Information disclosure in annual reports in South Africa

Abstract

This study examines the information requirements of South African investment analysts and compares them to their United Kingdom counterparts. A disclosure index for measuring the extent of voluntary information disclosure in firm annual reports is developed. The items making up the index are weighted by South African analysts. The results are compared with those of a similar study in the UK. A low level of correlation between the two sets of results is found, indicating that analysts in the two countries appear to have differing information needs. The index is used to measure the extent of actual information disclosure in a sample of listed South African firms. Low levels of disclosure are found, in common with studies in other countries. Finally the perceptions of financial directors of the relative importance of the items making up the index is surveyed. Though not high, the correlation found between the rankings of the index items by the financial directors and actual firm practice is substantially better than the correlation of analyst rankings and firm practice.