Chief executive officer remuneration disclosure quality: corporate responses to an evolving disclosure environment

Abstract

AbstractWe examine chief executive officer remuneration disclosure in Australia from 1998 to 2004. Disclosure was first required by the Company Law Review Act 1998 (CLRA98). Despite CLRA98's clear intentions, firms generally failed to comply until the requirements were formalized by Director and Executive Disclosures by Disclosing Entities (AASB1046), issued in 2004. For a sample of 124 firms, we find significant improvements in disclosure concurrent both with CLRA98 and AASB1046. We also find firm size, corporate governance, auditor quality, cross‐listing status and public scrutiny to be significant explanations of disclosure. Our results indicate that high quality disclosures will only come about through detailed, black letter requirements and that principle‐based legislation involving interpretative discretion is unlikely to produce the desired level of disclosure.