• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.10
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• pp.601-611
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• 2020

The study aims to investigate the impact of ownership structure on corporate voluntary disclosure in the listed companies of Bangladesh. While many studies on the impact of ownership structure on voluntary disclosure have looked at developed and developing countries, few studies have been carried out in a transition economy. Using a three-step relative voluntary disclosure index, the study applies a multivariate analysis on the cross-sectional data for the year 2018. The findings indicate that the quality of voluntary disclosure in transition economy is still below average but has improved compared to findings from the previous literature. We found a significant inverse relationship between corporate voluntary disclosure and public ownership, while no significant relationships between voluntary disclosure and institutional ownership, director ownership, and foreign ownership have been found. The empirical findings of the study will provide evidence to promote the voluntary disclosure characterized by the ownership structures. The findings have important implications for both local and foreign investors as they make their investment decisions especially related to a transition economy. Besides, the findings will assist, not only the corporate executives in rearranging their reporting paradigm, but also the regulators and governments in similar transition economy in adopting and formulating their corporate policies and strategies.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.281-288
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• 2019

This study examines the relationship between R&D intensity and disclosure. R&D activities are essential in bringing innovation to companies. However, R&D activities are naturally uncertain and increase information asymmetry. Thus, firms with high R&D activities are more likely to have the incentive to communicate the potential of R&D investment to the market through voluntary disclosure and, concurrently, resolve information asymmetry. Meanwhile, incentives to less voluntary disclosure exist because of the proprietary cost and the risk of competitiveness loss. Furthermore, the uncertainties inherent in R&D activities caused the possible decrease in the information accuracy. For the two opposing views, this study investigates the relationship between R&D intensity and disclosure frequency using the Regulation Fair Disclosure data in Korea. Moreover, the relationship between R&D intensity and usefulness of the information disclosed is also examined. Using firm sample listed in the 2011-2016 Korea Stock Market, results show that firms with high R&D intensity make disclosures more frequent. Subsequently, the analysis using forecast sample shows that management forecast error is higher in firms with high R&D intensity. This research contributes to the existing literature by presenting evidence that R&D intensity is a significant factor affecting manager's disclosure behavior and information usefulness.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.37-54
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• 2013

This article focuses on integrating institutional mediation systems, especially the analysis of the leading ADR operation. Mediation is a process in which an impartial third party, a mediator, facilitates the resolution of a dispute by promoting voluntary agreements by the parties to the dispute. A mediator facilitates communications, promotes understanding, focuses the parties on their interests, and seeks agreement. These standards give meaning to this definition of mediation. Standard mediation clauses are construed as broadly as possible, and mediation is compelled unless it may be said with positive assurance that the mediation process is not susceptible to an interpretation that covers the asserted dispute. Performing the conflicts check early in the process helps in eliminating any awkwardness or delays caused by making disclosures after mediation commences. Mediator impartiality is central to the mediation process. A mediator should mediate only those matters in which she or he can remain impartial and evenhanded. If at any time the mediator is unable to conduct the process in an impartial manner, the mediator is obligated to withdraw.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.87-93
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• 2017

Purpose - This paper investigates whether managerial overconfidence is associated with firm-specific crash risk. Overconfidence leads managers to overestimate the returns of their investment projects, and misperceive negative net present value projects as value creating. They even use voluntary disclosures to convey their optimistic beliefs about the firms' long-term prospects to the stock market. Thus, the overconfidence bias can lead to managerial bad news hoarding behavior. When bad news accumulates and crosses some tipping point, it will come out all at once, resulting in a stock price crash. Research design, data and methodology - 7,385 firm-years used for the main analysis are from the KIS Value database between 2006 and 2013. This database covers KOSPI-listed and KOSDAQ-listed firms in Korea. The proxy for overconfidence is based on excess investment in assets. A residual from the regression of total asset growth on sales growth run by industry-year is used as an independent variable. If a firm has at least one crash week during a year, it is referred to as a high crash risk firm. The dependant variable is a dummy variable that equals 1 if a firm is a high crash risk firm, and zero otherwise. After explaining the relationship between managerial overconfidence and crash risk, the total sample was divided into two sub-samples; chaebol firms and non-chaebol firms. The relation between how I overconfidence and crash risk varies with business group affiliation was investigated. Results - The results showed that managerial overconfidence is positively related to crash risk. Specifically, the coefficient of OVERC is significantly positive, supporting the prediction. The results are strong and robust in non-chaebol firms. Conclusions - The results show that firms with overconfident managers are likely to experience stock price crashes. This study is related to past literature that examines the impact of managerial overconfidence on the stock market. This study contributes to the literature by examining whether overconfidence can explain a firm's future crashes.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.5-17
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• 2017

This study extends research into whether disclosure of corporate and financial information is associated with firms' costs of equity capital. This study sets out to examine empirically the determinants of corporate disclosure in the annual reports of 37 largest and most liquid firms listed on Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) in Kazakhstan. It also reports the results of the association between company-specific characteristics and disclosure of the sample companies. Based on the analysis of existing empirical research, the disclosure index has been constructed and regression analysis of the influence of the disclosure index on the cost of equity capital has been conducted. The obtained results show that the received findings correlate with foreign empirical studies, and the disclosure index in this sample has a negative impact on the cost of equity capital. Using cost of equity capital estimates derived from capital asset pricing model, we find that firms with higher levels of financial transparency are associated with significantly lower costs of equity capital. Economic theory assumes that by increasing the level of corporate reporting, firms not only increase their stock market liquidity, but also decrease the investors' estimation risk, arising from uncertainty about future returns and payout distributions. The results show that firms on the Kazakhstan market can reduce their cost of equity capital by increasing the level of their voluntary corporate disclosures.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.69-114
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• 2010

This study investigates the voluntary corporate disclosure of environmental information via stand-alone environmental reports or company web-sites. Quality of disclosure was assessed using the content analysis index proposed by Clarkson et al. (2008) based on GRI guidelines. Descriptive statistics on disclosure scores by category suggest that the level of disclosure is low relative to the expectation implied by the GRI reporting guidelines, and points to the need for improvement in the future. Specific areas where improvement is required include the disclosure of environmental performance indicators. Corporate environmental performance was measured in terms of the percentage of toxic wastes that was treated or processed by each firm and economic performance, by industry-adjusted annual return, which was subject to a series of association tests designed to explore the interrelations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance. The individual equation approach based on OLS procedures suggests a positive association between environmental performance and the level of discretionary environmental disclosures, which is not the case between environmental and economic performance. An integrated analysis using simultaneous equations approach does not indicate any significant relationships among three constructs, suggesting the lack of endogeneity, inconsistent with Al-Tuwaijri et al. (2004). Additional analysis assesses the level of environmental disclosure made in footnotes to the audited annual reports, which suggests that the quality of disclosure is very low and that footnote disclosure does not serve as a meaningful channel for the provision of corporate environmental information.