Search

Growing research has examined instances of voluntarily disclosed nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), including how people with lived experience are impacted when they choose to share their NSSI with others. Voluntary disclosure, however, represents just one way that NSSI experiences become known to others; NSSI can also be discovered involuntarily, yet little to no research has explored the impact of these experiences. To understand the impact of these Involuntary Discovery Experiences (IDEs) the present study recruited 139 university students (Mage = 19.13, SD = 2.12; nfemale = 121) with lived experience of NSSI and who reported having a past IDE. Participants took part in an online study involving a series of open-ended questions concerning their past IDEs. A thematic analysis of their responses pointed to three overarching psychological impacts of IDEs: I felt Stigmatized and Marginalized, Things did not go well, and I No Longer felt Alone in my experience. These findings offer initial insights into the ways people with lived experience of NSSI may be impacted by IDEs and point to several new important research avenues. The current findings also suggest that clinicians may need to ask clients about any potential IDEs and their impact in order to best support clients who self-injure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the competitive economic advantage of voluntary integrated reporting (IR) disclosures by publicly listed companies in Bangladesh. Thematic analysis of fifteen semi-structured interview transcripts reveals that investors consider both financial and non-financial factors where the emphasis is placed on the economic, business model, and governance factors. Many investors lack IR knowledge, whereas IR-familiar investors do not even regard IR adoption as value-adding due to certain limiting factors. A bit longer time frame and a developed market ecosystem are required to comment on the significance of IR for investment decisions in Bangladesh. Additionally, from an institutional theoretical lens, this study stipulates how an efficient capital market will trigger both the demand and supply of IR information and make voluntary IR adoption value relevant for appraising investment targets. It brings forward an important notion that fixing the capital market environment should be emphasized before attempts to make IR mandatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to identify how literature has addressed sustainability reporting in universities over time and determine traceable patterns and trends. Design/methodology/approach: A comprehensive systematic review protocol of the Emerald Insight, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, Springer Link and Wiley Online Library databases was performed for the studies published during the past decade. The following steps were involved in this study: search and collection of literature, study selection, quality assessment, data extraction and data analysis. A total of 40 articles met the inclusion criteria and the quality assessment. Findings: The results demonstrated that the most used tools to assist sustainability reporting in universities are the global reporting initiative framework and the graphical assessment of sustainability in universities. However, the adoption of the integrated reporting framework is encouraged. The level of reporting is not yet high, and social and educational indicators are being disclosed in the following areas: community, services and transfer; curriculum and teaching; operation; and research. Originality/value: This study provides a recent overview of sustainability reporting worldwide. By discussing the findings, the authors presented the practical implications of starting a sustainability report at the university and the associated difficulties and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the information content of financial reports, this research aims to investigate the effect of Voluntary Disclosure (VD) on the quality of information, the quality of decision and the behavior of shareholders. The population of the research is the firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. Based on the screening, 138 firms were selected between 2013 and 2021. The required data was extracted through the website of the stock exchange organization. The collected data were analyzed through econometric models and EViews software. According to the results, there is a significant relationship between VD, disclosure quality, decision quality and shareholders' behavior. Therefore, the amount of stock transactions can be a function of the amount of disclosure characteristics and the quality of the decision. By focusing on the shareholders, the results can provide a basis for making managers' decisions to meet their information needs and improve the transparency of the financial market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Whether adolescents' routine disclosure to parents is voluntary is assumed but rarely assessed. Researchers also have not examined whether disclosure and lying are premeditated, occurring before rather than after disclosure or lying, and whether adolescents use a single strategy consistently rather than applying multiple strategies when deciding whether to disclose or lie about their activities. This study investigated these significant gaps in the literature and tested whether voluntariness (for disclosure), timing, consistency, and parental psychological control are associated with lessons learned from disclosure and lying. Methods: Narrative interviews were conducted in 2014–2015 with 131 primarily middle‐class, mostly White US early and middle adolescents and college students (M's = 12.74, 15.81, 20.41 years). Narrated disclosure and lying interviews were reliably coded for voluntariness, timing, consistency, and lessons learned. Parental psychological control was assessed using an online survey. Results: Disclosure was primarily strategic or voluntary and less often involuntary. Lying occurred more often before the narrated event, whereas disclosure occurred more often after. Youth typically reported using other strategies besides the elicited one. Disclosing after was associated with lessons learned. Voluntary disclosure was associated with psychological growth, and psychological control was associated with negative self‐lessons. Conclusions: Disclosure and lying are complex and nuanced, varying in their timing, consistency, and voluntariness. These features contribute to adolescents' meaning‐make from disclosure and lying. The findings have implications for future research on disclosure and secrecy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine whether voluntary disclosure (VD) and corporate governance (CG) are substitutes or complements to each other in improving firms' value in a non-Anglo-Saxon setting, namely, France. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a sample of 990 listed firms in France from 2010 to 2020 to test the theoretical predictions. A random effect regression and two-stage least squares estimators are used to test the relationships. The results are largely robust across a number of econometric models that take into account diverse kinds of endogeneities. Findings: This study reveals that VD and CG are positively associated with firm value. The finding also indicates that VD and CG work together as substitutes rather than as complements. Furthermore, the author's evidence suggests that ownership structure and CEO characteristics are substitutive with VD in their effect on firm value. This evidence is consistent with the view that VD can add value to the firm but only under a number of conditions. Practical implications: The results shed further light on how a firm could improve its value among stakeholders by designing VD and CG practices effectively. Specifically, as VD generally acts as a substitute to CG, to accomplish their optimal economic outcomes, firms need to be discerning in executing VD and governance practices. In addition, firms have strategic flexibility in constructing VD and governance practices contingent on their own settings. Policymakers, investors and managers could use these results to examine CG and VD practices in France following the implementation of new regulations. Originality/value: This study extends and contributes to the mixed or equivocal evidence of the relationships between VD, CG mechanisms and firm value. It contributes to the extant literature by first providing additional evidence, which suggests value-increasing effects of better-governed and more transparent firms. Second, this study reconciles extant disparate results by suggesting that VD can substitute CG in improving firm value. These findings have profound implications for policymakers, investors and firm's managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effect of family ownership, board characteristics (board foreign experience and board accounting expertise), and top management characteristics (management education level) on the quality of website Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure via corporate website among the top companies listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). This study adds to the body of literature by examining the moderating effect of family ownership towards the relationship between board characteristics and website CSR disclosure, which is useful for investors who might have concerns on the level of CSR disclosure as a gauge of firm ethics, particularly in respect to family-owned firms. Methodology: Sample of this study consisted of 100 non-financial companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for the year of 2019. To test the study's hypothesis, multiple linear regression analysis was applied. Findings: Empirical results from this study have shown that family ownership is negatively related to the quality of website CSR disclosure. Board foreign experience has a positive effect on CSR disclosure practices in their respective corporate websites. Meanwhile, top management education level was found to have a negative and statistically significant relationship with the quality of voluntary website CSR disclosure. Lastly, this study demonstrated that family ownership moderates the relationship between board accounting expertise and the quality of CSR disclosure on corporate websites. Contributions: This study contributes to the literature on CSR disclosure by introducing a set of index measuring the quality of voluntary website CSR disclosure, which captures not only the variety, but also the richness of CSR information. The moderating role of family ownership on such relationships, which is rarely investigated in the context of developing countries, was also explored by this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify the impact of voluntary disclosure on the quality of the financial statements of companies listed on the Palestine Stock Exchange from the auditors' point of view. Data analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program, and one of the most important findings of the study was that the optional disclosure component about each of the following: general information of the company, company activity, stock information, information about management, social and environmental responsibility, results and ratios Financial and non-financial analyses, research and development costs, and information on company employees were all high. Based on the results of the study, the researcher recommended working on converting as much voluntary disclosure information as possible to become mandatory according to laws and legislation, so that this information becomes within the responsibility of the auditors, thus increasing the degree of confidence in this information and the need for the government agencies supervising the work of the stock exchange in Palestine to hold introductory seminars The importance of voluntary disclosure and the need to pay attention to spreading the culture of voluntary disclosure among companies listed on the Palestine Stock Exchange and linking it to the economic benefits that can be reaped [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify characteristics of Brazilian companies’ voluntary environmental disclosure. The research was driven through an analysis of Standardized Financial Statements (SFSs) and Sustainability Reports (SR) from 2005 to 2007. The analyzed group is composed by Brazilian companies whose stocks are listed in Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (BOVESPA) and belong to the high environmental impact sector. The authors use the qualitative approach of Content Analysis to search and analyze parameters like “type of evidence”, “type of news”, “temporal reference” and “location of the disclosure”. It is concluded that the research corroborates the Voluntary Disclosure Theory, since companies voluntarily did not disclose much negative information about their environmental practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the effect of Suppliers, Consumers, community, Shareholders, and Employees on Hazardous Toxic Waste Disclosures in Indonesia by compiling its index. This study uses primary and secondary data. The primary data were obtained by distributing the Hazardous Toxic Waste Disclosure questionnaire to academics, environmental service officials, suppliers, consumers, local communities, shareholders, and company employees. Meanwhile, the secondary data were obtained from the annual reports of manufacturing companies, Management of Mineral, Gas, and Coal Mining, as well as hospitals listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) between 2012-2019. A purposive sampling technique was used, and the independent variables include Suppliers, Consumers, Community, Shareholders, and Employees controlled by Company Size, and Profitability, while the dependent variable is Hazardous Toxic Waste Disclosure. The data were processed using the descriptive test and multiple linear regression. The Stakeholder Theory was used to solve the problem of low Hazardous Toxic Waste Disclosure in Indonesia. The results showed 21 items of the Hazardous Toxic Waste Disclosure index. In a previous study, Suppliers, Consumers, Communities, and employees positively affected Hazardous Toxic Waste Disclosures. Meanwhile, shareholders had a negative effect on the dependent variables [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to study the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the level of Earnings Management (GR), from the perspective of the Signaling Theory. The literature points out that managers can present CSR in an ethical or opportunistic way. The non-financial listed companies listed in [B]3 between 2010 and 2018 were used as a sample. The level of GR was obtained by the residual module (GRit) of the Pae model (2005), estimated by System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The level of disclosure of CSR was captured through the content analysis of the Sustainability Reports, Reference Forms and Explanatory Notes, analyzing the presence of economic, environmental and social indicators, based on Callado (2010) and Murcia and Wuerges (2011). It was identified that the presence of more information of an environmental nature may signal possible manipulations in profits, served as a warning to stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• OHS behavior in the construction industry. • Corporate Social Responsibility reports and OHS of construction industry. • Multinational construction companies and OHS