Corporate Disclosures

nell'articolo 153 sono messe integralmente a disposizione del pubblico entro il medesimo termine (2) . 1 bis. Tra la pubblicazione di cui al comma 1 e la data dell'assemblea convocata ai sensi degli articoli 2364, secondo comma, e 2364 bis, secondo comma, del codice civile, intercorrono non meno di ventuno giorni (3) . 1 ter. In deroga all'articolo 2429, primo comma, del codice civile il progetto di bilancio di esercizio è comunicato dagli amministratori al collegio sindacale, al revisore legale o alla società di revisione legale, con la relazione sulla gestione, almeno quindici giorni prima della pubblicazione di cui al comma 1 (4) . 2. Gli emittenti quotati aventi l'Italia come Stato membro d'origine pubblicano, quanto prima possibile e comunque entro tre mesi dalla chiusura del primo semestre dell'esercizio, una relazione finanziaria semestrale comprendente il bilancio semestrale abbreviato, la relazione intermedia sulla gestione e l'attestazione prevista dall' articolo 154 bis, comma 5. La relazione sul bilancio semestrale abbreviato del revisore legale o della società di revisione legale, ove redatta, è pubblicata integralmente entro il medesimo termine 5) . 3. Il bilancio semestrale abbreviato di cui al comma 2, è redatto in conformità ai principi contabili internazionali applicabili riconosciuti nella Comunità europea ai sensi del regolamento (CE) n. 1606/2002. Tale bilancio è redatto in forma consolidata se l'emittente quotato avente l'Italia come Stato membro d'origine è obbligato a redigere il bilancio consolidato. 4. La relazione intermedia sulla gestione contiene almeno riferimenti agli eventi importanti che si sono verificati nei primi sei mesi dell'esercizio e alla loro incidenza sul bilancio semestrale abbreviato, unitamente a una descrizione dei principali rischi e incertezze per i sei mesi restanti dell'esercizio. Per gli emittenti azioni quotate aventi l'Italia come Stato membro d'origine, la relazione intermedia sulla gestione contiene, altresì, informazioni sulle operazioni rilevanti con parti correlate. 5. Con il regolamento di cui al comma 6, la Consob può disporre, nei confronti di emittenti aventi l'Italia come Stato membro d'origine, inclusi gli enti finanziari, l'obbligo di pubblicare informazioni finanziarie periodiche aggiuntive consistenti al più in: a) una descrizione generale della situazione patrimoniale e dell'andamento economico dell'emittente e delle sue imprese controllate nel periodo di riferimento; b) una illustrazione degli eventi rilevanti e delle operazioni che hanno avuto luogo nel periodo di riferimento e la loro incidenza sulla situazione patrimoniale dell'emittente e delle sue imprese controllate (6) . 5 bis. Prima dell'eventuale introduzione degli obblighi di cui al comma 5, la Consob rende pubblica l'analisi di impatto effettuata ai sensi dell'articolo 14, comma 24 quater, della legge 28 novembre 2005, n. 246. Quest'ultima, in conformità alla disciplina comunitaria di riferimento, esamina, anche in chiave comparatistica, la sussistenza delle seguenti condizioni: a) le informazioni finanziarie periodiche aggiuntive non comportano oneri sproporzionati, in particolare per i piccoli e medi emittenti interessati; b) il contenuto delle informazioni finanziarie periodiche aggiuntive richieste è proporzionato ai fattori che contribuiscono alle decisioni di investimento assunte dagli investitori; c) le informazioni finanziarie periodiche aggiuntive richieste non favoriscono un'attenzione eccessiva ai risultati e al rendimento a breve termine degli emittenti e non incidono negativamente sulle possibilità di accesso dei piccoli e medi emittenti ai mercati regolamentati (7) . 6. La Consob, in conformità alla disciplina europea, stabilisce con regolamento (8) : Artt. 154 ter-154 quater RELAZIONI FINANZIARIE Artt. 154 ter-154 quater D.LG. 24 FEBBRAIO 1998, N. 58

