corporate environmental disclosure in developing countries: evidence from bangladesh

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HUSSAINMUHAMMADARIF,MEHEDIHASANTUHIN

TheaimofthispaperistomeasuretheextentofdisclosureofvoluntarynonfinancialinformationintheannualreportsoflistedbanksinBangladesh.Anefforthasalsobeenmadeto identify the company specific factors responsiblefordisclosingvoluntarynonfinancialinformationinadditiontomandatoryinformation.Anunweighteddisclosureindexwith 48 items has been used to measure the extent ofdisclosure.Thestudyrevealsthatmostofthelistedbanksof Bangladesh aremaking satisfactory level of voluntarydisclosurewithaveragescoreofabout62%.Thefindingsalsoshowthatoutofthreecompanyspecificattributes,ageandsizearesignificantinexplainingthelevelofvoluntarydisclosure.

M41 ANNUAL REPORT MANDATORY INFORMATION VOLUNTARYDISCLOSURE NONFINANCIALINFORMATION

Intodayscorporateworldaccountabilityandtransparencyhave been gaining greater importance due to financialscandals all over the world. Adequate disclosure isnecessary to meet the information needs of variousstakeholders.Effectivecommunicationsthroughdisclosureinannual reportsensure transparencyandaccountabilityand thushelpvarious interestgroups in rationaldecisionmaking.Adequatedisclosureofinformationisalsocrucialtoefficientallocationofscarceresourcesinbothdeveloped(Cooke,1989a)anddevelopingcountries(Enthoven,1973).

This studywillmake several contributions to theexistingempiricalevidenceoncorporatedisclosuresinBangladesh.Understanding why listed banks voluntarily discloseinformationispotentiallyusefulfortheinformationpreparers,users of such information and policymaking bodiesinBangladesh.Astheinformationpreparers, listedbankswillgainknowledgeontowhatextent,what typeandtheamountof informationshouldbedisclosed inorder tobesuccessfulincompetingforfundsontheBangladeshstockmarket. Knowledge of the influential factors on voluntarydisclosurewillhelpuserssuchasinvestorsandcreditorstoformreasonableexpectationsaboutthetypeandamountof information provided. Understanding why listed banksvoluntarilydiscloseinformationwillenablethepolicymakersinBangladeshtofulfillthedeficienciesinreportingandtoimprovetheregulatorydisclosureenvironment.

Theremainderofthispaperisorganizedasfollows.Sectiontwo reports corporate disclosure environmentin Bangladesh. Section three outlines the researchquestionsandSectionfouroutlinestheresearchobjectivesofthestudy.Literaturereviewandhypothesesdevelopmentarediscussedinsectionfiveandsixrespectively.Sectionseven describes research method. Section eight reportsmajorfindings.Sectionnineoutlineslimitationsofthestudyandsectiontenmakesconcludingremarks.

The financial reportinganddisclosureof listedbanksaremainly regulated by the Companies Act 1994, Banking

SylhetInternationalUniversity,Sylhet,Bangladesh

CompaniesAct1991,SecuritiesandExchangeOrdinance1969,SecuritiesandExchangeRules1987,IASs/BASsandIFRSs/BFRSs, ListingRegulations of DSE andCSE etc.Inaddition,toensuremoretransparencyanddisclosureofimportant accounting policies of banks and financialinstitutions,BangladeshBankissuescircularsformandatorydisclosureofinformation.Further,SecuritiesandExchangeCommissionissuesnotificationsandguidelinesondifferentissuestoincreasetoincreasethelevelofdisclosureoflistedbanks. For example, SEC issued corporate governanceguidelineinFebruary2006.

The process of regulation of Banking CompaniesinBangladeshisverymuchcomplex(SobhanandWerner,2003). A number of regulatory authorities are entitled toimposeandregulatedisclosurerequirementsofthelistedcompaniesintheirannualreports.Themajorregulatorsoflisted Banking Companies in Bangladesh for disclosureissues are The Registrar of Joint Stock CompaniesandFirms(RJSC),SecuritiesandExchangeCommission(SEC), Bangladesh Bank (BB), Dhaka Stock Exchange(DSE)andChittagongStockExchange(CSE)(Mohabbat,2011).

