Corporate Mandatory and Voluntary Disclosure Practices in Bangladesh: Evidence from listed companies of Dhaka Stock Exchange

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent and level of mandatory and voluntary disclosure practice of companies in Bangladesh. The paper has been conducted on the sample of 54 listed companies in Bangladesh for a data period of 2010 to 2013. This paper also reports the results of the association between company specific characteristics and mandatory as well as voluntary disclosure of the sample companies. Findings indicate on an average 71% of the companies analyzed disclose above-average number of additional information. The explanatory analyses has shown that firm size in terms of total asset and status of the company significantly and positively affect the level and extent of voluntary disclosure in the annual report of Bangladeshi companies. In case of mandatory disclosure level results point out that companies in general have not reacted adequately to the mandatory disclosure requirements of the regulatory bodies. The study reveals that disclosure compliance is poor among listed companies. They disclosed an average of 50.62% of the items selected during the study period of 2010 to 2013. The minimum score found in the study is 20.89% and the maximum is 77.08%. Using panel data regression analysis this study has found that company age and the status of the company (industry type) have appeared to be significant factors for mandatory disclosure. On the other hand company size in terms of total asset and sales, and company profitability was also found to have no effect on mandatory disclosure.

Keywords: Mandatory disclosure, Voluntary disclosure, Disclosure index, Bangladeshi companies, Corporate Governance.