Publication and dissemination of Annual Reports to shareholders in Nigeria and the United Kingdom: The Economics of Social Media and Electronic Communication

Abstract

While the cost of printing and sending out annual reports to shareholders by companies keep increasing and arguments have been made for cheaper and cost-effective ways of carrying out financial disclosure obligations by companies including electronic method, Companies’ Acts maintain that shareholders remain the ultimate decision-maker in the question whether electronic means of publishing annual reports is to be adopted as the primary means of publishing and disseminating annual reports among shareholders. This line of reasoning by legislation is given impetus by the staple assumption that shareholders take the form of owners of the companies of which they are members and the question of what mode of publication and dissemination of annual reports, whether electronic or hard copy remains their exclusive preserve. However, a case is made for a more cost-effective means of carrying out companies’ disclosure obligation through the vehicle of social media and electronic means.