The Association between Firm-Specific Characteristics and Voluntary Disclosure of Listed Companies in Kuwait (original) (raw)
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This paper examines the relationship between corporate disclosure and firm performance for the case of listed companies in the Kuwait Stock Exchanges (KSE). Our sample contains 51 non-financial firms that represent 42% of the total number of listed companies in Kuwait. The empirical results show that the linear relationship between aggregate, mandatory and voluntary disclosure and firm performance is not significant, while there is strong evidence for nonlinear relationship between the disclosure types and firm performance proxies. Specifically, we found strong evidence of U-shaped relationship between corporate disclosure and firm performance. Moreover, we found that the relationship between disclosure and firm performance is not governed by the firm size variable.
Firm Specific Characteristics and Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Saudi Arabia
2016
The purpose of this study is mainly to investigate the association between firm-specific characteristics and voluntary disclosure level in annual reports. Firm-specific factors identified for this study are profitability, firm’s age, firm size, auditor size, leverage, and ownership structure. Voluntary disclosure is measured by using the voluntary disclosure index while firm-specific variables are measured according to numerous proxies utilised by previous studies. Hence, a multiple regression analysis has been employed to identify the relationship. The findings show that the variables which have a positive influence on voluntary disclosure are profitability, firm size, and governmental ownership, while family ownership is found to be negatively associated with voluntary disclosure. The findings have could be helpful to investors, management, regulators and legislators in their attempts to comprehend the important factors influencing voluntary disclosure and to reduce agency problems.
Voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of an emerging country: The case of Qatar
Advances in Accounting, incorporating Advances in International Accounting 25 (2), 255-265 , 2009
"This study sets out to examine empirically the determinants of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of 25 listed firms of Doha Securities Market (DSM) in Qatar forming approximately 86% of the total firms incorporated in DSM. It also reports the results of the association between company-specific characteristics and voluntary disclosure of the sample companies. A disclosure checklist consisting of 44 voluntary items of information is developed and statistical analysis is performed using multiple regression analysis. The findings indicate that age, size, complexity, and assets-in-place are significant and other variable profitability is insignificant in explaining the level of voluntary disclosure. However, this paper has contributed to the academic literature that firms in the Middle East provide voluntary corporate information which builds a confidence to the investors in general and Qatar in particular."
Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, 2020
This paper critically examines the voluntary disclosure quality, and its determinants among manufacturing companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange. The study developed a disclosure index based on prior related studies, and in the light of literature review and previous studies, the determinants of voluntary disclosure were examined. Furthermore, the study relied on information extracted from the annual reports of (40) listed manufacturing companies, for the year 2019, and used different statistics methods and techniques such as mean, standard deviation, correlation and regression to define the voluntary disclosure quality (level), and its determinants. The results indicate that there is a positive correlation between company's size, age, and profitability on one hand, and between the quality of voluntary disclosure on the other hand. In addition, the results indicate a weak and insignificant relation between the assets in place and financial leverage, and the level of voluntary ...
Research paper, 2018
The objective of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of users and preparers regarding financial disclosure practices in annual reports of Kuwaiti listed firms. To measure participants' views, a questionnaire survey was distributed in Kuwait between October and December 2012, to preparers (financial managers) and users (financial analysts) within Kuwaiti listed companies. The study compares between the perceptions of financial managers and financial analysts regarding disclosing information in corporate annual reports as well as the main obstacles facing the disclosure process and what the problems restricting the use of companies' annual reports. The study also seeks to investigate whether there is a perceived need for improving the usefulness of Kuwaiti companies' annual reports for decision-making. The results, based on 137 responses, indicate that accounting practices in Kuwaiti firms are firmly rooted in a decision-usefulness tradition with management and the board of directors viewed as the key audience for reporting information. Indeed, the annual reports of Kuwaiti listed companies are perceived as the most important sources of information. On the whole both users and preparers shared similar concerns regarding the volume of information contained within annual reports; however, their views differed in terms of identifying potential solutions. The results of the study are likely to have implications for decision makers, the academic community and accounting standard setters.