TheRegistrarofJointStockCompaniesandFirms(RJSC)dealswith the private company, public company, foreigncompany, trade organizations, societies and partnershipfirms. It facilitates formation of company and dealswith ownership related issues, registration and lawfuladministration of the entities under the provisions ofapplicableActmainlytheCompaniesAct1994.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wasestablished on 8th June, 1993 under the Securitiesand Exchange Commission Act 1993 as a statutorybody and attached to theMinistry of Finance. Securitiesand Exchange Commission has overall responsibilityto formulate and administer securities legislation(SEC,2012).Allof the listedcompaniesaretofollowtheguidelines and instructions of Securities and ExchangeCommission.

Bangladesh Bank was established on 1972under Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972 as a central bankand regulator of the financial system in Bangladesh.The main function of Bangladesh Bank is to formulateand implement monetary policy. It also monitorsand supervises scheduled banks and nonbank financialinstitutions in order to enhance the safety, soundnessand stability of the banking system to ensure bankingdiscipline(BangladeshBank,2012).BangladeshbankalsomonitorscomplianceoftheBankingcompaniesAct,1991bybankingcompanies.

DhakaStockExchange(DSE),aregisteredpublic limitedcompany, was incorporated in 1954 but started formaltrading in1956.Themain functionsofDSEare listingofcompaniesandmonitoringtheactivitiesoflistedcompany(DSE, 2012). DSE may impose some disclosurerequirements as a part of listing requirement.ChittagongStockExchange (CSE)wasestablishedon10thOctober,1995tomonitortheactivitiesoflistedcompanyunderCSE.LikeDSE,itmayimposedisclosurerequirements.

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There are two professional accountancy bodiesin Bangladesh Institute of Chartered Accountant ofBangladesh(ICAB)andInstituteofCostandManagementAccountantofBangladesh(ICMAB).ICABwasestablishedundertheBangladeshCharteredAccountantsOrder1973as the National Professional Accounting Body ofBangladesh.ItsmainfunctionistoregulatetheAccountingProfessionandmattersconnectedtherewithinthecountry(ICAB,2012).Themembersof ICABattest thevalidityofaccountsandreporttoshareholderswhetheracompanysfinancial statements comply with necessary statutoryprovisions (Nicholls and Ahmed, 1995). ICAB becamethe member of the International Accounting StandardCommittee (IASC) in 1983 and adapted 28 InternationalAccountingStandards(IASs)and8InternationalFinancialRegulation Standards as national Accounting Standardknown as Bangladesh Accounting standards (BASs)andBangladeshFinancialRegulationStandards(BFRSs)respectively through their Technical and ResearchCommittee till now and several IASs are in process ofadaption. On the other hand, ICMAB offers professionalqualification in cost and management accountancywithafocusonaccountingforbusiness(ICMAB,2012).

1. To what extent do Bangladeshi listed banks disclosevoluntary nonfinancial information in their annualreports?

2. WhatarethesignificantfirmspecificfactorsresponsiblefordisclosingvoluntarynonfinancialinformationintheannualreportsofBangladeshilistedbanks?

1. Tomeasure theextentof voluntarydisclosures in thecorporateannualreportsoflistedbanksinBangladesh.

2. To assess the association between total voluntarydisclosure and corporate characteristics in the listedbanksofBangladesh.

Extensiveresearchhasbeencarriedoutinthedevelopedand developing countries to measure the corporatedisclosure in both financial and nonfinancial companies.(See for example, Cerf, 1961; Singhvi and Desai, 1971;Buzby, 1974; Kahl and Belkaoui, 1981; Wallace, 1987;Cooke, 1989a, 1989b, 1991, 1992, 1993; Malone et al.,1993; Hossain et al., 1994; Ahmed and Nicholls, 1994;WallaceandNaser,1995;Inchausti,1997;CraigandDiga,1998;Hossain,2000;Hossain,2001;HaniffaandCooke,2002;Akhtaruddin,2005).

