The Relationship Between the Comprehensiveness of Corporate Annual Reports and Firm Characteristics in Spain

Abstract Not much information exists in the international accounting literature on Spanish accounting. Spain is selected as a subject of study because it is different from those countries that are subjects of the research concerned with investigating the multivariate impact of firm characteristics on disclosure in annual reports and accounts. The conceptual model underlying our empirical tests is based on economic and political incentives for providing greater detail in corporate annual reports and accounts. The paper provides evidence that the amount of detail in Spanish corporate annual reports and accounts is increasing in firm size and stock exchange listing, and decreasing in liquidity.

[1]  George Foster,et al.  Financial Statement Analysis. , 1980 .

[2]  Keith G. Stanga.  DISCLOSURE IN PUBLISHED ANNUAL REPORTS , 1976 .

[3]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values , 1980 .

[4]  J. Courtis,et al.  Relationships between Timeliness in Corporate Reporting and Corporate Attributes , 1976 .

[5]  T. E. Cook,et al.  AN ASSESSMENT OF VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE IN THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF JAPANESE CORPORATIONS , 1991 .

[6]  Thomas W. Jones,et al.  An Empirical Investigation of the Extent of Corporate Financial Disclosure in the Oil and Gas Industry , 1993 .

[7]  M. C. Jensen,et al.  Harvard Business School; SSRN; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Harvard University - Accounting & Control Unit , 1976 .

[8]  M. Firth.  The Impact of Size, Stock Market Listing, and Auditors on Voluntary Disclosure in Corporate Annual Reports , 1979 .

[9]  Terence Cooke.  DISCLOSURE IN JAPANESE CORPORATE ANNUAL REPORTS , 1993 .

[10]  Terence Cooke.  Voluntary Corporate Disclosure by Swedish Companies , 1989 .

[11]  Frederick D. S. Choi.  Financial Disclosure and Entry to the European Capital Market , 1973 .

[12]  Nicholas J. Gonedes.  Corporate Signaling, External Accounting, And Capital-Market Equilibrium - Evidence On Dividends, Income, And Extraordinary Items , 1978 .

[13]  Jerold L. Zimmerman,et al.  Voluntary Corporate Disclosure: The Case of Interim Reporting , 1981 .

[14]  Alan R. Cerf,et al.  Corporate reporting and investment decisions , 1961 .

[15]  Michael Firth,et al.  Raising Finance and Firms' Corporate Reporting Policies , 1980 .

[16]  S. Myers.  Determinants of corporate borrowing , 1977 .

[17]  C. Firer,et al.  Information disclosure in annual reports in South Africa , 1986 .

[18]  G. Whittred,et al.  The Timeliness Of The Australian Annual-Report - 1972-1977 , 1980 .

[19]  Kenneth R. Austin,et al.  Disclosure Quality In Governmental Financial Reports - An Assessment Of The Appropriateness Of A Compound Measure , 1986 .

[20]  Russell J. Lundholm,et al.  CROSS- SECTIONAL DETERMINANTS OF ANALYST RATINGS OF CORPORATE DISCLOSURES , 1993 .

[21]  M. E. Barrett.  FINANCIAL-REPORTING PRACTICES - DISCLOSURE AND COMPREHENSIVENESS IN AN INTERNATIONAL SETTING , 1976 .

[22]  E. Imhoff.  The relation between perceived accounting quality and economic characteristics of the firm , 1992 .

[23]  Robert L. Hagerman,et al.  An income strategy approach to the positive theory of accounting standard setting/choice , 1981 .

[24]  Federation des Experts Comptables Europeens.  FEE analysis of European accounting and disclosure practices, 1992 , 1992 .

[25]  George A. Akerlof.  The Market for “Lemons”: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism , 1970 .

[26]  G. Judge,et al.  The Theory and Practice of Econometrics (2nd ed.). , 1986 .

[27]  K. Schipper.  Discussion of Voluntary Corporate Disclosure: The Case of Interim Reporting , 1981 .

[28]  C. Cheung.  Performance of Value Line's Recommendations: The Canadian Case , 1990 .

[29]  Stephen L. Buzby.  COMPANY SIZE, LISTED VERSUS UNLISTED STOCKS, AND EXTENT OF FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE , 1975 .

[30]  S. Gray.  Towards a Theory of Cultural Influence on the Development of Accounting Systems Internationally , 1988 .

[31]  Terence Cooke,et al.  The Impact of Size, Stock Market Listing and Industry Type on Disclosure in the Annual Reports of Japanese Listed Corporations , 1992 .

[32]  G. McNally,et al.  Corporate Financial Reporting in New Zealand: An Analysis of User Preferences, Corporate Characteristics and Disclosure Practices for Discretionary Information , 1982 .

[33]  Robert L. Mason,et al.  Regression Analysis and Its Application: A Data-Oriented Approach. , 1982 .

[34]  Lynn Lyons Morris,et al.  How to analyze data , 1987 .

[35]  Terence Cooke,et al.  Disclosure in the Corporate Annual Reports of Swedish Companies , 1989 .

[36]  J. Neter,et al.  Applied Linear Regression Models , 1983 .

[37]  D. Dhaliwal.  Improving the Quality of Corporate Financial Disclosure , 1980 .

[38]  Leslie Lawrence Spero,et al.  The extent and causes of voluntary disclosure of financial information in three European capital markets : an exploratory study , 1979 .