An Examination of the Comprehensiveness of Corporate Internet Reporting Provided by London-Listed Companies

Abstract

Recent changes in the regulatory environment of the London Stock Exchange are aimed at prohibiting selective disclosure and enhancing the credibility of reporting. Using an innovative 143-item disclosure checklist, we examine corporate Internet reporting (CIR) comprehensiveness and its determinants within this new regulatory environment. We also extend the literature linking corporate governance measures to CIR. Our findings indicate that despite this new regulatory environment, there is considerable room for improvement in CIR by London-listed companies. For example, our sample companies provide only 58 percent and 70 percent, respectively, of the credibility and usability items assessed by our comprehensiveness index. After controlling for size, profitability, industry, and high growth / intangibles, we find the CIR comprehensiveness of London-listed companies is associated with analyst following, director holding, director independence, and CEO duality. Because prior research indicates the U.K. leads Europe in Internet reporting, our results may shed light on how CIR will evolve throughout Europe.

Determinants of the quality of internet investor relations – a study of companies listed on the JSE#

“…More specifically, in regard to studies that measured corporate websites as disclosure vehicle, Orens et al (2010) and Abdelsalam et al (2007) reported significant negative associations between disclosure and ownership concentration, but Trabelsi et al (2008) and Cormier et al (2009) reported no similar significant associations.…”

“…On the other hand, Ashbaugh et al (1999), Ettredge et al (2002: 366), Marston and Polei (2004), Oyelere et al (2003), Pirchegger and Wagenhofer (1999) (German sample), Xiao et al (2004: 215), Larrán and Giner (2002), Abdelsalam, Bryant and Street (2007), Bollen et al (2006: 291), Cormier et al (2009) and Leventis and Weetman (2004) all document no significant association between financial performance and disclosure.…”

“…Abdelsalam et al (2007), Pervan (2006), Lybaert (2002), Celik et al (2006), Aly et al (2010), Bonsón and Escobar (2002;2006), Ettredge, Richardson and Scholz (2001), and Xiao et al (2004: 202) all reported an association as opposed to Trabelsi et al (2008), Larrán and Giner (2002), Geerings, Bollen and Hassink (2003), Oyelere et al (2003) and Bollen et al (2006), who reported no significant association.…”

“…Orens et al (2010) measured shareholder concentration as a dummy variable of one if companies had a single investor that had a 20% or more shareholding. Abdelsalam et al (2007) used two proxies to measure shareholder concentration, namely the percentage of shares held by directors and the percentage of shares held by major shareholders. 6 Directors who are also shareholders will have to bear both the consequences and benefits of the quality of management.…”

An exploration of the online investor relations (IR) practices of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)

“…A further incremental contribution of our study is that our extensive measuring instrument is based on guidelines developed by usability experts (Loranger & Nielsen) as well as IR practitioners in the UK (IRS). With the exception of Abdelsalam, Bryant and Street (2007), 2 other researchers in the area of internet usage for financial and investor communication, utilised selfdeveloped checklists or other academic researchers' published checklists (the maximum number of items was 76). The comparison will be discussed in more depth in the Results section.…”