Disclosure Quality and Firm's Characteristics: Evidence from Iran
Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting, 2012
Our paper aims to examine the relationship disclosure quality and Firm characteristics for a sample of 80 firms listed in the Iran financial market during 2006-2009. We use a linear regression analysis to examine the association between the disclosure quality and firm's characteristics measured by variables such as Current ratio, Acid ratio, Firm Size and P/B ratio.The results of study show that the disclosure quality is having positive and significant relation with Current Acid and P/B ratios. Also, we find that there is a significant and negative association between disclosure quality and Firm Size.
Voluntary Disclosure by Saudi Companies
Research Journal of Finance and Accounting, 2014
In a developing country, such as Saudi Arabia, which depends on real time information, investigating voluntary disclosure is crucial for the capital market efficiency and shareholders satisfactory. A firm's voluntary disclosure is important to reduce the level of information asymmetry and increase the firm's credibility in the capital market. This study reports on voluntary disclosure practices of Saudi non-financial publicly traded companies listed in the Saudi Stock Market (Tadawul) during the period 2012-2013, and relates the extent of disclosure to : corporation size, auditor size, leverage, profitability, and listing age. A disclosure index has been developed and statistical analysis is performed using multiple regression analysis. Voluntary disclosure varies widely within a sample of 116 non-financial publicly traded companies during the period covered. The findings indicated that firms, on average, report 0.29 percent of the voluntary information. Further, in an effort to examine the relationship between the voluntary disclosure level and firm specific characteristics, the results of the regression analyses indicated that corporation size, profitability, and listing age have significant positive association with voluntary disclosure level in annual reports, however, auditor size and leverage do not have any significant association with voluntary disclosure level.
Firm Characteristics and the Extent of Voluntary Disclosure: The Case of Egypt
In a society depending on real time information, corporate disclosure is crucial for the capital market efficiency. The more disclosures a company makes, the more transparent becomes the information to investors, the lower becomes the information asymmetry and more credible the firms will be for the market. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between the voluntary disclosure level in annual reports and firm characteristics of more active 50 Egyptian companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange of the non-financial sector during the period 2007-2010. The firm characteristics used in the study are: firm size, auditor size, profitability, and firm's age. A disclosure checklist consisting of 60 voluntary items of information is developed and statistical analysis is performed using multiple regression analysis. The results of univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that firm size and profitability have significant positive association with voluntary disclosure level in annual reports. On the other hand, auditor size and firm's age do not have any significant association with voluntary disclosure level. However, this paper has contributed to the academic literature that firms in the Middle East provide voluntary corporate information which builds a confidence to the investors in general.
Kuwait Corporate Characteristics and Level of Risk Disclosure: A Content Analysis Approach
2014
This study investigated the association between spe cific corporate characteristics - mainly company size, leverage, li quidity, profitability, complexity, auditor type, and industry type - and c orporate risk disclosure (CRD) in the annual reports for a sample of 109 Kuwaiti listed non-financial companies. A manual content analysis approach was used to measure risk disclosure by counting the number of risk-related s entences in annual reports. A multivariate regression analysis was employed to test the association between risk disclosure and the corporate-specific characteristics. The results indicated that the total sentences of risk disclosu re were 1,461 sentences with a mean 19.87. The quantity of risk disclosures for all categories of risks was very limited. The findings showed that the CRD is a ssociated positively with size, liquidity, complexity and auditor type. In ad dition, the results indicated significant differences among industries. However, the findings also showed ...
Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 2022
This study empirically assesses the disclosure of nonfinancial information in corporate reporting. In examining the contents of annual and board reports for 50 listed corporations, a coding sheet was developed by combining the two coding sheets of Boshnak and the European Directive 2014/95/EU. All corporations in three sectors—energy, utilities, and materials, which collectively represents 85.51% of the Saudi market capitalization—encompass the sample. Results reveal that employees, community, and products and services information have a moderate disclosure level. In contrast, environmental, customers, and fighting corruption have a low level. The findings also show that nonfinancial disclosure of the selected sectors on average range between 28.85% for the corporations in the material sector to 39.22% for the corporations in utilities sector. The corporations in the energy sector scored, on average, 37.65%. The mean for the entire sample of the ratios of disclosed nonfinancial items is 30.35%. However, the average disclosure level is without substantial improvement since 2012 and 2013, as previously reported The Capital Market Authority (CMA) is recommended to mandate nonfinancial information disclosure. It is a step toward realization aspects of Saudi Vision 2030 concerning with, for instance, protecting environment and other related matters.