The main categories of disclosures concerning control over financial reporting: The practice of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to answer the question whether, and, if so, to what extent, control over financial reporting is exercised in practice. An attempt was made to measure the control by analysing the disclosures regarding the control over financial reporting which were included in the annual reports and statements on corporate governance. The annual reports of the companies listed on the WSE were the subject of the research. The research problems presented in this article with regard to the disclosures about the control over financial reporting have only been discussed to a limited extent in the literature. It seems that the list of disclosures is an important part of this paper. It can serve as a reference point for the development of a disclosure index and, additionally, provide a basis for a verification of research questions that may be posed in the future. The results of the study indicate that there was no single form of disclosing the information on internal control and risk management systems in relation to financial reporting in the reporting practices of the public companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2011. The disclosures were different both in terms of the degree of detail and the content. The companies listed on the WSE presented the information on control over financial reporting within 13 major categories of disclosures identified in the study.