Web-based Disclosure Research Articles

Determinants of Web-based disclosure in the Middle East

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the factors influencing the extent of information disclosed on the companies’ websites in the Middle East region.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses multiple regression models to examine the impact of some companies’ characteristics (company size, leverage, profitability, size of the audit firm, ownership concentration) on the extent of online disclosure. The study was conducted on 170 listed companies in seven countries (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey). The website content was analyzed during the period from September 2015 to December 2015.FindingsThe results reveal that the most important factors influencing the level of Web-based disclosure are company size, leverage and the size of the audit firm.Practical implicationsThe results of the study will help regulators to formulate policies about Web-based disclosure as they offer insights into the characteristics of those companies which do and do not meet investors’ demands for online information. Thereby, the regulators might expect that the Middle East companies engage in the online reporting to be larger, have higher debt levels and audited by a big-four audit firm.Originality/valueThis study, added to the existing literature by analyzing seven countries in the Middle East region, allows having a clearer idea on the online disclosure in this region as a whole, which has not been examined before. In this paper, to assess the information’s disclosure on the website, the study has been interested in all of the information presented on the websites: financial and non-financial information.

An empirical investigation on disclosure about mobile banking on bank websites

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the level of disclosure about mobile banking (MB) on bank websites.Design/methodology/approachThe study sample comprises Brazilian and American banks, and the authors employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyze the data. An index of 14 items was used to measure levels of disclosure. The quantitative stage involved descriptive analysis of disclosure levels, which was associated with other variables through the application of multivariate regression analysis. The qualitative stage involved a content analysis technique.FindingsThe statistical analysis indicated that size and country were significant explanatory variables for the level of information disclosed on bank websites. American banks disclosed more information about MB on their websites than Brazilian banks.Originality/valueIn the approach, using elements of voluntary disclosure theories, the authors expect to provide insights on how to increase MB information for potential users through a low-cost mechanism, web-based disclosure.

The Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule: Likely Impact on Securities Arbitration and Litigation Claims

There is considerable uncertainty during the transition period pending DOL review of the Obama-era fiduciary rules for retirement accounts. During this period, advisers who do not receive level-fee compensation are held to the DOL impartial conduct standard for retirement accounts, but are not required to enter into best interest contracts for commission-based compensation. Under these impartial conduct standards, advisers are required to make recommendations in the retirement investor’s best interest, charge reasonable compensation, and avoid misleading statements. Additional requirements, including the proposed best interest contract requirement, and web-based disclosure are deferred to July 2019 and are under review by the DOL. An additional wildcard, as if one was needed, involves what role, if any, the SEC elects to assume and whether the Commission accepts Secretary Acosta’s invitation to participate in the regulatory process. Up to this year, the momentum has been toward adoption of a fiduciary standard and it remains to be seen whether the current DOL under Secretary Acosta has the motivation to quell that trend. In the interim, the DOL impartial conduct standards are likely to result in more litigation and arbitration, and a higher success rate for investors’ representatives. If and when the BIC exception goes into effect, these claims will include breach of contract. Even under the impartial conduct standards in effect now, these additional claims may include and be based upon a variety of theories, including, (a) “reverse churning” in which fee-based accounts are utilized for low-activity customers; (b) failure to properly document a rollover from an ERISA account to a fee-based IRA; (c) firm compensation based on quotas and bonuses which create incentives contrary to the customer’s interest; (d) compensation grids which incentivize advisers to engage in more active trading; (e) purchase of class A mutual funds or other securities with front-end commissions which are subsequently moved into an advisory account. As mentioned, an increase in the number and types of claims can be anticipated with the advent of fiduciary rules. Whether and to the extent the Best Interest Contract exemption takes effect will become apparent as the implementation date approaches.

The Impact of Web-Based Disclosure on the Capital Market Risk

This paper evaluates the Web-based voluntary disclosure practices in a sample of 180 French listed firms. The main objective is to investigate the impact of Internet-based disclosure on capital market risk. Three measures are used to present the capital market risk: total risk is measured by the standard deviation of stock returns, and systematic risk and idiosyncratic risk are the beta and standard deviation of the residuals generated from the market model, respectively. Following the method of Gajewski and Li, the Web-based disclosure is measured by an index of 40 items. The empirical results show that total risk and idiosyncratic risk vary inversely with the strength of Internet disclosure. This indicates that improved online disclosure can reduce investors’ uncertainty in the capital market. However, systematic risk is not influenced by the disclosure practice. Furthermore, capital concentration and board size are negatively associated with total and idiosyncratic risk. This study extends the prior research by investigating the influence of online disclosure on capital risk in the French stock market. I am particularly concerned about the technical features of Internet disclosure and its impact on capital risk. Online information is generally considered to be user-friendly, yet it is now necessary to analyze the effect of this convenience provided by Internet technology on the capital market.

