The association between disclosure of forward-looking information and corporate governance mechanisms

Basil Al-Najjar and Suzan Abed

Managerial Auditing Journal, 2014, vol. 29, issue 7, 578-595

Abstract: Purpose - – This paper aims to witness the importance of corporate governance mechanisms and investigates the relationship between the quality of disclosure of forward-looking information in the narrative sections of annual reports and the governance mechanisms for non-financial UK companies. Design/methodology/approach - – Computerized content analysis using QSR NVivo 8 is used to measure the extent of forward-looking information in the narratives of the annual reports for 238 companies listed in the London Stock Exchange. Cross-sectional regression analysis is used to examine the impact of the corporate governance mechanisms on forward-looking information. Findings - – The results show that board size and the independence of the audit committee are associated with the level of voluntary disclosure of forward-looking information. Research limitations/implication - – One limitation of this study is that in controls for the effect of the financial crisis period, by selecting a representative year for a five-year period, 2006. The authors argument in using this year is based on the fact that the main variables of interest do not vary significantly with time, the cross-sectional analysis of the selected period will provide a fair view of the last five year-period. Practical implications - – The authors report the importance of some governance practices in the UK, such as the role of the board members as well as the importance of audit committee independence. Originality/value - – This paper contributes to the literature by using computerized content analysis to examine the relation between corporate governance mechanism and disclosure quality of forward-looking information using sample of companies before financial crisis period. The authors also examine governance mechanisms that are under-researched in the field of forward-looking disclosure.

Keywords: Corporate governance; Board independence; Audit committee; Disclosure quality; Forward-looking information; Governance mechanism; M4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:majpps:maj-01-2014-0986

DOI: 10.1108/MAJ-01-2014-0986

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