The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence

This article examines voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of 85 Malaysian companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. In departure from prior studies, which mainly examined the impact of social or environmental accidents on corporate disclosure, we examined voluntary disclosures for two years, 2006 a...

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Main Authors:	Ahmed Haji, Abdifatah, Mohd Ghazali, Nazli Anum
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Palgrave Macmillan 2012
Subjects:	H Social Sciences (General)
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/1/The_influence_of_the_financial_crisis_on.pdf

id	iium-11249
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-112492012-11-08T06:41:18Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/ The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence Ahmed Haji, Abdifatah Mohd Ghazali, Nazli Anum H Social Sciences (General) This article examines voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of 85 Malaysian companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. In departure from prior studies, which mainly examined the impact of social or environmental accidents on corporate disclosure, we examined voluntary disclosures for two years, 2006 and 2009, in an attempt to determine whether the 2007/08 financial crisis had some impact on corporate voluntary disclosure (CVD). Drawing on proprietary costs theory, we argued that in times of financial crisis companies might not have afforded the costly process of additional voluntary disclosures due to the related preparation and competitive costs. Hence, companies would have provided less voluntary information after the financial crisis. On the other hand, the financial crisis might have forced companies to be involved in more social activities to legitimize their existence. It could be argued that the public was in greater need during the financial crisis, and hence their expectations from company contributions might have been higher. To reduce the possibility of ‘legitimacy gap’, companies may have increased their involvement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) Programs, which in turn led to increased corporate disclosure. Using a self-constructed disclosure checklist, the findings of the study indicate that the extent and quality of CVDs provided in the annual reports of sample companies increased significantly following the recent global financial crisis. The results also reveal that based on the category of information (that is, strategic, financial, CSR), CSR information was the most widely disclosed category following the financial crisis. These findings support the view that companies utilize their annual report voluntary disclosures as a means of influencing society's perception of their operations, and as a means of legitimizing their existence. Palgrave Macmillan 2012-05 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/1/The_influence_of_the_financial_crisis_on.pdf Ahmed Haji, Abdifatah and Mohd Ghazali, Nazli Anum (2012) The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, 9 (2). pp. 101-125. ISSN 1741-3591 http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jdg/journal/v9/n2/full/jdg201127a.html 10.1057/jdg.2011.27
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	H Social Sciences (General)
spellingShingle	H Social Sciences (General) Ahmed Haji, Abdifatah Mohd Ghazali, Nazli Anum The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence
description	This article examines voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of 85 Malaysian companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. In departure from prior studies, which mainly examined the impact of social or environmental accidents on corporate disclosure, we examined voluntary disclosures for two years, 2006 and 2009, in an attempt to determine whether the 2007/08 financial crisis had some impact on corporate voluntary disclosure (CVD). Drawing on proprietary costs theory, we argued that in times of financial crisis companies might not have afforded the costly process of additional voluntary disclosures due to the related preparation and competitive costs. Hence, companies would have provided less voluntary information after the financial crisis. On the other hand, the financial crisis might have forced companies to be involved in more social activities to legitimize their existence. It could be argued that the public was in greater need during the financial crisis, and hence their expectations from company contributions might have been higher. To reduce the possibility of ‘legitimacy gap’, companies may have increased their involvement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) Programs, which in turn led to increased corporate disclosure. Using a self-constructed disclosure checklist, the findings of the study indicate that the extent and quality of CVDs provided in the annual reports of sample companies increased significantly following the recent global financial crisis. The results also reveal that based on the category of information (that is, strategic, financial, CSR), CSR information was the most widely disclosed category following the financial crisis. These findings support the view that companies utilize their annual report voluntary disclosures as a means of influencing society's perception of their operations, and as a means of legitimizing their existence.
format	Article
author	Ahmed Haji, Abdifatah Mohd Ghazali, Nazli Anum
author_facet	Ahmed Haji, Abdifatah Mohd Ghazali, Nazli Anum
author_sort	Ahmed Haji, Abdifatah
title	The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence
title_short	The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence
title_full	The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence
title_fullStr	The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence
title_full_unstemmed	The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence
title_sort	influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some malaysian evidence
publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
publishDate	2012
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/11249/1/The_influence_of_the_financial_crisis_on.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:20:35Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:20:35Z
_version_	1777408079424389120

The influence of the financial crisis on corporate voluntary disclosure: some Malaysian evidence

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