Corporate Governance and Voluntary Disclosure Practices of Financial and Non-Financial Sector Companies in Bangladesh

Author: Anup Kumar Saha, Shahnag Akter

This paper examines the relationship between voluntary disclosure and several attributes of corporate governance using data from the annual reports of companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in 2011. The results obtained show statistically significant differences in levels of voluntary disclosure among listed companies in Bangladesh and show that companies in the financial sector disclose more voluntary information than non-financial companies.

Findings from this analysis indicate a negative association between voluntary disclosure and percentage of equity owned by insiders. By contrast, firm size and profitability show significant positive relationship with voluntary disclosure.

However, this study also shows that voluntary disclosure has no significant relationship with the percentage of equity held by institutions, board size, board audit committee and percentage of independent directors on the board of directors.

Download PDF – JAMARv11.2-Voluntary disclosure in Bangladesh

About Prof Janek Ratnatunga 1129 Articles
Professor Janek Ratnatunga is CEO of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants. He has held appointments at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Australian National University in Australia; and the Universities of Washington, Richmond and Rhode Island in the USA. Prior to his academic career he worked with KPMG.