The purpose of this paper
is to measure the level of related
party transaction disclosures
and to examine the factors that
aect the disclosures of related
party transactions from the
perspective of the Bangladeshi
listed cement companies
between the periods of
2012-2016. A manual index was
constructed by considering the
disclosure requirements of
International Accounting
Standard (IAS) -24. The financial
statements of the selected
companies were used for the
analysis. A relatively low level of
related party transaction
disclosures have been found.
Besides, the multiple regression
analysis (OLS) represents that
there is a significant relationship
between RPTD and the
leverage, product market
competition, return on asset and
foreign ownership. Furthermore,
several corporate governance
variables such as product
market competition, ownership
structure, and audit quality were
tested in this study.

Microfinance has been accepted as a tool for poverty alleviation and financial inclusion in most of the countries. Understanding the need to bridge the gap in accessing credit facilities for the excluded sections of people,.From the community oriented pawn shops founded by Franciscan monks to Muhammad Yunus and Al Whittaker in 1970 the financial services to poor has evolved. Microfinance Institutions have provided a viable option for poor especially in rural areas where people find it difficult to avail financial services like micro credit, savings account etc. in absence of various documents and collateral. . Sustainability itself has to be seen in a broader sense than just financial sustainability. The sustainability of demand, of the MFI's mission, of its ownership and governance structure and the legal and regulatory framework under which it works, are all contributory to overall here, the sustainability of an MFI by itself may not be enough unless a full-fledged micro-finance sector (MFS) is established on sustainable lines. In this paper authors have made an attempt to examine what comes in the way of making Indian MFIs sustainable and how can a good regulatory framework may facilitate this.

This paper focuses on the measurement and analysis of the extent of disclosure in the company annual reports in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Although there is a large accounting literature in both developed and developing countries relating to studies which have used disclosure indexes to measure the extent of disclosure made by the companies in corporate annual reports, no comparative study has been undertaken which focuses on the disclosure of financial information of companies in developing countries. This study reports significant differences in levels of disclosure, as measured by the mean values of the two disclosure indices among the sample developing countries. Companies in Bangladesh appeared to have the lowest levels of disclosure in the three countries. Companies in Pakistan may be argued to have achieved the highest level of disclosure because of the more up-to-date regulation in Pakistan as compared to India and Bangladesh. It was found that significant number of the lowest ranking companies suffered losses during the period under study and among the ranking companies, it was found that significant proportions of the companies were subsidiaries of multinational companies or large corporations. This paper also reports differences in the number of items universally disclosed or entirely excluded from disclosures by companies in the three countries.

Purpose-The study aims to examine the level and extent of forward-looking information (FLI) disclosure and identify the determinants driving the FLI disclosure (FLID) in the context of an emerging and developing economy. Design/methodology/approach-The sample includes annual reports of the top 30 listed companies in Bangladesh for the years 2013-2017. The content analysis approach is used to examine the practice of FLID and to determine the extent of FLID based on the index. Multiple linear regression analysis is performed to identify the determinants of FLID. Findings-This research finds that board size, auditor's global affiliation, leverage and profitability have a substantial positive impact on FLID. By contrast, firm size and listing age have a significant negative association with FLID. Moreover, contrary to our expectation, female representation in the boardroom has an inverse effect on FLID. This study, however, does not suggest any significant impact of board independence. Research limitations/implications-Small sample size may limit the generalizability of the findings. Besides, the FLID index score may be affected by the subjective judgment while analyzing the content of the annual report. Practical implications-The findings of this paper may assist the regulators and policymakers in incorporating this new reporting paradigm in regulations. Alternatively, the current research can serve as a basis to further understand the importance of FLID for the stakeholders. Originality/value-This empirical study contributes to the current FLI literature in Bangladesh. A handful of studies have been done to examine the nature and level of FLID and find out the determinants of FLID in the developing countries. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no study yet has been explored on FLID and its determinants by classifying them as qualitative and quantitative in Bangladesh.

