding is a significant contribution to regulatory bodies and policymakers regarding the drivers of climate change initiatives in an emerging economy such as Malaysia. This finding suggests that in the Malaysian setting, financial structure influence decisions on climate change initiatives.
Social implications
The commitment by business leaders of the impact on climate from the production processes would contribute towards a low carbon economy and subsequently improve the quality of life of the community.
Originality/value
The findings of the study provide insight of the business attitude towards climate change in an emerging economy such as Malaysia.
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Pappu Kumar Dey, Manas Roy and Mohsina Akter
The study aims to examine the level and extent of forward-looking information (FLI) disclosure and identify the determinants driving the FLI disclosure (FLID) in the context of an…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to examine the level and extent of forward-looking information (FLI) disclosure and identify the determinants driving the FLI disclosure (FLID) in the context of an emerging and developing economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample includes annual reports of the top 30 listed companies in Bangladesh for the years 2013–2017. The content analysis approach is used to examine the practice of FLID and to determine the extent of FLID based on the index. Multiple linear regression analysis is performed to identify the determinants of FLID.
Findings
This research finds that board size, auditor's global affiliation, leverage and profitability have a substantial positive impact on FLID. By contrast, firm size and listing age have a significant negative association with FLID. Moreover, contrary to our expectation, female representation in the boardroom has an inverse effect on FLID. This study, however, does not suggest any significant impact of board independence.
Research limitations/implications
Small sample size may limit the generalizability of the findings. Besides, the FLID index score may be affected by the subjective judgment while analyzing the content of the annual report.
Practical implications
The findings of this paper may assist the regulators and policymakers in incorporating this new reporting paradigm in regulations. Alternatively, the current research can serve as a basis to further understand the importance of FLID for the stakeholders.
Originality/value
This empirical study contributes to the current FLI literature in Bangladesh. A handful of studies have been done to examine the nature and level of FLID and find out the determinants of FLID in the developing countries. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no study yet has been explored on FLID and its determinants by classifying them as qualitative and quantitative in Bangladesh.
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Halina Waniak-Michalak and Jan Michalak
The study aims to determine whether a relationship exists between the potential significance of corporate controversies for stakeholders and how organisations respond to them in…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to determine whether a relationship exists between the potential significance of corporate controversies for stakeholders and how organisations respond to them in their annual and sustainability reports.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs content analysis on annual and sustainability reports of 48 listed companies from the Refinitiv database. The logit regression was used to estimate the model.
Findings
The study revealed that the main factors increasing the probability of a controversial issue being addressed in a corporate report are the controversy’s potential significance, companies’ financial performance and lawsuits.
Research limitations/implications
Our study has three major limitations. These are a relatively small sample of companies and reports, focusing on disclosures made in corporate reports and omitting other channels of communication, for example, social media, and a certain amount of subjectivity in the process of coding information.
Social implications
Former studies show that corporations face a serious risk of their hypocritical strategies becoming too evident for stakeholder groups. Our findings suggest that the risk is already materialising and may undermine the idea of CSR and sustainability reporting.
Originality/value
Our research focuses on high-profile adverse incidents widely reported in the media, the omission of which from corporate reports seems to constitute a particular case of organised hypocrite. It also demonstrates that companies use an impression management strategy to defuse adverse publicity and that major controversies cause minor ones to be omitted from their reports.
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Graça Azevedo, Jonas Oliveira, Luiza Sousa and Maria Fátima Ribeiro Borges
The purpose of this paper to analyze the risk reporting practices and its determinants of commercial banks during the period of the adoption of the Basel II Accord in Portugal.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper to analyze the risk reporting practices and its determinants of commercial banks during the period of the adoption of the Basel II Accord in Portugal.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper conducts a content analysis of the risk and risk management sections included in the management reports and the notes of the annual reports of Portuguese commercial banks, for the years 2007, 2010 and 2013.
Findings
Findings show that theoretical frameworks underpinned in agency and legitimacy theories continue to provide valid explanations for risk reporting by Portuguese banks. More specifically, findings indicate that agency costs, public visibility and reputation are crucial drivers of risk reporting. Findings also indicate that younger banks with lower risk management skills use risk reporting either as an informational process or as a channel to manage organizational legitimacy.
Research limitations/implications
The content analysis does not allow readily for in-depth qualitative inquiry. The coding instrument is subject to coder bias. Information about risk can be provided in sources other than annual reports. Additionally, not all banks disclose information on corporate governance-related variables that could also influence risk reporting.
Originality/value
The current research setting has never been studied hitherto. In this sense, this study seems to be of great relevance given the scarcity of literature on the subject in Portugal.
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