issue. • Transparency of OHS issues in construction industry. Introduction: The aim of this paper is to examine Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) behavior in the construction industry through the assessment of Corporate Social Responsibility reports. The level of accident rates in the construction industry place OHS issues at the heart of their strategic management. Method: The assessment of OHS issues was made by drawing appropriate data from the Corporate Social Responsibility reports of 19 multinational construction companies published on a voluntary basis. Results: The findings show a low response rate by the companies sampled to the requirements of stakeholders for responsible organizational behavior and accountability for their consequences. Most of the companies sampled have only focused on a small number of OHS issues to assure the transparency of the information published such as OHS governance, accident and illness rates, training hours, third party assurance, and membership of externally developed OHS charters. Similarly, other important OHS issues seem to be less covered by the companies sampled such as the representation of total workforce in OHS committees, the percentage of high risk occupations, and OHS practices in the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the rationale behind a company's voluntary disclosure of political activity and the economic significance of political transparency and accountability. Using a unique database, the CPA-Zicklin Index ranking of S&P 500 company political activity disclosure, we investigate the role of corporate governance playing behind the increasing political transparency. The results show that corporate board functions are associated with corporate political transparency. In specific, board independence is positively related to political activity policy and disclosure. Boards with more independent directors tend to have a more transparent political activity policy and a higher level of political activity disclosure. The board monitoring intensity is negatively associated with the political activity policy. Greater monitoring intensity weakens firms' political accountability. Greater board gender diversity has a positive impact on boards' political transparency. Furthermore, we find that corporate political accountability has economic significance. Greater political transparency is associated with better operating performance, lower equity risk, and lower information asymmetry. In addition, political transparency is positively related to firm valuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All over the world, the tax avoidance practices of large multinational firms have received much media attention over the last few years, which has become a prominent reputational risk for many firms. In addition to the possible reputational risk stemming from corporate tax avoidance, these tax practices can also have dire consequences for the economies in which these firms operate. Global tax transparency initiatives were developed in an attempt to address the issues created by global tax avoidance. There is, however, little academic evidence on whether increased tax transparency can have an effect on corporate tax avoidance. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate the relationship between tax transparency and tax avoidance. A content analysis was firstly used to qualitatively assess the extent of tax transparency disclosures in the annual corporate reports of the top 100 firms listed on the JSE. Thereafter, a regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between tax transparency and tax avoidance. Tax transparency scores were used as a proxy to measure tax transparency while both effective tax rates and cash effective tax rates were used as a proxy to measure tax avoidance. The study finds that firms which are more transparent in the disclosure of their tax affairs also have higher effective tax rates and cash effective tax rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the potential effect that business ethics (BE) in general and corporate social responsibility (CSR) more specifically can exert on the voluntary disclosure (VD) of intellectual capital (IC) for the ethically most engaged firms in the world. Design/methodology/approach: The research design is based on an inductive approach. As part of the global quantitative investigation, the authors have analyzed the impact of BE and CSR on the transparent communication of the IC. The data under analysis have been investigated using multiple linear regression. Findings: Based on a sample of 83 enterprises emerging as the most ethical companies in the world, the results have revealed that the adoption of ethical and socially responsible approach is positively associated with the extent of VD about IC. This finding may help attenuating the asymmetry of information and the conflict of interest potentially arising with corporate partners. Hence, IC-VD may stand as an evidence of ethical and socially responsible behaviors. Practical implications: Global and national regulators and policymakers can be involved by these results when setting social reporting standards because they suggest that institutional and/or cultural factors affect top management's social reporting behavior in the publication of the IC information. Social implications: Direct and indirect stakeholders, if supported by ethical and socially responsible behaviors of the company, could assess more in detail the quality of the disclosed information concerning the IC. Originality/value: Most of the studies that have been conducted in this field have examined the effect of BE and CSR on the firm's overall transparency, neglecting their potential effect on IC disclosure. This study is designed to fill in this gap through testing the impact of ethical and socially responsible approaches specifically on IC-VD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether the level of voluntary disclosure through social media platforms provides value-relevant information. Economic theory suggests that information is value relevant whether it signals for something capable of increasing firm market value. Based on a sample of 200 European Union listed firms over the 2020–2022 period, we find that more voluntary disclosure through social media platforms increases firm market value, thus suggesting that it contains value-relevant information. Empirical evidence holds to several robustness checks, such as endogeneity tests, alternative regression specifications, and cross-sectional analyses. We further examine whether the level of voluntary disclosure through social media platforms influences the relation between current returns and future earnings. We find that more voluntary disclosure improves the association between current returns and future earnings to the extent that current returns are more informative about future earnings. This study adds to the growing academic debate on the role of social media usage for firm value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decision to disclose enough information in annual reports is seen as an act of transparency. This study seeks to measure the extent of voluntary disclosure and to examine the relationship between corporate governance determinants and the level of voluntary disclosure. The study reports an average of 51.5% as the level of voluntary disclosure. Four corporate governance variables are used as the basis for the regression analysis. The evidence shows a positive association between the level of voluntary disclosure and the proportion of independent directors, block holder and the proportion of the audit committee with only the proportion of audit committee to the board showing statistical significance. The board size has a negative association. The