Introduction Disclosure is an accounting activity which holds great significance in the era of modern economic growth where the availability of capital is the major driving force. The developing countries strive towards rapid economic growth and this can be achieved only by efficient allocation of capital. The economic information therefore should be available in the most efficient manner to aid well-informed decision making process. Here, the most important aspect is reporting the success or failure of economic units which are utilizing a substantial portion of the capital of the country. A company, which is an economic unit should therefore inform about the efficiency of their capital utilization to all the interested parties. Hence effective disclosure means communicating clearly to the diverse stakeholders of a corporate entity and the most important being the capital providers. Both Mandatory and Voluntary disclosures play an important role in bridging this information gap. Cooke (1989), Patton and Zelenka (1997), and Craig and Diga (1998) studied in their respective papers the nature and extent of variance in disclosure in the annual reports of companies more specifically the nature and extent of voluntary disclosures. Tian and Chen (2009) delved upon the supporting role of voluntary disclosures which help in enhancing the benefits and value of mandatory disclosures. Hence this paper intends to explore the nature and extent of corporate disclosure especially voluntary corporate disclosures of selected Indian economic units which are companies listed on National Stock Exchange of India.

Purpose-The study aims to examine the level and extent of forward-looking information (FLI) disclosure and identify the determinants driving the FLI disclosure (FLID) in the context of an emerging and developing economy. Design/methodology/approach-The sample includes annual reports of the top 30 listed companies in Bangladesh for the years 2013-2017. The content analysis approach is used to examine the practice of FLID and to determine the extent of FLID based on the index. Multiple linear regression analysis is performed to identify the determinants of FLID. Findings-This research finds that board size, auditor's global affiliation, leverage and profitability have a substantial positive impact on FLID. By contrast, firm size and listing age have a significant negative association with FLID. Moreover, contrary to our expectation, female representation in the boardroom has an inverse effect on FLID. This study, however, does not suggest any significant impact of board independen...

The objective of this study is to understand whether firm characteristics explain the extent of corporate disclosures in the annual reports of listed Indian companies. In the field of accounting, voluntary information disclosures have been receiving a lot of attention as they bridge the gap between what is mandatory and what is sought by the stakeholders. Due to the prime focus of corporate disclosure literature on the linkage of company characteristics with the extent of disclosures, it becomes pertinent to study this aspect before studying the policy and regulatory impact. Hence, it is examined what prompts listed corporate entities in an emerging market like India to disclose more. The disclosure scores of Indian CNX 100 companies over a period of five years (2011–2015) related to firm characteristics such as age, size, and listing status were arrived at through content analysis and subsequent coding of the data. The study applied correlation, regression, and t-test to analyze re...

Annual reports apart from being a means of communication are used as a vehicle of building and improving corporate image. Even the government and its institutions presiding over the corporate sector emphasize on additional disclosures related to corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability etc. apart from more voluntary financial disclosures to enhance the investor confidence at large. There are a number of studies which argue, corporate governance and its mechanisms or proxies act as catalyst for increased voluntary disclosures while there are a few studies which negate or nullify its role in enhancing voluntary disclosures. Hence it is important at this juncture to find how it is currently placed in Indian context. The findings of this study suggest the lowering importance of proportion of independent directors in the boards of the companies. The variation in the extent of corporate disclosures over a longer period of time is not caused much due to board independence. However the role of board independence and its consistently positive association with voluntary financial and voluntary non-financial disclosures is an encouraging precursor for corporate firms and their varied stakeholders.