Can Internet-based disclosure reduce information asymmetry?

The Internet is widely used by listed companies to manage investor relations. Since January 2007, the French Financial Authority has required companies listed on Euronext-Paris to disclose all mandatory financial information via the Internet in order to enhance information transparency. This paper examines the impact of Internet-based disclosure on the French stock market by analyzing the relationship between information asymmetry and Internet disclosure practices. Extending previous studies on Web-based disclosure, a checklist of 40 items is developed to evaluate the level of Internet-based voluntary disclosure. Measuring information asymmetry by the spread and the probability of informed trading, we show that greater Web-based disclosure lowers information asymmetry in the French financial market.

Determinants of voluntary web-based disclosure: A comparison of the united kingdom and its former colony, New Zealand

The paper represents an attempt of enrichment of researches relating to the publication of Voluntary Information Disclosure on the Web-Sites (VDWS). The main objective of this research is to compare the extent of VDWS and the differential impact of some firm specific characteristics in the United Kingdom and New Zealand on firms’ VDWS. In fact, comparative disclosure studies tend generally to evaluate the differential impact of firm specific characteristics on information disclosure in two different legal systems (for example, common law and code law) or having different cultural values. However, few studies have analyzed this topic in countries having the same legal system and/or similar cultural values. The results illustrate a significant variation of VDWS practices across the two countries. The results show, also, that the majority of the identified determinants differ between these two countries in their significance and their sign. The principal results prove that firm size represents a positive common factor on the extent of VDWS in the two countries. The specific factors of British companies are: dispersion of ownership, performance, and the number of listing on foreign stock exchanges. Whereas those of New Zealand companies are bored independence and leverage level. Keywords: Determinants, Voluntary Disclosure, Websites, United Kingdom, New Zealand.

Group To Examine Potential Health Effects From Producing Unconventional Resources

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper SPE 168518, ’Collaborative Industry Initiative To Assess Potential Health Effects Related to the Production of Unconventional Resources,’ by D.J. Devlin, ExxonMobil; P. Beatty and R.D. White, American Petroleum Institute; Z. Naufal, Chevron; and S.S. Sarang, Shell, prepared for the 2014 SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment, Long Beach, California, USA, 17-19 March. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Unconventional resources offer many substantial benefits, yet the rapid increase in production of these resources using hydraulic fracturing has generated scrutiny by some policymakers and advocates who cite health concerns. The Exploration and Production Health Issues Group was recently formed to provide research, scientific analysis, and guidance on health issues regarding unconventional-resource production (URP). The group is particularly focused on community health concerns, including those associated with the compositions of hydraulic-fracturing fluid and flowback, effects on aquifers, air emissions, and psychosocial stress related to operations. Chemical Disclosure Opinion polls have found that community residents are most concerned about the possibility of drinking-water contamination from hydraulic fracturing. The idea that fracturing fluids of unknown composition are pumped underground through groundwater is the cause of that concern. A key issue for the industry to address is communicating the full nature of this risk while maintaining the confidentiality of proprietary chemicals used. The composition of fracturing fluids is the intellectual property of companies that develop the wellsite. The skill required to identify the right fluid composition for particular fracturing operations is what keeps those companies in business. But the need to protect some portion of fluid compositions as confidential business information (CBI) has been exploited by some opposed to URP to spread fear about unknown toxic chemicals and the harm they may cause. To address this challenge, the Groundwater Protection Council, an organization of state regulators, created Frac- Focus. FracFocus is a Web-based chemical disclosure registry where the nonconfidential chemicals used in fracturing for a particular wellsite are posted for public viewing. In many states, the use of Frac- Focus to disclose nonconfidential chemicals is mandatory. Some segments of the URP industry believe that additional steps must be taken to develop criteria to assess the suitability of a chemical for use in URP from the perspective of health, safety, and environmental effects, and they have been working to develop criteria and a user-friendly tool to implement those criteria in URP operations. While some chemicals will continue to be identified as CBI under existing regulations and policy, operators and service companies would apply the established criteria of suitability for hydraulic fracturing. The objective is to encourage continued development of new and improved fracturing fluids while maintaining the intellectual-property protections of the companies that develop them and enhancing public confidence that protection of health and the environment is integrated into the selection of chemicals. The balance between the legitimate need to keep certain information confidential and the processes by which compositional information is provided to experts on a need-to-know basis should be communicated better to the public to help build and maintain trust. Potential Health Effects The Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine held a workshop on the Health Impact Assessment of Shale Gas Extraction in May 2012. The workshop brought together a range of experts from the natural-gas industry, regulatory agencies, and fields of environmental monitoring and occupational and community health. A key premise for the workshop was the recognition that shale-gas extraction is an emerging technology and that it will continue to be important in the years to come. Consequently, the environmental health community needs to begin to understand potential related health effects. Furthermore, the community should adopt an approach that recognizes that the role of the health community is not to decide whether or where the nation should use shale-gas extraction but rather to discuss potential health effects, to which individuals are more vulnerable, and how any proven effects can be mitigated.