KahlandBelkaoui(1981)examinedtheextentofdisclosureby 70 banks located in 18 different countries. The studyshowedthattheextentofdisclosurevarysignificantlyamongthecountries.Sizehasbeenfoundpositivelyrelatedwiththelevelofdisclosure.

Hossain(2001)investigatedtheextentofdisclosure(Bothmandatoryandvoluntary)in25banksinBangladeshwithadisclosureindexconsistedof61items.Theresultsshowedthat size and profitability were statistically significant butaudit firm variable was insignificant in explaining thevariationsinthelevelofdisclosure.

Chipalkatti (2002) examined the nature and quality ofdisclosuresintheannualreportof17IndianbanksthroughaBankTransparencyScore(BTS)consistingof90itemsofinformation.

Thefindingsindicatedthatsizeofbankandleveragehadsignificanteffectonthedisclosurelevel.Noassociationhadwww.journals.cz/

DISCLOSUREOFNONFINANCIALINFORMATIONVOLUNTARILYINTHEANNUALREPORTOFFINANCIALINSTITUTIONS:ASTUDYONLISTEDBANKSOFBANGLADESH

beenfoundbetweenthelevelofdisclosureandotherfactorssuchasprofitabilityandownershipstructure.

Hossain and Reaz (2007) analyzed voluntary disclosurepracticesinthecorporateannualreportsof38listedbankingcompanies in India. The researchers also testedtheassociationbetweencorporateattributesandthelevelofvoluntarydisclosureofthesamplebanks.Theirresultsrevealed that sample listed banks were disclosingasatisfactoryamountof voluntary informationandoutofcorporate attributes only size and assetsinplace weresignificant factors in explaining the level of voluntarydisclosure.

DasandDas(2008)triedtofindouttheextentofvoluntarydisclosure by the financial institutions in Bangladesh byexaminingannualreportsof37bankingand7nonbankingfinancial institutions. He replicated the disclosure indexconstructedbyHossainnadReaz(2007),whichconsistedof 65 itemsunder 9 categories. The results showed thatvoluntary disclosure varied widely within the samplecompanies.Thecompanieswerefocusingmoreongeneralcorporate information, corporate strategy and accountingpolicyandlittlefocuswasplacedonfinancialperformance,corporate social disclosure and corporate governance.The authors concluded that sample companieswere notverymuch aware and interested about the disclosure ofvoluntaryinformationintheirannualreports.

Based on the results of prior empirical researchin the context of developing country anddata availabilitythreehypothesesweredevelopedforthisstudy.

Agehasbeenidentifiedasasignificantexplanatoryfactoramong disclosure studies (Akhtaruddin, 2005).Generallyit seems that longestablished banks can disclose moreinformation than newlyestablished banks as they enjoyssomeadvantagessuchasadequatecapital,brandname,reputationetc.(Kakaniet.al.,2001).OwusuAnsah(1998,p.605) has pointed out three factors thatmay justify thisphenomenon. Firstly, younger companies may suffercompetition,secondly,thecostofgathering,processinganddisseminatingtherequiredinformationandfinallyyoungercompaniesmaylackatrackrecordonwhichtorelyforpublicdisclosure. Thus the following hypothesis has beenformulated

H1: Longestablished banks disclose more informationvoluntarilythannewlyestablishedbanks.

Sizeofthebankisanotherimportantexplanatoryvariableinrelationtotheextentofdisclosure.Mostresearchershavefoundapositiverelationshipbetweensizeandtheextentofdisclosure.Disclosureincreasedwithorganizationsizehasbeenexplainedbylargefirmsdiversenetworkofexchanges(Singhvi and Desai, 1971), motivation to reduce politicalcosts (Watts and Zimmerman,1986) and agency costs(Jensen and Meekling,1976). Because of greaterinformationdemandfrompublic,largefirmsaremorelikelyto disclose more information to the market. Thus,thefollowinghypothesishasbeenformulated

H2:Largesizedbanksdisclosemoreinformationvoluntarilythansmallsizedbanks.