This paper discusses about the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the Nigerian financial institutions. Nigeria have been using domestic accounting standard (NGAAP) for banks and non-banks financial institutions known as Statement of Accounting Standards (SAS 10 Part 1 and SAS 15 Part 2) issued in 1990 and 1997 respectively for financial reporting. These domestic standards were adopted from International Accounting Standards (IAS 30) but have not been updated like IAS 30 as reported by the Report on Observance of Standard Codes (ROSC) of Nigeria in 2004 and 2011. The change in accounting regulations is as a result of the weaknesses of NGAAP and low disclosure requirements. IFRS reporting has more disclosures than NGAAP especially for financial institutions. Under NGAAP financial instruments have not been classified as in IFRS. For instance, financial instruments have been classified into four under IAS 39 as; (i) recognised fair value on gain or loss in profit or loss, (ii) are measured at amortised cost for investments held-to-maturity, (iii) measured at amortised cost for loans and receivables, (iv) measured at fair value gain or loss for available-for-sale financial assets recognised in other comprehensive income. Additionally, financial liabilities have been categories into two namely; (i) measured at amortised fair value on financial liabilities through profit or loss and, (ii) measured at amortised other liabilities. Now with the mandatory adoptions of reporting under IFRS by all listed financial institutions, will the accounting disclosures be more value relevant among Nigerian financial institutions?

Licensed producers (LPs) of marijuana in Canada are embedded in a highly competitive industry where they raise funds from investors to finance their growth. They face substantial risks from the uncertain legal status of marijuana and from its unsettled health and safety consequences. We argue that this context stands to have implications for the disclosures of firms in the marijuana industry. We rely on a multicase study of three large Canadian LPs to explore their mandatory and voluntary disclosures during the third quarter of 2018. We find that their mandatory interim disclosures are largely consistent with disclosure rules that target marijuana operations. We also find that they make voluntary disclosures relevant for their context (e.g., about risks from legal, health, and safety consequences), and that there is variation in these disclosures. We use our findings as a springboard for discussing the antecedents of mandatory and voluntary disclosures in the marijuana industry (i.e., proprietary costs, investor interest, detection costs of selective disclosures), and their consequence (i.e., lack of comparability). We offer suggestions for future research.

Disclosure is an accounting activity which holds great significance in the era of modern economic growth where the availability of capital is the major driving force. The economic information therefore should be available in the most efficient manner to aid well- informed decision making process. Therefore this paper intends to extend various aspects of corporate disclosure practices, mainly voluntary disclosures of selected Indian companies. The study found significant variation in total disclosures year-wise but not industry-wise. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure that though the extent of disclosures has improved and has become consistent post 2013 but the international reports reviewed in this study still expect more to be done.

Web based corporate reporting has received immense
attention from academicians over the past few decades.
However, there are very few studies that address
such an interesting issue in the context of developing
countries. In order to fill the vacuum, this study
explores the current status of web based reporting
practices of Bangladeshi listed companies. A content
analysis was conducted on the web sites of 98 companies
listed on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). The results
demonstrate that companies in Bangladesh, in general,
report on issues such as company overview, products
and services, investor relations, management and
human resources, corporate social responsibility, corporate
governance and financial aspects.

It is always believed that strong corporate governance is the key to create long-term value. Due to the unique nature of the corporations where the management and ownership are separated, participation of the stakeholders in the normal business operations is not possible. However, the corporate meetings (AGM/EGM) give an opportunity and responsibility to the shareholders to play an active role in creating a good corporate governance ecosystem. In the present day world the role of financial intermediation has increased and the investments into mutual funds have increased many fold. Even though the retail investor is the real contributor of capital, they would not participate in the corporate meetings of the investee company. In this backdrop, the stewardship of the institutional investors becomes critical and is under a scanner. The fiduciary responsibility of active fund managers has become a topic of research. Oversight of the fund proxy voting is focal point for governance related issues. The capital market regulators such as SEBII have prescribed stringent 'Disclosure' norms for MFs with respect to the 'Proxy Voting'. The present paper has strongly advocated the active role of MFs in the corporate governance issues of the investee company and also conducted content analysis of proxy voting annual disclosures of MFs.