Web-based Disclosures and Their Determinants: Evidence from Listed Commercial Banks in Nepal

What is the extent of disclosure, using the Internet, by commercial banks listed on Nepal Stock Exchange? What are the determinants of varying levels of web-based disclosure by those companies? These were the research questions addressed in this paper. All 23 commercial banking companies were found to have maintained their own websites and annual reports were made available in compliance with directive number 4 of Nepal Rastra Bank. A 50 items disclosure index, based on existing literature modified for Nepal specific items, was applied to company websites to assess the disclosure levels. At an average, 49.58 % of items in the index were disclosed by the commercial banks in Nepal. With regards to determinants, foreign ownership, board independence, and bank size were found to be significantly associated with web-based disclosure. The model with six independent variables considered for analysis explained 51% of the variations in web-based disclosure by commercial banks in Nepal. The study makes significant contributions to understand the extent of disclosures made by commercial banks and their determinants in a developing country like Nepal.

The moderating effect of voluntary disclosure on the relation between earnings quality and information asymmetry: some Canadian evidence

This study investigates how web-based voluntary disclosure affects the relation between earnings quality and information asymmetry, considering governance attributes. Our results show that both earnings quality and web-based disclosure are associated with reduced information asymmetry. In addition, web-based disclosure has a moderating effect on the relation between earnings quality and information asymmetry, irrespective of earnings quality. This is consistent with the argument that stock market participants assess the quality of financial reporting taking into account a firm’s overall disclosure strategy. Finally, corporate governance is found to underlie both disclosure and earnings quality.

IT-Enabled Corporate Governance

Sophisticated information technologies allow companies to provide stakeholders with more transparency. Web-based disclosures have the advantages of low cost, mass reach, frequency and speed, and yet the extent of Internet disclosure varies across companies and industries. Drawing on interdisciplinary work in information technology and corporate governance, in this paper, the authors examine the S&P 100 companies’ use of the Web for corporate governance information disclosure and analyze the association between the Web disclosing practice and firm attributes. Their findings support the proposition that Web-based disclosure decisions were associated with various firm specific attributes. This study has implications for the strategic role of the Internet and Web in disclosure and transparency.

Responses to Online GSTM1 Genetic Test Results among Smokers Related to Patients with Lung Cancer: A Pilot Study

Providing smokers with personal genetic test results indicating increased lung cancer risk may increase uptake of effective smoking cessation services. Using the internet may increase reach and enable real-time assessment of how people process genetic risk information away from the clinic setting. We therefore explored smokers' responses to Web-delivered GSTM1 genetic test results indicating higher or lower lung cancer risk. Participants were smokers (n = 44) biologically related to patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer. Measures were assessed at baseline, before and immediately after receipt of online genetic test results, and at 6-month follow-up. Outcomes included accurate comprehension of results, regret about being tested, cessation-related cognitions (e.g., perceived response efficacy), and uptake of free smoking cessation services (nicotine replacement therapy, printed self-help materials, telephone counseling sessions). Twenty-two "relative smokers" received a GSTM1-missing (higher risk) and 22 a GSTM1-present (lower risk) result. All relative smokers with GSTM1-missing results and 55% of those with GSTM1-present results accurately interpreted their results. No relative smokers regretted having taken the test. Relative smokers receiving GSTM1-missing results reported lower confidence that quitting could reduce lung cancer risk (perceived response efficacy) than those receiving GSTM1-present results. There were no other significant between-group differences. Uptake of smoking cessation services was high (e.g., 91% nicotine replacement therapy uptake). Genetic test results may not influence uptake of free smoking cessation services because of ceiling effects. Further research is needed to determine the risks and benefits of Web-based disclosure of genetic test results.

'I have cystic fibrosis': an analysis of web-based disclosures of a chronic illness.

