consolidated annual reports

Purpose-This study analyses the determinants of the level of corporate governance disclosure (CGD) by Portuguese companies listed on Euronext Lisbon between 2005 and 2011. Design/methodology/approach-Using content analysis, we construct a corporate governance index for each firm based on the data extracted from the firm's corporate governance and annual reports. An ordinal logistic regression model is used to examine the relationship between the level of CGD and its determinants. Findings-The empirical evidence suggests that foreign investor ownership, board size, board independence, external audit quality and degree of internationalization had a significant and positive influence on the corporate governance disclosure level, whereas ownership concentration, unitary leadership structure and debt had a significant and negative influence on corporate governance disclosure. No results were observed for board of director ownership and manager stock option compensation variables. Originality/value-This study extends the previous literature by examining corporate governance disclosure. Moreover, it extends prior work by analysing foreign investor ownership, manager stock option compensation and degree of internationalization as determinants of information disclosure. Finally, we believe that this study, conducted over a longer period of time, might give us stronger statistical evidence.

While some accountants are against using push-down accounting to prepare separate financial statements, others argue that it provides a suitable measurement. Authorities in the United States have issued rules and statements specifying where this practice could be applied. The opponents argue that, first, financial statements using push-down accounting could mislead some users due to the changes in the bases for valuation of the assets and liabilities of the acquired company. Second, the comparability property of the financial statements is lost. Third, the entity assumption is violated. On the other hand, the proponents state that push-down accounting allows providing relevant information to the stakeholders. That is, financial statements are based on current prices reflecting the real financial standing of the subsidiary. To them, an acquisition is a complete transaction and therefore, its impact must be reflected in the financial statements. Finally, they state that push-down accounting is a welcomed practice in many countries except in the United States. This article presents arguments to address some of these concerns. The variation of bases that occurs when push-down accounting is applied, additional information based on the historical cost model can be disclosed with the published financial statements to assist the stakeholders in making their decisions. The argument regarding the violation of the entity assumption is valid when accounting for a business combination is pushed down in corporate reporting. Additionally, since the external party’s valuation is deemed to be evidence of the new value of the proportion of the acquired assets and liabilities, the parent company when applying push-down accounting provides a new value to a significant portion of the subsidiary. Using push-down accounting breaches the conceptual framework, which operates as the constitution of financial accounting for business enterprises, which weighs reliability more than relevance of information characteristics. While combining ‘reliability’ and ‘relevance’ is impossible, a tradeoff between them must be found.

While some accountants are against using push-down accounting to prepare separate financial statements, others argue that it provides a suitable measurement. Authorities in the United States have issued rules and statements specifying where this practice could be applied. The opponents argue that, first, financial statements using push-down accounting could mislead some users due to the changes in the bases for valuation of the assets and liabilities of the acquired company. Second, the comparability property of the financial statements is lost. Third, the entity assumption is violated. On the other hand, the proponents state that push-down accounting allows providing relevant information to the stakeholders. That is, financial statements are based on current prices reflecting the real financial standing of the subsidiary. To them, an acquisition is a complete transaction and therefore, its impact must be reflected in the financial statements. Finally, they state that push-down accounting is a welcomed practice in many countries except in the United States. This article presents arguments to address some of these concerns. The variation of bases that occurs when push-down accounting is applied, additional information based on the historical cost model can be disclosed with the published financial statements to assist the stakeholders in making their decisions. The argument regarding the violation of the entity assumption is valid when accounting for a business combination is pushed down in corporate reporting. Additionally, since the external party’s valuation is deemed to be evidence of the new value of the proportion of the acquired assets and liabilities, the parent company when applying push-down accounting provides a new value to a significant portion of the subsidiary. Using push-down accounting breaches the conceptual framework, which operates as the constitution of financial accounting for business enterprises, which weighs reliability more than relevance of information characteristics. While combining ‘reliability’ and ‘relevance’ is impossible, a tradeoff between them must be found.

Purpose-This study analyses the determinants of the level of corporate governance disclosure (CGD) by Portuguese companies listed on Euronext Lisbon between 2005 and 2011. Design/methodology/approach-Using content analysis, we construct a corporate governance index for each firm based on the data extracted from the firm's corporate governance and annual reports. An ordinal logistic regression model is used to examine the relationship between the level of CGD and its determinants. Findings-The empirical evidence suggests that foreign investor ownership, board size, board independence, external audit quality and degree of internationalization had a significant and positive influence on the corporate governance disclosure level, whereas ownership concentration, unitary leadership structure and debt had a significant and negative influence on corporate governance disclosure. No results were observed for board of director ownership and manager stock option compensation variables. Originality/value-This study extends the previous literature by examining corporate governance disclosure. Moreover, it extends prior work by analysing foreign investor ownership, manager stock option compensation and degree of internationalization as determinants of information disclosure. Finally, we believe that this study, conducted over a longer period of time, might give us stronger statistical evidence.