category of corporate governance information items as part of the total voluntary checklist is largely disclosed among Czech firms. The study contributes to the literature on voluntary disclosure in a transition economy. The findings prove useful to investors and financial statement preparers as the knowledge informs them to question and request more information from the firms which are open to the capital market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated Reporting is one of the ways used to disclose financial and non-financial information to stakeholders. This study aimed to investigate the level of disclosure of non-financial information in the companies participating in the Pilot Project of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). Using the content analysis technique, from the KPIs presented in the International Integrated Reporting Framework, data from nine companies were analyzed in the period from 2013 to 2017. The results suggest that the non-financial information disclosure index, considering the set of the four capitals, was classified as unsatisfactory. In the individual analysis, natural capital and social and relationship capital presented satisfactory IDs. Intellectual capital, on the other hand, presented a disclosure index classified as unsatisfactory. As for human capital, it presented the average ID at the threshold of the division between satisfactory and unsatisfactory, but above the average of disclosure of the four capitals. This study contributes to the analysis of the Integrated Reporting disclosure index released in Brazil, mainly related to the level of disclosure of non-financial information disclosed in the reports, as well as its evolution during the pilot project to implement the international structure of integrated reporting. The research results show the lack of comparability and uniformity of the disclosed information, both with the periods of the same company, and when compared with other companies, demonstrating the need to improve the quality of the content and the disclosure of non-financial information disclosed by the companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a model of dynamic expertise, in which two experts with the same bias exert efforts over time to discover the state of the world and are able to send verifiable messages about the discovery to a decision maker. We show that dynamic revelation of information causes the experts' incentives to acquire information to evolve over time. This leads to novel collaboration dynamics and, in particular, the introduction of another expert can have a "motivating" effect on the existing expert in spite of the incentive to free ride. We further set up the planner's problem and discuss when the (constrained) social optimum can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effects of firms' life cycle stages on voluntary disclosure and the cost of equity capital. We also examine the relationship between the interaction of life cycle stages and voluntary disclosures measures on cost of equity capital. Our sample consists of non-financial Brazilian public companies, covered by analysts between 2008 and 2014, collected from I/B/E/S and Comdinheiro databases. We find that voluntary disclosure level is higher for firms in maturity and growth stages. We also find that firms in introduction and decline life cycle stages show higher implied cost of capital, however declining firms that increase voluntary disclosure reduce their cost of capital. Moreover, mature firms significantly reduce such inherent risk by reporting social and environmental voluntary information. Our results are useful for investors, practitioners, and regulators to the understanding of the incentives of voluntary disclosure practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how voluntary disclosures (VD) and corporate governance (CG) improve firm value through the moderating effect of a legal change in a continental context, namely France. Based on a sample of 1001 observations of French firms listed on the SBF 120 from 2006 to 2016, I experiment with the theoretical assumptions of the study. A generalized method of moments estimation was used to neutralize the endogeneity problem. I estimated five different models on the whole sample; then I tested these models by splitting the sample into sectors to check the robustness of our estimations. Findings show that voluntary disclosure is positively associated with the firm's value. The empirical results also indicate that a change in the law, as a moderate variable, helps to widen the firm's benefit by the development and improvement in its sound governance system. Moreover, this outcome is reliable with the view that the nexus between VD and CG can add value for the firm in the presence of favourable jurisdictions. This research provides guidelines for investors, managers and policymakers to increase firm value by the application of the best practices of VD and CG in the presence of an advantageous law. To improve their reliability and performance, firms adopt a good mechanism of governance that is harmonious with the law and disclose more voluntary information to attract investors. These results offer new insights to the voluntary disclosure and firm value literature. I suggest that the application of the directive 2013/34/EU improves the corporate governance system. Also, the quality aspect of information disclosed in annual reports increases the firm value. Second, I investigated the interaction between VD and firm value in the presence of a CG mechanism and interaction variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article verified whether profitability positively influences companies' voluntary disclosure level. To achieve the objective of this article, a Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) Analysis was used with fixed effect panel data, from all non-financial companies of B3 (Brazilian stock exchange), being 527 companies from the period from 2010 to 2018 (nine years), generating a total initial sample of 4,743 observations. Based on the results of the econometric model, we found that higher profitability is associated with lower voluntary disclosure levels of B3 listed companies. This evidence contradicts the hypothesis of the literature, that indicates a positive relationship between profitability and voluntary disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to verify whether Brazilian public companies manipulate qualitative information through tone management. 43 companies belonging to the Ibovespa da Brasil, Bolsa e Balcão (B3) were selected, with quarterly data between 2017 and 2018. The data referring to a positive tone were formatted by word classification by Loughran and McDonald (2011), taken from the press releases voluntarily by the companies and analyzed by Atlas.ti8. The index was regressed against the discretionary accruals obtained in two earnings management models. The results point to a negative and significant relationship between accounting management and the positive tone of the reports, that is, companies with a higher positive tone manage less results. These findings present relevant information as it highlights the quality of the texts contained in the companies' reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of corporate websites as communication medium may contribute to good governance and specifically transparency as one of the basic principles of governance, mitigating the effect of the agency problem. The primary objective of this study was to ascertain the link between voluntary corporate website disclosure and information asymmetry for the smallest JSE-listed companies. Rule 26, as issued by the LSE for its AIM-listed companies, was used as proxy for disclosure while the bid-ask spread stood as