This study examined instances where individuals with cystic fibrosis disclosed their illness on the World Wide Web, better understand their experiences and needs across stages of the lifespan. Disclosing one's chronic illness is typically done purposefully, so examining those disclosures allows a naturalistic window into individuals' experiences and needs. This study is unique to Internet-based studies of chronic illness in that data are not limited to interactions at health-related websites, but include disclosure instances gathered across a variety of Internet contexts. Qualitative content analysis with a summative component was used. A web-based search engine was used to identify all web pages containing the phrases 'I have cystic fibrosis' and 'I have cf' (n = 277). Constant comparative analysis methods were used to identify thematic categories of context. Quantitative methods were used to examine age-related differences in the distribution of those disclosure statements. Findings were interpreted within a framework of Erikson's lifespan psychosocial theory. Adolescents (13-18 years) most frequently expressed psychosocial concerns and enlisted social support. Emerging adults (19-25 years) tended to present cystic fibrosis as just one of many self-characteristics. Adults (>25 years) tended to reach out to support others with cystic fibrosis. The study identified age-related differences in the types of illness disclosures found among individuals with cystic fibrosis. It also demonstrated that web-based research into chronic illness need not be limited to analysis of illness-specific online communities. Findings suggest that psychosocial interventions for individuals with cystic fibrosis across the lifespan might focus on (a) facilitating social support and incorporating illness into one's emerging identity among adolescents, (b) supporting emerging adults in presenting and incorporating themselves into larger social networks and (c) partnering with adults who wish to mentor others living with cystic fibrosis.

Romanian Companies’ Web-based Disclosure Choices And Capital Markets

This article aims to investigate the web-based disclosure choices andpractices among Romanian companies listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange. Web-based disclosure offers advantages that are absent in paper-based voluntarydisclosure: it can be accessed globally at much lower costs and it can be updatedmuch more timely also at much lower costs. Another goal of the paper is to establishthe criteria in order to select properly the sample companies. After presenting theadvantages and eventual risks of Internet Financial Reporting and analyzing previousinvestigative reports and articles, this paper investigates the degree to whichRomanian listed companies to disclose financial and non-financial information areusing the Internet. The web sites of these companies were examined throughout May2007 to May 2008, with a view to determining which companies present voluntaryfinancial or non-financial data in addition to the Annual Report and Accounts.

Corporate environmental disclosure, financial markets and the media: An international perspective

In this study, we analyze the information dynamics between corporate environmental disclosure, financial markets (as proxied by financial analysts' earnings forecasts) and public pressures (as proxied by a firm's media exposure). We adopt a comprehensive view of disclosure that encompasses environmental information that is both print-based as well as web-based. The sample comprises firms from both continental Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, and Netherlands) as well as North America (Canada and the United States). Relying on a system of equations that controls for endogeneity between environmental disclosure determination and financial analysts' work, we show that enhanced environmental disclosure translates into more precise earnings forecasts by analysts. Such effect is reduced for firms with extensive analyst following and in environmentally sensitive industries. However, these relationships are shown to be starker in Europe than in North America, i.e., environmental disclosure has a greater impact on analysts' forecasts but is also more greatly attenuated by analyst following and membership in an environmentally sensitive industry. Most observed relationships hold for either print- or web-based disclosure, except for North America in which web-based disclosure seems to have no impact on analysts' forecasting work.

Performance disclosure on the web: an exploration of the impact of managers’ perceptions of stakeholder concerns

Using an exploratory research perspective, we examine how multinational firms' executives' motivations map into corporate website performance disclosure. Our focus is on managements' beliefs about the relevance of financial, social and environmental performance disclosures and how these beliefs relate to the firm's website disclosure practices. For 56 companies, we use managers' perceptions along with data captured from websites. Employing factor and regression analysis, we find that executives' perceptions of stakeholders' importance affect their firms' web-based disclosure practices and foci. Additionally, strategic focus, media, size of organization, profitability, leverage and analyst following are found influential in explaining types of performance disclosures made.

News items

The Internet is widely used by listed companies to manage investor relations. Since January 2007, the French Financial Authority has required companies listed on Euronext-Paris to disclose all mandatory financial information via the Internet in order to enhance information transparency. This paper examines the impact of Internet-based disclosure on the French stock market by analyzing the relationship between information asymmetry and Internet disclosure practices. Extending previous studies on Web-based disclosure, a checklist of 40 items is developed to evaluate the level of Internet-based voluntary disclosure. Measuring information asymmetry by the spread and the probability of informed trading, we show that greater Web-based disclosure lowers information asymmetry in the French financial market.