An increasing body of research has paid particular attention to the role of different organizational actors in the consumption of popular management ideas, including their local diffusion, adaptation and enactment. However, with a few exceptions, these studies mostly focus on the organizational setting, thus neglecting the consumption of this kind of discourses in other environments. Drawing on narrative analysis, this study follows this line of research by examining the ways in which a category of transnational professionals perceive and represent the discourse of corporate 'global nomadism' as part of their everyday life. This paper contributes to management education by providing a critical approach to the ambiguous experiences involved in the 'nomadic' lifestyle that generally conflict with the idealised and glamourous views of corporate global mobility. In this way, a more rounded, critical and ultimately ethical type of management education for transnational mobility can be produced than currently is the case.

This paper discusses about the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the Nigerian financial institutions. Nigeria have been using domestic accounting standard (NGAAP) for banks and non-banks financial institutions known as Statement of Accounting Standards (SAS 10 Part 1 and SAS 15 Part 2) issued in 1990 and 1997 respectively for financial reporting. These domestic standards were adopted from International Accounting Standards (IAS 30) but have not been updated like IAS 30 as reported by the Report on Observance of Standard Codes (ROSC) of Nigeria in 2004 and 2011. The change in accounting regulations is as a result of the weaknesses of NGAAP and low disclosure requirements. IFRS reporting has more disclosures than NGAAP especially for financial institutions. Under NGAAP financial instruments have not been classified as in IFRS. For instance, financial instruments have been classified into four under IAS 39 as; (i) recognised fair value on gain or loss in profit or loss, (ii) are measured at amortised cost for investments held-to-maturity, (iii) measured at amortised cost for loans and receivables, (iv) measured at fair value gain or loss for available-for-sale financial assets recognised in other comprehensive income. Additionally, financial liabilities have been categories into two namely; (i) measured at amortised fair value on financial liabilities through profit or loss and, (ii) measured at amortised other liabilities. Now with the mandatory adoptions of reporting under IFRS by all listed financial institutions, will the accounting disclosures be more value relevant among Nigerian financial institutions?

The paper extends prior readability research through an examination of the readability levels in the letters to shareholders as published by constituent companies of BSE – 100 Index. Further, the study aims at finding the statistical significance of readability between the letters published by listed financial and non-financial firms. In total, 83 letters written by respective Chairpersons during FY 2019 were examined. Inspired by the extant literature, readability measurement formulae from computational linguistics named Fog Index was used to measure the readability of the letters. Readable.IO, an automated algorithm, has been used to get a score for Fog Index. The exiting body of literature on the readability of chairperson’s letters was mostly written in the context of developed financial markets. Very few studies of this nature have been conducted in emerging economies such as India. The present paper is expected to fill the research gap to a certain extent.
Keywords: Letter to shareholders, S&P BSE-100 Index, Readability, Fog Index, and Readable.IO.
JEL Classification: M41

Bangladesh has pursued persistent economic liberalization and reforms since 1991. The country experienced an investment-GDP ratio rising by more than 10 percent and an economic growth accelerating from less than 4 percent to 6.5 percent in this period. The country is set to become a middle-income country by 2021. This development is however seriously negated by two stock market crises in less than two decades. Both the crises accompanied large-scale redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich. This paper documents that control-ownership wedge is substantial in Bangladesh allowing controlling shareholders to exercise nearly full control over a firm’s operating and financial policies, including disclosure policies, while maintaining low cash flow rights relative to voting rights. The findings indicate that controlling for factors such as age, size, profitability and financial leverage, ownership concentration reduces corporate disclosure. The findings validate the hypothesis of La Porta et al. (1999) that an increasing ownership concentration leads corporate management to adopt a disclosure regime which is biased against external shareholders and creditors. The findings imply an information problem whereby insiders will likely expropriate outside shareholders in an environment where legal protection of the latter is weak.