Signalingtheoryofdisclosurepredictsthatprofitablefirmswill disclose more information voluntarily to signal theirstrongfinancialpositiontoattractinvestors(Watsonetal.,

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2002).Ontheotherhandsomeresearcherssuggeststhatless profitable firms may disclose more informationvoluntarilytoexplainthereasonsfornegativeperformance,to reassure themarket about future growth and to avoidseveredevaluationofsharecapitalandlossofreputationin the stock market (Skinner, 1994). However, mostresearchers have found a positive relationship betweenprofitabilityandthelevelofdisclosure(Forexample,Cerf,1961;BelkaouiandKhal,1981;WallaceandNaser,1995;Hossain,2000&2001).Thus,thefollowinghypothesishasbeenformulated

H3:Profitablebanksdisclosemoreinformationvoluntarilythanbankswithlowerornegativeprofit.

Out of financial institutions, the study concentrates onlyon the listed banking companies in Bangladesh.OnDecember31,2012 thereare30bankingcompanieslistedonDhakaStockExchange (DSE).Twenty bankingcompanies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange arerandomly selected and considered to be includedinthesample.Annualreportsfortheyear2011havebeenusedforthestudy.

Generallyweighted andunweighted disclosure index areused to measure disclosure level in disclosure studies.Theweightedapproach(AdoptedbyBarrett,1977;Marston,1986)providedifferentweights(Abovezerobutlessthanone ) to items of disclosed information according toimportancegivenby theresearcher.Zeroweight isgivenfornondisclosureofanyinformationitem.

ResearcherssuchasWallaceetal. (1994),Cooke(1991&1992),Karim(1995),Hossainetal.(1994),AhmedandNicholls (1994) and Hossain (2000 & 2001) usedunweighted approach in their studies. In unweightedapproach the key fact is whether a company disclosesanitemofinformationornot.Ifacompanydisclosesanitemofinformationinitsannualreport,then1willbeawardedandiftheitemisnotdisclosed,then0willbeawarded.Thisconvenient procedure is also termed as dichotomousprocedure.

Aspriorexperiencesuggests that theuseofunweightedandweighteddisclosureindexfordisclosureintheannualreports can make little or no difference to the findings(Coombs&Tayib,1998).Wehavechosentheunweighteddisclosure index method where all items of informationintheindexareconsideredequallyimportanttotheaverageuser.Thefollowingformulahasbeenusedtomeasurethe

totalvoluntarydisclosurescore:

Where,d=1iftheitemdiisdisclosed

0iftheitemdiisnotdisclosed

n=numberofitems

Theselectionofvoluntaryitemsisasubjectivejudgment.Moreover,suchselectiondependsonthenatureandcontextoftheindustryandthecountry(e.g.whatindustrialsectororsectorsisbeingconsideredandwhetherthecompaniesare in a developing or developed country). The level ofvoluntarydisclosureofthesamplefirmsinthisstudywas

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measured using a disclosure index that was developedin consideration with the disclosure checklist used byAkhtaruddin,(2009),HossainandReaz(2007)andDasandDas(2008).Table1presentscategoriesofvoluntaryitemsinthedisclosureindex.

A total of 48 items under nine Categories of voluntaryinformationare identifiedas relevantandexpected tobedisclosed in the annual reports of Bangladesh Bankingcompanies.ThetotallistofthevoluntaryitemsispresentedintheAppendixA.

The following Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regressionmodel isdeveloped inorder toassess theeffectofeachindependent variable on the dependent variable,thevoluntarydisclosurelevel:

Y=0+1X1+2X2+3X3+e

Where,Y=TotalVoluntarydisclosurescoreforeachbank

0=Theintercept

e=Residualerror

Table2reportstheproxiesusedforindependentvariablesandthepredicteddirectionoftherelationwiththeextentofvoluntarydisclosureforeachhypothesis.

This section aims to answer the first research questionrelatedto theextentofvoluntarydisclosure in theannualreports of listed banks. Table 3 reports the descriptivestatisticsofthetotalvoluntarydisclosurescores.ThepanelA inthetable3 indicatesthat themeanof totalvoluntarydisclosurescore isabout61.70%.Thisaveragesuggestsamoderatelevelofvoluntarydisclosurewhichisconsistentwith other studies in Bangladesh (For example, DasandDas, 2008). The table also shows that the extent ofvoluntarydisclosurehasawiderange.Whiletheminimumdisclosurescoreobtainedis46%,themaximumis72%.

