Disclosure in Annual Reports of Listed Companies: The Case of India

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Abstract

Accounting in the form of financial disclosure is helpful for economic development of a country. This study reports the results of an empirical investigation of the disclosure behavior of listed companies in India .It also reports the relationship between aggregate disclosure (both mandatory and voluntary) and a number of company characteristics for Indian companies listed in Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The results of the study revealed that there was a significant increase in the level of aggregate disclosure (its average was 85) compared to previous studies in India. The extent disclosure was 73 in previous studies. Univariate analysis revealed that Leverage (LV), Firm Size (FS), listing status (LS), audit firm size (AS) and company age are significant variables in explaining the variation in the level of aggregate disclosure among Indian companies. Meanwhile, multivariate analysis showed profitability (ROE), audit firm size (AS) to be significantly associated with the level of aggregate disclosure.