a proxy for information asymmetry. The results of a content analysis showed that the majority of smaller listed JSE companies are not on par with their UK counterparts. Using agency theory, it was argued that if information voluntarily disclosed by companies on their corporate websites is useful to investors, it should theoretically decrease information asymmetry. Although empirical evidence of a negative relationship between disclosure and the bid-ask spread was found, the relationship changed to not significant once controlled for market capitalisation. Besides the bid-ask spread, the association between disclosure and both share price volatility and share turnover (both as alternative proxies for information asymmetry) was tested, and both were found non-significantly related to disclosure. The results reported do suggest that the Rule 26 minimum corporate website disclosures may not be sufficient in persuading investors to change their trading behaviour. Although there has been no research on the voluntary compliance and effect of Rule 26 website disclosure on information asymmetry using JSE small-cap data, a major limitation of this study is that generalisation of results is limited to small listed companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to perform the following two analyses for understanding the effect of a voluntary disclosure: 1) whether a company's performance is related to its voluntary disclosure in a conference call; and 2) whether the voluntary information is related to the future results of Brazilian companies. The tone of Brazilian firms with American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) (American Depositary Receipts) in the US market was measured between 2002 and 2016. The tone of managers was calculated in English using the original dictionary proposed by Loughran and McDonald (2011), as well as an adapted version in Portuguese. The findings suggest a positive relation between the tone used by managers during conference call and firms’ current and future performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether the extent and quality of voluntarily disclosed information regarding intellectual capital (IC) are correlated with certain characteristics of a company. IC is very important for IT companies. Therefore, financial and non-financial statements of 32 high-tech companies were investigated using the content analysis method. To test the influence of firm characteristics on the intellectual capital disclosure index (ICDI), the regression model was used. The size of the firm was the only independent variable that has had a statistically significant influence on the ICDI. The auditor type, as well as financial ratios, have not shown a statistically significant influence on the extent and quality of IC disclosures. This study reflects the state regarding the voluntary IC disclosures in Croatia and therefore the study may be a roadmap for further research and, more importantly, might promote awareness of the importance of transparent reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objectives of this study are to measure the extent of voluntary disclosure of listed non-financial firms in Ghana. The paper also seeks to identify the corporate governance attributes that influence voluntary disclosure, and finally, it rated the importance of voluntary items in the annual reports from the viewpoint of investors in Ghana. The paper makes use of 2013 to 2016 annual reports for 17 firms. The corporate governance attributes examined are board size, the proportion of independent non-executive directors on the board, blockholder ownership and the audit committee. Five control variables were also used to support the study. We developed a total of 66 voluntary items. Both the simple frequency distribution and Stata software were employed to analyze the data. The findings revealed a mean of 32.7% as the level of voluntary disclosure. Board size, block holder ownership and audit committee had a positive association but only board size was statistically significant. The proportion of independent non-executive directors had an insignificant negative relationship. Concerning the rating of the importance of the voluntary items, items under financial information were more of concern to investors. There are benefits that the findings provide which will be useful to investors, preparers of financial statements and regulators. The study reveals the corporate governance attribute(s) that influence corporate disclosure and points out the level of transparency if the level of disclosure is used as a proxy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers for voluntary intellectual capital (IC) reporting based on agency theory. This study responds to calls for critical investigations of IC reporting utilising Goebel's (2015a) IC measuring approach to investigate the role of IC value and mispricing for IC reporting. Design/methodology/approach: A mandatory management report offers a unique research setting in Germany. The content analysis results of 428 German management reports are used in a regression analysis with leverage, ownership diffusion, IC value and mispricing. Additionally, a propensity score matching approach examines the relationship between IC reporting and IC value. Findings: The regression results show that companies use voluntary IC reporting to encounter mispricing. IC reporting is negatively associated with leverage, whereas ownership diffusion and IC value show no significant results. The propensity score matching approach is also not significant. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to strengthening and testing agency theory for IC reporting. As mispricing is identified to play an important role for IC reporting, IC research should account for mispricing. Practical implications: The findings suggest to reopen a discussion on the declared aims of the German management report and the international integrated reporting model to provide information on value creation, as IC value shows no link to IC reporting. Originality/value: This study innovatively links IC reporting to IC value and mispricing to investigate drivers for voluntary IC reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether preparing an integrated report and/or whether cross-listing is associated with more intellectual capital (IC) disclosure.Design/methodology/approach The paper compares the content of IC disclosures of matched samples of companies.Findings The findings show that companies preparing an integrated report disclose more IC information, and that companies exposed to international capital market pressures through cross-listing do not disclose more IC information.Research limitations/implications The findings imply that integrated reporting (IR) is likely to increase IC disclosures and also that future IC disclosure research may have to take into account whether companies prepare an integrated report.Practical implications The results will be of interest to the proponents of IC and of IR, including the developers of the IR framework, regulators and companies considering IR.Originality/value This is one of the first studies to assess the influence of preparing an integrated report on the level of IC disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess sustainability reports of US universities to provide findings on the relative importance of disclosure topics.Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted content analysis by using a specific university-oriented catalogue of indicators to cover the specific sustainability-related aspects of this sector.Findings Sustainability reporting by universities is still in its early stages. The findings show a clear focus on the environmental dimension, whereas the university and the economic dimensions see lower levels of reporting. The social dimension is rarely addressed.Research limitations/implications Future research could use the results of this study as a basis for investigating stakeholder expectations towards universities' sustainability reporting and developing university-specific sustainability reporting standards.Practical implications The results could be used to improve universities' sustainability reporting, as "good" practices are now readily available.Social implications The level of reporting on the social dimension is very low. Therefore, developing political incentives to improve universities' social performance might be of interest.Originality/value The investigated setting is unique and contributes several findings in a less-researched area along with several practical, social and research implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the influence of corporate governance on the disclosure of forward looking information by firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. The forward-looking information used in this study were obtained from statements made for management in either the Managing Director or Board Chairman's reports regarding future operating outcomes. The results of the extent of disclosure of forward looking information, mean of 35%, indicate that most of the firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange did not disclose sufficient forward looking information in their annual reports. The low level (35%) of forward looking information disclosure will also make it very difficult for the firms' stakeholders to determine future performance of the company. In a country where corruption, even within the judiciary, is high one way of hiding corrupt practices is to hide information from the users of the financial reports. The results of the regression analysis indicate that board ownership concentration is the significant variable that explain the level of forward looking information disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the influence of the board interlocks structure in the voluntary disclosure of publicly traded companies in Brazil. The social network analysis approach is used to capture and evaluate the level of relationship existing between companies due to the ties formed by members of the board of directors. Two hypotheses explore the measures of (i) degree centrality and (ii) betweenness centrality, which have the potential to describe the positioning of the actors in a network. The third hypothesis addresses the issue of bond quality (holes). The results suggest that the board structure of board interlocks increases the propensity of companies to report information of a voluntary nature in their annual reports. It is interpreted, therefore, that the board interlocks acts as a factor that favors the dissemination of practices of voluntary disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the level of disclosure about mobile banking (MB) on bank websites.Design/methodology/approach The study sample comprises Brazilian and American banks, and the authors employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyze the data. An index of 14 items was used to measure levels of disclosure. The quantitative stage involved descriptive analysis of disclosure levels, which was associated with other variables through the application of multivariate regression analysis. The qualitative stage involved a content analysis technique.Findings The statistical analysis indicated that size and country were significant explanatory variables for the level of information disclosed on bank websites. American banks disclosed more information about MB on their websites than Brazilian banks.Originality/value In the approach, using elements of voluntary disclosure theories, the authors expect to provide insights on how to increase MB information for potential users through a low-cost mechanism, web-based disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study's general objective is to investigate the moderating effect of Corporate Social Performance Disclosure (D-CSP) on the relationship between Corporate Social Performance (CSP) and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP). Based on this objective, the study presented a model in which D-CSP acts as a moderator in relation to primary stakeholders (employees, community, and suppliers). D-CSP is a mechanism through which the various social aspects involved in discretionary policies, actions, and activities identified in the management for stakeholders process can be evaluated. A sample of 1,147 companies belonging to 10 different sectors and five continents was used to test the model. Data were collected from the Bloomberg database, totaling 5,735 observations, from 2010 to 2014. The relationship was tested using the multiple linear regression model involving panel data with fixed effects, and the Newey-West robust standard errors correction. Three constructs, D-CSP, CSP, and CFP, were used to perform the tests. As a CSP measure, the CSP of the employee, supplier, and community stakeholders was used. As a D-CSP measure, the CSP disclosure scores available from the database were used, and return on assets (ROA) was used as a CFP measure. The tests carried out indicated the existence of a positive moderating effect of disclosure on the relationship between the CSP of primary stakeholders and CFP. Besides presenting a positive CSP in relation to the primary stakeholders the results enable it to be inferred that these results need to be disclosed, thus contributing to higher corporate financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we analyzed which factors explain the voluntary disclosure of sustainability reporting in the electricity and telecommunications sector companies listed on BM& FBOVESPA, during the years 2010 to 2014. The data on companies that have reported or not sustainability report (dependent variable) were collected at the BM&FBOVESPA website and the data of the independent variables in Economática® database. Thus, the sample was composed of 45 companies in the electric power sector and 12 companies in the telecommunications sector in each year studied. From logistic regression was found in the electricity sector, the voluntary disclosure of the sustainability report no significant relationship with the performance of companies. In addition, it was noted that the size is a variable that affects positively the disclosure of environmental information, but we found the opposite to the debt. As for the telecommunications sector was found a positive relationship only between the disclosure of the sustainability report and size of the companies. Comparatively, it is stated that in the energy sector there are more factors that influence the dissemination of the sustainability report, which may be linked to as many companies in the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of Portuguese Foundation's characteristics on their annual report disclosure practices. Data were collected from 142 Foundations in Portugal, which represents 50.9% of the Portuguese foundational sector. Supported by a Structural Equation Model (SEM), this study evaluates cause-effect relationship between Voluntary Disclosure, Board Structure, Organizations' Characteristics and the existence of Auditing. Findings reveal that Organizations' Characteristics influence the forms of Auditing, and on its turn, Auditing has a positive indirect impact on Voluntary Disclosure. Contrary to expectations, Board Structure does not affect Voluntary Disclosure. This paper fills a void in the literature by examining the impact of Foundations' characteristics on their voluntary disclosure of financial and non-financial information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical, experimental and empirical research by economists and psychologists suggests biases in how people draw inferences. Eyster and Rabin (2005) review extensive experimental evidence that suggests people do not fully take into account how other people’s actions depend on their private information. Using data from two colleges with optional SAT I policies, this paper quantifies the extent to which players underestimate this relationship. This policy provides applicants with a choice of whether to disclose their SATI scores to the college. Our empirical estimates indicate that colleges do underestimate the relationship between an applicant’s action (not submitting) and type (SATI score). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate decisions directed to increase voluntary disclosure level may influence the cost of capital. In this sense, the objective of this research is to identify the effect of voluntary disclosure on debt cost of short and long-term financing in companies listed on the BM & FBOVESPA. The rationale for this study is to provide an alternative methodological approach to the examination of third-party capital cost. In this study, unlike previous studies, it is not uses financial expenses present in Income Statement (DRE) as proxy for the cost of debt (Ke), but interest expenses that make up the third-party capital remuneration in the Value Added Statement (DVA). The sample comprises 57 Brazilian companies. To achieve the proposed goal, it was used as the dependent variable debt cost (Ke) and as the independent variable the voluntary disclosure index (IDV) proposed by Consoni e Colauto (2016). As statistical method of parameter estimation, it was used multiple linear regression for ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalized least squares (GLS) combined with examination of the presence of multivariate outliers by Mahalanobis distance. The results suggest that although the sample companies differ in levels of spontaneous disclosure and also differences in the cost of financing, indications were identified that voluntary disclosure would adversely affect the cost of debt. The study is relevant because it presents as a novelty the use of debt service costs obtained from the DVA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In October 2016, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in Norman, an appeal against conviction for misconduct in public office on the basis of information sold to a newspaper by a serving prison officer. The particular interest in the appeal, however, comes from its wider engagement of rights afforded by Article 10 ECHR and the interaction of that provision with voluntary disclosure. The decision highlights that where information about a source is provided voluntarily by a newspaper, the source will struggle to argue that Article 10 rights have been infringed. This article explores the existing law on journalistic privilege and highlights the gap in the precedents that means, even post Norman, there is no clear answer to a question likely to be increasingly important in times of closer scrutiny of the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the association between the voluntary disclosure of economic and financial information and earnings management. The outlined arguments on the subject are based on the assumption that consistent voluntary disclosure policies may reduce earnings management. The analysis is conducted on a random sample of 66 non-financial Brazilian listed companies in the 2005-2012 period. To measure voluntary disclosure, the index proposed by Consoni and Colauto (2016) is used. As a proxy for earnings management, discretionary accruals (DA) are estimated based on the model by Dechow, Sloan, and Sweeney (1995). The relationship between these measurements is analyzed using a model of simultaneous equations and by the random effects regression method with panel data. A significant negative relationship was expected a priori; however, the main result of the study indicates that voluntary disclosure and earnings management are not simultaneously determined or associated. Although the results obtained contradict certain theoretical assumptions, there are alternative explanations for this finding. The empirical set of evidence in this research, in addition to those in previous studies, should be interpreted with caution because there is no consensus on the measures for voluntary disclosure and earnings management. Second, several companies in Brazil may not be interested in providing high-quality voluntary disclosure because most of their shareholders enjoy private benefits of control. This issue reduces the importance of the potential market demand for information, stratifies information asymmetry, and does not prevent earnings management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine the role of voluntary disclosure programs in creating market incentives for competing firms to invest in environmentally cleaner technology. In an industry subject to environmental regulation (such as emission taxes), such programs may allow firms to credibly disclose their progress in achieving compliance cost reduction through investments in internal R&D, innovation and learning (whose outcomes are uncertain and unlikely to be publicly observable). Specifically, I analyze a duopoly where firms are subject to an emission tax and invest in reducing the emission intensity of their production processes; the outcome of the investment is private information. I show that the ex ante incentive to invest is always higher in the presence of the voluntary disclosure program than without it; in particular, the opportunity to credibly disclose progress in cost reduction allows a successful firm to convey its true position of competitive advantage to the rival firm and realize higher market share and profit. Thus, voluntary disclosure programs increase the efficacy of traditional forms of environmental regulation in creating incentives for green technological change (even when buyers have no preference for greener technology). I show that such programs generally increase social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to verify if internal pressures represented by the corporate governance structure of organizations, and external pressures represented by the legal institutional environment and pressures exerted from shareholders and creditors influence the use of voluntary social and environmental information disclosure standards (i.e., GRI) widely accepted. The sample consists of 96 companies and it was used the statistical technique of Logistic Regression for analyzing the data. The results showed that corporate governance structure is a relevant factor for the use of these disclosure standards. The governance mechanism presence associated to socio-environmental responsibility exerts influences on the use of standards isolated from the set of mechanisms that make up the governance structure. The legal institutional environment was not significantly presented, while the exerted pressures from creditors and shareholders were relevant on taking the decision to use the disclosure standard under analysis. The results corroborate with the Institutional Theory legitimacy perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between popularity in a social media network and a company’s revenue, expenditure and market value. Additionally, social media networks are analysed as tools for both voluntary and involuntary intellectual capital (IC) disclosure.Design/methodology/approach These aims are analysed in the context of the football industry. An empirical analysis evaluates the correlations between team and player social media metrics from Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and their football club’s market value, revenue and player transfer