This paper presents a study on factors explaining the level of voluntary human capital information in companies with shares in the Brazilian stock exchange. Assuming the existence of information asymmetry between managers and shareholders, agency theory states that disclosure might lead to a reduction in agency costs. The proprietary costs theory indicates that information disclosure might increase the company's costs. According to these theories, the likelihood that the managers will voluntarily disclose information depends on certain factors that are characteristic of the company. Understanding the disclosure of information regarding intangible assets, specifically human capital, has strategic relevance for enterprises because these features, although not always recorded in accounting, represent a competitive business edge in the current economy. Design/methodology/approach: The study examined 145 annual reports, representing 29 companies in the period of 2005-2009. The level of voluntary disclosure was determined through content analysis of annual reports using representative indicators of human capital information. Findings: The statistical results indicate that factors such as size, debt, growth and time of registration with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission explain the level of voluntary human capital disclosure of the companies studied. Originality/value: An important contribution of this research is the formulation and non-repudiation of the time of registration with the CVM hypothesis as a factor that-305-Intangible Capital-http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/ic.315 explains the level of human capital disclosure because none of the revised studies have tested this hypothesis.

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of internal and external corporate governance mechanisms on voluntary disclosure in Saudi Arabia. The sample consists of 87 companies from the Saudi Stock Market. The data are collected from the annual reports for the available financial years 2006 and 2007. It is found that corporate governance mechanisms play a vital role in providing quality reporting. Most corporate governance mechanisms, especially non-executive directors, board size, CEO duality, audit quality, and government ownership, have a significant contribution in providing quality voluntary disclosure. The findings of this study provide evidence on the effectiveness of corporate governance as a mechanism of monitoring power to provide users with adequate and sufficient information. The findings of this study have important implications for authority regulators, policy makers, shareholders and other users of reports who have an interest in best practices of corpo...

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of internal and external corporate governance mechanisms on voluntary disclosure in Saudi Arabia. The sample consists of 87 companies from the Saudi Stock Market. The data are collected from the annual reports for the available financial years 2006 and 2007. It is found that corporate governance mechanisms play a vital role in providing quality reporting. Most corporate governance mechanisms, especially non-executive directors, board size, CEO duality, audit quality, and government ownership, have a significant contribution in providing quality voluntary disclosure. The findings of this study provide evidence on the effectiveness of corporate governance as a mechanism of monitoring power to provide users with adequate and sufficient information. The findings of this study have important implications for authority regulators, policy makers, shareholders and other users of reports who have an interest in best practices of corpo...

Purpose: This article aims to analyze the influence of certain characteristics of the board of directors and the auditor on the disclosure of derivative financial instruments. Theoretical framework: Operations with derivative instruments are associated with high risks, so the disclosure of these operations and their results helps to reduce information asymmetries. On the other hand, acccording to agency theory, the characteristics of the board of directors and of the auditor can affect the quality and the level of financial information disclosed.

Design/methodology/approach: The data were obtained through content analysis, considering the 2017 reports and accounts of 37 companies listed on Euronext Lisbon, through a disclosure index. Subsequently, a multiple linear regression model was developed to identify the determinants of the level of disclosure about derivative instruments.

Findings: The results revealed that only the number of independent members on the board of directors, the auditor's gender, and the size of the entity influence the level of disclosure about derivative instruments.

Research, Practical & Social implications: This study may be useful for regulators in setting disclosure requirements for derivative instruments and useful in companies' decision making in defining the members of the board and the auditor. Originality/value: It contributes to the literature on compliance with IFRS and contributes to the perception of the influence of certain characteristics associated with the board of directors and the auditor in the disclosure of derivative instruments.

Corporate governance is a mechanism to protect investors in the markets around the world. This study analyses the board of directors’ specificities in the context of Portuguese corporate governance. The results show that the Latin Model (Two-Tier Model) is the most (least) adopted by Portuguese firms. The percentage of executive members is higher than that of non-executive members. In the year of 2014, women held only 9.5% of positions on board, which is very low. With this study, we contribute to the state of art of Corporate Governance in a country in which investigation is still scarce

This study focuses on Saudi’s unique social and cultural context and its impact on board attributes and corporate risk disclosure (CRD) by addressing the relationship between royal family members on the board and CRD. Using content analysis of a sample of 307 company-year observations over the period of 2008-2011, the results from the descriptive statistics show a moderate level of CRD practices among firms. The initial and additional results from the panel data analysis show that board characteristics, namely, board size, board independence, royal family members on the board, and meeting frequency of the board of directors are important determinants of CRD in Saudi Arabia. The positive influence of royal family members on CRD in this study contradicts the classic negative relationship between family members on the board and disclosure, which indicates that not all types of families’ members on the board have the same motivation towards corporate disclosure.

