Howard Davey

Corporate social reporting in Thailand: The news is all good and increasing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent and nature of the corporate social reporting (CSR) practices of the 40 largest Thai companies over the years 1997, 1999 and 2001. Design/methodology/approach – The extent and nature of CSR in annual reports was measured according to the number of words disclosed and trends were analyzed over this five-year period. CSR disclosure was classified according to five key themes, the nature of the evidence, and the type of news disclosed. Findings – The research showed, in aggregate, a trend of increasing amounts of corporate social disclosure, although the five-year trends varied within different industries. CSR among Thai companies was found to be primarily focused on human resources, providing “declarative” good news disclosures. Legitimacy theory, political economy theory and economic conditions were used to present explanations for the trends. The study concluded that while no single perspective can explain the disclosure of CSR, the empirical findings demonstrate that the key areas of company social exposure are reflected by CSR. Originality/value – This paper makes an important contribution to the knowledge of CSR in Asia and demonstrates similar issues in CSR reporting to those found in other countries.

The information gap in annual reports

Following radical restructuring of the electricity industry in New Zealand since 1987, the government adopted a “light‐handed” regulatory regime that used market‐based methods involving competition and transparent accountability. This accountability is in part discharged through the provision of information in the corporate annual report. To assess the quality of that communication, a disclosure index was developed and applied to the annual reports of the 33 electricity retail and distribution companies which comprise the entire industry in New Zealand. The index was developed using the ideas and opinions of 15 experts representing broad stakeholder groups. This paper compares the resulting scores for the extent and quality of each index item with the level of importance of those items as stated by the panel. Many items are not adequately disclosed, resulting in an information gap between stakeholders’ expectations and the disclosures provided by the electricity companies. This paper identifies the items and the detail about them needed to close that gap.

Towards a comprehensive theoretical framework for voluntary IC disclosure

Purpose – This paper aims to construct a comprehensive theoretical framework for interpreting voluntary IC disclosure practices by organizations.Design/methodology/approach – Four most‐commonly used theories in the area, namely agency theory, stakeholder theory, signalling theory, and legitimacy theory, were integrated in terms of the interrelated concepts relating to voluntary IC disclosure.Findings – The constructed theoretical framework includes three concepts: to reduce information asymmetry; to discharge accountability to various stakeholders; and to signal organizational legitimacy and excellence (or superior quality) to society, which are seen as motivations for organizations to disclose their IC on a voluntary basis.Research limitations/implications – The framework ignores some other theoretical perspectives which are also relevant to voluntary IC disclosure; the framework is not justified by any empirical evidence.Originality/value – This research is the first attempt to construct a comprehensive...

Intellectual capital disclosure in Chinese (mainland) companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report research on the extent and quality of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure of Chinese (mainland) companies that have dual listed A and H shares.Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive IC disclosure index was constructed in the study to code, using content analysis methods, the annual reports of 49 dual‐listed companies in mainland China.Findings – Consistent with previous research, the current level of IC disclosure by mainland Chinese companies is not high. Most of the reported IC attributes are expressed in discursive rather than numerical or monetary terms. However, the average number of items disclosed is high enough to suggest that there is a clear awareness of the significance of IC disclosure. While the disclosure quality is not considered strong, it does suggest that the companies have a modest commitment in communicating their IC information to an external audience.Research limitations/implications – The research only examines the dual listed...

Accounting for intellectual capital: Evidence from listed English football clubs

In recent years there has been increasing focus on the importance of intellectual capital disclosure. The major resources of the football industry are human ‐ the players (as well as coaches and management) and supporters, yet the traditional accounting framework is largely ineffective in capturing these ‘hidden’ values. This paper reviews research on the quality and extent to which 19 listed professional English football clubs are reporting intellectual capital in their annual reports for the 2002 period. A disclosure index was developed and applied, giving scores for categories of disclosure and for the football clubs. The research findings suggest that components of intellectual capital were poorly reported by listed professional football clubs. External capital reporting was the highest scoring category, followed by human capital. However internal capital reporting scored the lowest. The research findings indicated a positive significant correlation between the size of clubs, club performance and thei...

