The Practice of Internet Financial Reporting in Malaysia: Users’ Perceptions

Abstract

The financial reporting environment is increasingly rich, interesting, and complex. Therefore, quality of reporting in financial statements has to be taken into consideration to enable users to make important decisions. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the issues of the current practice of Internet financial reporting (IFR) of the companies listed in Bursa Malaysia. Based on a comprehensive review, the evaluation of IFR will be separated into two dimensions, which are content dimension and presentation dimension. The disclosure items in the IFR disclosure index checklist are based on the perception of users. Based on the research findings, the level of IFR of Bursa Malaysia started from 56.55 to 86.21 %. The level of IFR of content dimension ranges from 57.61 % (53 items) to 94.57 % (87 items). The IFR presentation dimension ranges from 45.28 % (24 items) to 81.13 % (43 items). The findings also showed that the overall levels of IFR-listed companies in Bursa Malaysia were considered good. These outcomes make an incremental contribution to the existing literature by providing useful insights into our knowledge of current practice of IFR especially for emerging markets such as Malaysia. Companies should be aware that interested parties are attaching increasing importance to corporate transparency and quality of reporting. This research will enable the comparison of the current level of IFR in Malaysia and in other countries.