Our study has three objectives. The first is to determine the level of voluntary disclosure in Saudi Arabia. The second is to compare this level with that of some other Arab countries. The third is to identify the main drivers of voluntary disclosure in Saudi Arabia. We use a disclosure checklist of 54 items to measure levels of voluntary disclosure. We also use the ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis to test our hypotheses for a sample of 361 firm-year observations of firms listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange over the period 2007-2011. We find that the average voluntary disclosure level is 18.38%. This rate is the lowest rate among the other Arab countries studied; the rates ranged from 26.08% in Tunisia to 75.76% in Bahrain. This lowest rate of voluntary disclosure is not commensurate with the size of the Saudi economy which contributes 25% of the total Arab countries' GDP, and is the world's 25 th largest exporter/importer. Our analysis also shows that firm size, firm age, firm profitability, auditor specialization, family ownership, and industry type positively affect voluntary disclosure. We find, however, a negative relation between firm leverage and voluntary disclosure. Our analysis also shows that board independence, Big 4 and state ownership have no impact on voluntary disclosure. Our findings should be of interest to the regulating bodies, accounting standards' setters, auditors and managers. These findings should help in recognizing the main drivers of voluntary disclosure and in setting appropriate policies in relation to voluntary disclosure, and hence, encourage firms to disseminate more information voluntarily.

Purpose – This paper aims to examine whether costs respond asymmetrically to demand change, and examine the influence of economic growth on cost stickiness, in the pre- and post-2008 financial crisis periods. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses multiple regression models to investigate the behavior of three costs: selling, general and administrative (SG & A), cost of goods sold (COGS) and operating costs (OCs) for the 2004-2011 period. Moreover, the study compares cost stickiness during the economic prosperity period (2006-2008) with cost stickiness during the economic recession period (2009-2011). Findings – The results reveal that SG & A increased by 0.38 per cent but decreased by 0.08 per cent, and COGS increased by 1.02 per cent but decreased by 0.57 per cent for a 1 per cent demand change, which proves cost stickiness. However, OC increased by 0.91 per cent, but decreased by 1.03 per cent for a 1 per cent demand change, which proves cost anti-stickiness. Moreover, SG & As were sticky during the prosperity period, but anti-sticky during the recession period. COGSs were sticky in both periods; however, the extent of cost stickiness is larger in the prosperity period. In contrast, OC were statistically insignificant in both periods. Originality/value – The results imply that managers should not use the same cost model all the time, as the economic growth fluctuations were found to affect the nature and extent of cost behavior. In addition, researchers should provide a modified cost model that considers the nonlinearity of correlation between costs and activity.

Purpose This paper aims to provide further evidence on asymmetric cost behavior (cost stickiness) from one of the emerging economies, Egypt. The study provides empirical evidence on the potential impact of corporate governance on nature and extent of asymmetric cost behavior. Design/methodology/approach The study estimates three multiple regression models using ordinary least squares to examine the behavior of cost of goods sold (COGS) and the influence of board characteristics and other control variables in a sample of 80 listed companies during 2008-2013. Findings The analysis provides evidence on COGS asymmetric behavior, where the analysis finds that COGS increases by 1.05 per cent but decrease by 0.85 per cent for an equivalent activity change of 1 per cent, which contradicts the traditional cost model assumption that costs behave linearly. In addition, the analysis finds that firm-year observations with larger boards, role duality and higher non-executives ratio exhibit greater cost asymmetry than others, while firms-years with successive sales decrease, higher economic growth and institutional ownership found to exhibit lower cost stickiness. Originality/value This study contributes by providing evidence on asymmetric cost behavior from one of emerging economies. Further, the study extends the very few studies on the relationship between corporate governance and asymmetric cost behavior. In addition, the study contributes by examining a different cost type (COGS) that has been examined by very few studies. Finally, the study provides an evaluation of the 2007 Egyptian Corporate Governance Code in the cost behavior context.

This study adopts the pre-modern view of risk as losses only and proposes a new definition of corporate risk disclosure. The new definition is used to formulate new risk-related keywords to develop the process of measuring the risk disclosure score. Design/methodology/approach-The theoretical part of this study reviews the different methods of measuring narrative disclosure in literature, discusses five arguments on why risk should be defined as losses only, and proposes a new definition of risk disclosure. The empirical part conducts two tests on a sample of 150 annual reports of UK firms during 2005-2015, formulates new keywords lists, measures RD score from different perspectives, and run correlation and regression analyses for 328 non-financial FTSE All-Share listed firms during 2005-2016, the effect of RD was examined on cost of debt and market firm value one year ahead.Findings-The first empirical test shows that about 94% of risk information in annual reports is talking about risk from a negative perspective and negative outcomes only. The second test shows that 87% of the risk-related sentences in the annual reports discussing risks using negative keywords. The descriptive statistics show that the risk disclosure level is increasing across years during 2005-2015 and the utilities industry reports the highest level. The study concludes that the pre-modern view of risk should be adopted.Originality/value-This study contributes to the ongoing debate on the risk definition and whether the positive outcomes of events should be included in the risk disclosure definition.Moreover, the study proposes a new definition of risk disclosure and provides theoretical and empirical evidence on why the pre-modern view of risk should be adopted. Moreover, new risk-related keywords are used for the first time in the risk disclosure literature.

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