Intellectual capital disclosure and the fashion industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and extent of intellectual and marketing capital disclosure among fashion companies, specifically to compare intellectual capital (IC) disclosure between European and North American fashion companies as well as between fashion industry sectors.Design/methodology/approach – A coding framework proposed by Guthrie and Petty and adapted by Shareef and Davey was further developed for the fashion context and the top 15 European companies and the top 15 North American companies with accessible 2005 annual reports were analysed.Findings – The voluntary annual report disclosures confirmed brands as highly valuable capital assets, central to competitiveness and differentiation in this industry. Fashion firm disclosures also reflected organisational change processes and philosophies in several cases. However it is concluded that fashion companies do not value the role of the consumer in the brand value dynamic, customer satisfaction, nor customer loyalty a...

Chinese and English language versions: intellectual capital disclosure

Purpose – The paper of this paper is to assess the extent and quality of IC disclosure in the Chinese and English language versions of the annual reports of 50 Chinese companies which are dual listed in both Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong stock markets. Design/methodology/approach – An IC disclosure index is constructed. Content analysis is used to code the 100 annual reports in accordance to a five-point scale. Findings – The Chinese version annual reports disclose more internal capital than the English versions, yet the English versions showed greater external capital. There was found to be a strong relationship between type of industries, the size of companies and the level of IC disclosure. Research limitations/implications – The paper only examines one years annual reports of the top 50 Chinese companies by market capitalisation. Practical implications – It is hoped that by highlighting the IC disclosure of companies in China this will raise the level of debate around this issue and will lead to gre...

Voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of Fijian companies

This paper investigates voluntary disclosure of information by listed companies in Fiji. The paper aims to extend the literature on voluntary disclosure of information in a developing country context. The empirical data was gathered from the years 1999 onwards to give a longitudinal account of voluntary disclosure. The paper is informed by legitimacy theory. Data were gathered from the annual reports of 15 companies listed on the South Pacific Stock Exchange in Fiji. We find that the levels of voluntary disclosure in Fijian listed companies are low and do not support the assumptions of legitimacy theory. The outright adoption of International Accounting Standards by Fijian public limited companies does not engender in adequate disclosure of information on a voluntary basis. This paper extends the disclosure practice literature in developing countries by examining the voluntary practice by listed Fiji companies. It adds to our understanding of voluntary disclosure and therefore represents addition to, and extension of the international literature engaged in efforts to interpret the motives of such disclosure.

Intellectual Capital Disclosure in Chinese and Indian Information Technology Companies: A Comparative Analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent and quality of voluntary intellectual capital disclosures by information technology companies of China and India.Research Design/Methodology: The research method adopted for this study is content analysis. The research is limited to the intellectual capital information disclosed in companies’ annual report. The sample for this research is based on 20 information technology (IT) companies listed by market captalisation listed on Shenzhen or Shanghai stock exchange market, and the largest 20 companies listed on Indian stock market.Findings: Indian IT companies tends to perform better than Chinese IT companies in extent and quality of disclosures. The extent of disclosure of both countries is at a relatively high level. The most frequently reported disclosure category in India is external capital, while the least one is human capital. In China, external capital is the most frequently disclosed category, while the internal capital is the least one.Limitations/Implications: The sample size of the study is relatively small. Future research can expand on the sample size to get an overview of the intellectual capital disclosure, and conduct a longitudinal study to capture the trend of reporting practices.Originality: Previous studies of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure have covered little on the relationship between market capitalization and quality of disclosure and cross-country disclosure on IC. This research tends to extend the literature on intellectual capital disclosure.

A single statement of financial performance: its time has come

At present, entities in several countries report a ‘traditional’ measure of financial performance in the statement of financial performance, and a measure of comprehensive income in a separate statement, such as a statement of changes in equity. In 1999, members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand were surveyed to obtain their views on whether a single statement of financial performance should be introduced. The findings provided strong support for the introduction of a single statement, and the preferred method of presentation was a statement that discloses both the modified historical cost net surplus and comprehensive income.