fees. Examples of timely IC disclosure are also reported.Findings The results indicate that popularity metrics in social media are determinants of the value of human and relational capital in professional football clubs. Popularity in social media positively correlates to market capitalisation, revenue and player transfer fees. Additionally, examples are provided to show how social media can be a tool for disclosing IC information in a relevant and timely manner.Practical implications From a strategic management perspective, the authors find that there are economic opportunities to be gained from managing social media platforms appropriately and that knowledge derived from social media needs to be used effectively by club managers, so that fans and followers can be transformed into consumers. One practical implication of this research is the need to hire social media experts that are able to develop, coordinate and manage digital communication strategies.Originality/value This paper presents an analysis of emerging changes in technology and communication platforms and different types of disclosure. It aims to demonstrate that the metrics derived from social media can be used as tool to disclose voluntary and involuntary information about IC – information that is particularly useful to investors because their shortage of tangible assets can make football clubs difficult to evaluate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Response rates to the CDP climate change program differ strongly between different countries globally. This indicates that participation in carbon disclosure by stock-listed companies is strongly influenced by characteristics of national contexts. This article builds on ecological modernization theory and institutional theory. On this basis we examine how stringency and enforcement of environmental regulations on the one hand, and legal origins of financial systems on the other, can explain firms' participation in CDP climate change disclosure. Furthermore, it is asked whether multinational corporations are less affected by country-level characteristics. For the first time in the disclosure literature, multilevel regression analysis is used, a method that accounts for the hierarchical structure of a population of firms being embedded in national contexts. Our results show that both environmental regulations and legal origin are extremely relevant explanatory factors, accounting for more variance than all tested firm-level variables except size. Furthermore, while multinational firms do report more than domestic firms, we could not find that multinational corporations are less affected by the characteristics of their countries-of-origin. Our findings have implications for transparency-based initiatives as a governance tool for climate change mitigation, since they fit into some regulatory contexts better than others. Advances in voluntary disclosure seem most likely in emergent countries which tighten environmental regulations while liberalizing their economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of government regulation and social demand, Chinese foundations have increasingly faced pressure to make their organizations more transparent. Our paper explores the factors associated with voluntary disclosure by foundations in China. Building on the literature on transparency and foundation development in China, we explore how the public (donations) and the government (funding and control) might influence the voluntary transparent behaviors of Chinese foundations. Using the database of the China Foundation Center, we perform regression analysis of N = 2074 Chinese foundations. Controlling for organization size, age, and other characteristics, we find that foundations that depend more on donations, collect more restricted funds, receive fewer government funds, and operate with less government control have a higher probability of offering voluntary disclosure. We then discuss organizational strategies and policy implications for building a healthy and transparent foundation sector in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes which variables can influence the environmental divulgation level among the 52 largest Brazilian transnational organizations in 2014, according to the Dom Cabral Foundation. This is an exploratory-descriptive and documentary study, with a quantitative approach, whose data collection was based on the sustainability annual reports and reference forms published in the period from 2013 to 2014 by the analyzed organizations and published on the site of BM & FBOVESPA and its institutional sites. Multiple linear regression was used for data analysis. The results showed that the internationalization degree is a significant factor for the environmental divulgation level, confirming the point of view that the greater the existing Transnationality ties, the greater the companies' search for alternatives capable of establishing guarantees related to the strengthening of relations with its stakeholders. However, aspects such as size, indebtedness, activity sector and performance were not relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we tried to determine the effect of voluntary disclosure of more private information in addition to mandatory disclosure made by firms, on systematic risk which cannot be reduced via diversification. Analyzing the data with pooled regression, we found that when firms increase voluntary disclosure levels, firm-specific systematic risk levels decrease because of the decrease in uncertainty levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a requirement of transparency of corporate governance principles, except trade secrets and non-public information companies must declare financial and non-financial information accurate, complete, understandable, interpretable and at low cost on time. In this context, it would be useful to declare the past performance of the company with future objectives and significant risks to investors. This study examined the risk of conceptual clarification as required by the principles of transparency and voluntary risk disclosure the regulations adopted in the UK. In surveys there has been continuous improvement in risk disclosure. In Turkey, there is no legislative amendment for risk disclosure and reporting the issue. In this regard a legislative amendment would be helpful. This arrangement (as Turkey's sociocultural structure, taken as a whole) mandatory risk disclosure would be more appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increasing interest in nonpecuniary measures to encourage prosocial behavior. Among these is the use of social comparison, or social information. Although successful in promoting, for instance, greater resource conservation, studies of this measure have so far relied on the assumption of the availability of social information. In situations in which information is costly to collect and disseminate, alternative mechanisms must be considered. This study explores the use of voluntary disclosure to provide social information in a linear public goods game in a lab experiment. It finds that individuals tend to disclose their contribution information when given the option, suggesting that voluntarily disclosed social information remains a possible policy option when the cost of information collection is high. In addition, voluntarily revealed contributions are significantly higher than contributions under mandated disclosure, leading to greater cooperation in the voluntary disclosure treatments under certain circumstances. Finally, evidence is provided that voluntary disclosure may be helpful in attenuating the boomerang effect, i.e., when high contributors reduce their contributions in response to social information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]