This article aims to identify the role of the Personnel Committee within the Board of Directors in the largest Internationalized Brazilian Companies that are listed on the New Market of Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange, henceforth, B3. Having a Personnel Committee on the Board is common in large, publicly traded companies, but forming Committees for specific issues on people management (PM) is rare in Brazil. This indicates a current issue in Brazilian organizations and implies a relevant research question. The methodology uses qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approaches. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were conducted with counselors and members of the Personnel Committee in the four largest Internationalized Brazilian companies, from 2014 to 2015. Treatment of qualitative research data was based on the content analysis technique using categories of studies derived from the theoretical framework. The results show that the Personnel Committee provides support to the board of directors in deliberating strategies and also taking enforcement actions towards PM, showing transparency, and generating credibility in the market, especially in the international arena.

This article aims to identify the role of the Personnel Committee within the Board of Directors in the largest Internationalized Brazilian Companies that are listed on the New Market of Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange, henceforth, B3. Having a Personnel Committee on the Board is common in large, publicly traded companies, but forming Committees for specific issues on people management (PM) is rare in Brazil. This indicates a current issue in Brazilian organizations and implies a relevant research question. The methodology uses qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approaches. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were conducted with counselors and members of the Personnel Committee in the four largest Internationalized Brazilian companies, from 2014 to 2015. Treatment of qualitative research data was based on the content analysis technique using categories of studies derived from the theoretical framework. The results show that the Personnel Committee provides support to the board of directors in deliberating strategies and also taking enforcement actions towards PM, showing transparency, and generating credibility in the market, especially in the international arena.

We examine the relationships among religious governance, especially Islamic governance quality (IGQ), national governance quality (NGQ), and risk management and disclosure practices (RDPs), and consequently ascertain whether NGQ has a moderating influence on the IGQ-RDPs nexus. Using one of the largest datasets relating to Islamic banks from 10 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries from 2006 to 2013, our findings are threefold. First, we find that RDPs are higher in banks with higher IGQ. Second, we find that RDPs are higher in banks from countries with higher NGQ. Finally, we find that NGQ has a moderating effect on the IGQ-RDPs nexus. Our findings are robust to alternative RDPs measures and estimation techniques. These results imply that the quality of disclosure depends on the nature of the macrosocial level factors, such as religion that have remained largely unexplored in business and society research, and therefore have important implications for policy-makers.

Purpose – This study analyses the determinants of the level of corporate
governance disclosure (CGD) by Portuguese companies listed on
Euronext Lisbon between 2005 and 2011.
Design/methodology/approach – Using content analysis, we
construct a corporate governance index for each firm based on the data
extracted from the firm’s corporate governance and annual reports. An
ordinal logistic regression model is used to examine the relationship
between the level of CGD and its determinants.
Findings – The empirical evidence suggests that foreign investor
ownership, board size, board independence, external audit quality and
degree of internationalization had a significant and positive influence
on the corporate governance disclosure level, whereas ownership
concentration, unitary leadership structure and debt had a significant
and negative influence on corporate governance disclosure. No results
were observed for board of director ownership and manager stock
option compensation variables.
Originality/value – This study extends the previous literature by
examining corporate governance disclosure. Moreover, it extends prior
work by analysing foreign investor ownership, manager stock option
compensation and degree of internationalization as determinants of
information disclosure. Finally, we believe that this study, conducted
over a longer period of time, might give us stronger statistical evidence.

This article uses an analytical frame that comprised agency theory and a resource-based perspective to explore the influence of boards of directors on listed companies' voluntary disclosure of information concerning intellectual capital (IC). The IC disclosures in 75 published company reports of 15 listed Portuguese companies in a 5 year period of financial crisis, 2007–2011, are investigated using content analysis and the regression techniques. IC disclosures are found to increase with company size, dual corporate governance models, industry, listing on sustainability indexes and increases in board size up to a maximum point (beyond which disclosures decrease). IC disclosures are reduced by CEO duality and by a higher proportion of independent directors on boards. The year of reporting is not significant, suggesting that the period of financial crisis did not influence the level of IC disclosures. The evidence adduced is consistent with a view that highly visible companies acknowledge the importance of IC disclosures in maintaining their reputation and competitive advantage, even during a period of financial crisis. This article highlights the need for caution in believing that adding extra directors to an existing board will lead to improved disclosure outcomes. In addition, given the token number of females appointed to boards currently, the