A study about the relationship between the accounting profit and disclosure of the publicly traded companies of the basic material sector

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the influence of the accounting profit on the level of disclosure contained in the companies management reports. The hypothesis guiding this study states that, in open companies, there is a significant relationship between the administrators’ choices about the disclosure level contained in the management reports and accounting profit. This is a descriptive study based on hypothetical-deductive research method, designed to raise empirical evidence about the relationship between accounting profit and the disclosure level contained in the management reports of the 58 open companies of the basic materials sector listed on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange - Bovespa - in 2006. Bibliographical-documentary research techniques and content analysis were used for this study. To test the hypothesis that guides the research it were built two multiple linear regression models. Data analysis revealed that in the basic materials sector of Bovespa, in 2006, the accounting profit showed a positive relationship between the administrators’ choices about the disclosure level contained in the management reports. They also confirmed the thesis that the size of the company, the membership of a corporate governance level of Bovespa, and the presence of foreign controlling shareholders contribute positively to the disclosure level presented in the company reports. Therefore, the study concluded that in the companies of the basic materials sector of Bovespa the presence accounting profit in 2006 consisted of an incentive so that the administrators raised the disclosure level contained in the companies management reports. Key words: disclosure, accounting profit, management reports .