Table1:CategoriesofVoluntaryItemsintheDisclosureIndexCategoriesofdisclosure No.ofitemsBackgroundabouttheBank 7CorporateStrategicInformation 5CorporateGovernanceInformation 6RiskManagement 5AccountingPolicyreview 2EmployeeInformation 7KeyStatistics 6CorporateSocialDisclosure 5Others 5Source:Authors

Table2:ProxiesandPredictedSignsforIndependentVariablesIndependentVariables

Predictedsigns

Proxies

Age + No.ofyearssincefoundationSize + NaturalLogoftotalassetsProfitability + ROE=Netprofit/ShareholdersequitySource:Authors

Table 3, Panel A: Descriptive Statistics of Total VoluntaryDisclosure(DependentVariable)Year N Mean Minimum Maximum S.D.2011 20 61.70 46 72 7.005Source:Authors

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To shedmore lights on the voluntary disclosure practiceintheannualreportsofthelistedbanks,PanelBinthetable3 reports the frequencies of total voluntary disclosurescores.In2011,onebank(5.00%)disclosedlessthan50%itemsofthedisclosurechecklist.80%ofthesamplebanksattained voluntary disclosure score ranging from 50% to70% of the checklist. Three banks disclosed over 70%voluntaryitemsbutnobankdisclosedmorethan80%ofthevoluntarychecklist.

Thissectionaimstoanswerthesecondresearchquestionrelatedtothedeterminantsofvoluntarydisclosurepracticeintheannualreportsoflistedbanks.

Table4showsthedescriptivestatisticsfortheindependentvariables in the current study, as indicated in the table,the three corporate characteristics, namely, age, sizeandprofitabilityhavewideranges.Sizerangeswidelyfrom18015 million BD Taka to 389192 million BD Taka.Themeanageisabout19.20yearswithminimum10yearsand maximum 29 years. Also profitability ranges from23.63%to29.96%withaverage14.02%.

Wehaveused theVariance InflationFactor (VIF) to testthe multicollinearity in the regression model. The VIFin excess of 10 should be considered an indication ofharmfulmulticollinearity(Neteretal.,1989).TheVarianceInflationFactorsforallindependentvariablesarelessthan10. Thus, this confirms that collinearity is not a problemfor thismodel and is unlikely to pose a serious problemintheinterpretationoftheresultsofthemultipleregressionanalysis.

Partialregressionplotsdonotexhibitanynonlinearpatternforeachoftheindependentvariable,thusensuringthateachindependentvariablesrelationshipislinear.Theassumptionof the linearity foreach independentvariable is thusmet.FromthePPPlotandthehistogram, itcanbeseenthattheplotsfallonastraightlinewithnosubstantialdeparturesand the histogram is bell shaped.So it can be said thattheassumptiononnormalityintheerrortermismet.Fromthescatterplots,itcanbeconcludedthattheassumptiononconstantvariance ismet,as theplotson thediagramdoesnotshowanyparticularpatternofincreasingresiduals.

The results of the multiple regression analysis ofthe association between the corporate characteristicsandtheextentofvoluntarydisclosureintheannualreportswww.journals.cz/


of a sample of listed banks are documented in Table 5andthefollowingsection.

The result shows that the Fratio is 3.620 (P=.036),whichstatistically supports the significanceof themodel.R Square of .404, which is a respectable resultin the disclosure studies, implies that 40 percentage ofthe variation in the level of voluntary disclosure can beexplainedbyhevariationsinthewholesetofindependentvariables.

Banksizecoefficientshowsthatthisvariableissignificantlypositively related to the voluntary disclosure leveland therefore, hypothesis related with size is supported.This implies that size does explain the variation ofvoluntary disclosure level among the listed banks. Thisresult is consistent with previous studies as mostof the previous researchers found significant positiveassociationbetweencompanysizeand levelofvoluntarydisclosure (for example, Hossain et al. (1994), WallaceandNaser(1995),HaniffaandCooke(2002)andHossainandReaz(2007).

