DISCLOSURE QUALITY DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES

Abstract

This study consists of three main projects covering (i) the relationship between disclosure quality and earnings management and (ii) the relationship between corporate governance and disclosure quality. Disclosure quality is measures using the IR Magazine Award, the forward looking information in the annual report, and the analyst forecast accuracy. Match-paired samples comprised of the winners and non-winners of the IR Magazine Award during the years from 2005-2008 were employed in this study. Simultaneity bias in all projects was remedied by the use of a simultaneous system of equation, which was estimated using two-stage least square regression (2SLS).

This study provides several interesting findings. With regard to the first project, disclosure quality and earnings management, it is shown that all disclosure quality proxies are consistently reported significant negative relationship with earnings management in the OLS regression. However, audit committee characteristics and board characteristics reveal insignificant relationship with earnings management, except audit committee meeting which reported positive association. Concerning the potential complementary and substitutive effect of internal governance and disclosure quality in deterring earnings management, result of the interaction terms revealed that there is a complementary relationship between audit committee quality and disclosure quality (measured using Investor Relation Magazine Award) in deterring earnings management. When disclosure quality and earnings management are treated as endogenous, this study reveals that there is a significant bi-directional relationship between disclosure quality and earnings management, highlighting that causality can run in both directions. This suggests that future research should control for disclosure quality factors when examining the impact of corporate governance and earnings management and that the potential simultaneity between disclosure quality and earnings management should be considered in future models.

With respect to the second project, corporate governance and disclosure quality, this study reveals that audit committee effectiveness, board meeting and board independent are significantly positively related to disclosure quality (measured using IR Magazine Award and the number of forward looking items in the annual report). With regard to the potential complementary or substitutive effect between board and audit committee characteristics in improving firm disclosure quality, this study reveal that there is a substitutive effect between board quality and audit quality in enhancing disclosure quality (measured using analyst forecast accuracy). If disclosure quality and board independence are treated as endogenous, there is a significant positive bi-directional relationship between them when disclosure quality is measured using the number of forward looking items. However, there is a negative bi-directional relationship and an insignificant bi-directional relationship shown when disclosure quality is measured using analyst forecast accuracy and the IR Magazine Award respectively.