Harmonisation of voluntary disclosure practices by Japanese companies

Abstract

The harmonisation of international accounting and disclosure practices is an important policy issue. This paper investigates the extent to which voluntary disclosure practices by Japanese firms converged since the late 1980s. Convergence of voluntary disclosure suggests that Japanese firms respond to market pressures by adopting increasingly similar reporting practices. Our findings suggest that there was neither more, nor less, convergence in selected disclosure practices over the sample period, although the average level of disclosure did increase. The results suggest that Japanese firms were in 'equilibrium' in terms of scope of information voluntarily disclosed, although the quantity of disclosed information increased.