The regression result for age shows that this variable issignificantlynegatively related to thevoluntarydisclosurelevel, there by suggesting that newbanks disclosemorevoluntary information than old ones. The result is thusinconsistentwithotherpreviousstudiessuchasAkhteruddin(2005),HaniffaandCooke(2002)andHossain(2008)asthey found age as insignificant variable in explaining thelevelofdisclosure.

Bankprofitabilitycoefficientshowsthatthisvariableisnotsignificantandtherefore,hypothesisrelatedwithprofitabilityis not supported. This implies that profitability does notexplain the variation of voluntary disclosure level amongthelistedbanks.TheresultisthusinconsistentwithotherpreviousstudiessuchasSinghviandDesai(1971)OwusuAnsah (1998), Naser (1998) and Hossain and Reaz(2007).

Table3,PanelB:FrequencyofTotalvoluntaryDisclosureScoreTotalVoluntaryDisclosureScore(%)

NumberofBanks

ProportionofSample(Percent)

80 0 0.00Total 20 1.00Source:Authors

Table4:DescriptiveStatisticsforIndependentVariablesVariable Mean Minimum Maximum S.D.Age 19.20 10 29 7.599Size 121138.52 18015.16 389192.12 78819.42Profitability 14.2 23.63 29.96 10.52872Source:Authors

Table5:MultipleregressionanalysisresultsModelSummaryModel R RSquare AdjustedR

SquareStd.ErroroftheEstimate

1 .636a .404 .293 5.891

a.Predictors:(Constant),Profitability,Age,Size

ANNOVAb

Model SumofSquares

df MeanSquare

F Sig.

1 Regression 376.909 3 125.636 3.620 .036aResidual 555.291 16 34.706Total 932.200 19

a.Predictors:(Constant),Profitability,Age,Sizeb.DependentVariable:VoluntaryDisclosure

Coefficientsa

Model UnstandardizedCoefficients

StandardizedCoefficients

t Sig. CollinearityStatistics

B Std.Error

Beta Tolerance VIF

1 (Constant) 65.392 4.105 15.929 .000

Age .533 .199 .578 2.675 .017 .797 1.255

Size 5.090E5 .000 .573 2.489 .024 .703 1.423

Profitability .027 .139 .040 .192 .850 .851 1.176

a.DependentVariable:VoluntaryDisclosure

Source:Authors

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Oneofthelimitationsofthepresentstudyisthatitcoversonlyasingleyear,asinglecountryandonespecificsector.Thefindingswouldbemoregeneralizedifthestudywouldundertake fiveor tenyearsdataandalsoconsiderotherfinancial institutionssuchas insurance,non thebankingfinancial organizations etc. Another limitation is thatthefocusofdisclosurehasbeenlimitedwithannualreportsonly.Othersourcesofvoluntarydisclosuresuchasinterimreports,pressreleasesetc.arenotconsidered.

In order to improve disclosure quality and transparency,which is imperative tobuildup investors anddepositorsconfidence,banksofanycountryneedtodiscloseadditionalinformationvoluntarilyinadditiontomandatorydisclosurerequirements. The current study shows that voluntaryinformation has been disclosed in the annual reports ofthelistedbankstoanacceptablelevel.

The study has considered three corporate attributesinassessingtheireffectontheextentofvoluntarydisclosureandreachestheconclusionthatbothageandprofitabilityare significant while size is insignificant in explainingthevariationsinvoluntarydisclosurelevel.

Thestudyhasgivenan ideaat leastofhow thebankingsector of Bangladesh specially listed banks is disclosingvoluntaryinformationintheirannualreports.Thescopeofthe study can be expanded by including unlisted banks,nonbank financial institutions, manufacturing companiesetc.. The study has considered only three corporateattributes (Size, age and profitability) in measuring theireffectonthelevelofdisclosure.Othercorporateattributessuchasboardcomposition,liquidity,complexityofbusinesscanbeinvestigatedasdeterminantsofvoluntarydisclosure.

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corporate environmental disclosure in developing countries: evidence from bangladesh

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