Firm characteristics and intellectual capital disclosure in IPO prospectuses

Abstract

Purpose Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) have been studied from different perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the type of intellectual capital (IC) information provided in the Spanish IPO prospectuses and the characteristics of the firms that go public and supply more information. The paper also compares the results with similar previous studies carried out in different countries. Design/methodology/approach The database gathers Spanish IPOs from 1996 to 2007 (after which the number of IPOs in Spain plummeted due to the crisis). Content analysis is used to obtain information about IC from the IPO prospectuses and, afterwards, the authors apply different statistical methods to analyse any relation between IC disclosure and firms’ characteristics. Findings The paper concludes that the companies that provide more information about IC in IPO prospectuses are high-tech companies, larger firms and those whose previous shareholders do not retain the majority after the IPO. Originality/value The authors have created an original database with the Spanish data. Moreover, this is the first study with these characteristics carried out in Spain, and some original conclusions are obtained, such as the importance of retained share percentage by previous shareholders. The authors have developed a statistical methodology suitable for the data. Both, the conclusions and the methodology will be especially useful for markets such as the Latin American ones, which are not as developed as Anglo-Saxon markets.

Corporate governance mechanisms and intellectual capital

“…There are few longitudinal studies, however; we highlight those carried out by Abhayawansa and Guthrie (2016), Alcaniz, et al (2015), Bukh et al (2005), Tejedo-Romero and Alfaro-Cortés (2014) etc. All of them conclude that there is an increasing tendency towards disseminating IC information.…”

“…Many of the aforementioned studies have tried to analyze the factors that influence IC disclosure, mainly companies' characteristics such as size, sector, market to book, indebtedness and profitability, among others (Alcaniz et al, 2015;Bozzolan et al, 2003;García-Meca et al, 2005;Goebel, 2015;Tejedo-Romero & Alfaro-Cortés, 2014;Whiting & Miller, 2008); as well as the CG mechanisms that affect IC disclosure (Abeysekera, 2010;Cerbioni & Parbonetti, 2007;Hidalgo et al, 2011;Li et al, 2008;Rodrigues et al, 2017).…”

“…Alcaniz et al (2015) explored the Initial Public Offerings' (IPOs) prospectuses, and García-Meca et al (2005) focused on examining reports issued by financial analysts, while, according to Tejedo-Romero and Araujo (2016), the levels of voluntary information collected in the annual reports directly refer to the amount of information that companies publish in the media, either in environmental reports, responsibility reports, company website, reports from financial analysts etc. Over the last decades, the number of studies referring to the disclosure of IC information has increased (García-Meca et al, 2005, Goebel, 2015, Rodrigues et al, 2017, Yi & Davey, 2010.…”

“…In addition, it highlights the lack of effectiveness of independent BDs as a control mechanism contributing to safeguard the interests of minority shareholders and other stakeholders. Secondly, it is a longitudinal study that covers a period of five years, extending previous work which only analysis one or two years in Spain (García-Meca et al, 2005;Macagnan, 2009;Monclús Guitart, Rodríguez Merayo, & Torres Coronas, 2006;Oliveras, Gowthorpe, Kasperskaya, & Perramon, 2008), except for the research of Alcaniz, Gomez-Bezares and Ugarte (2015), which covers the period between 1996 and 2007. Thirdly, the use of panel data methodology, which has not been widely Corporate governance mechanisms and intellectual capital used in IC studies, improves the efficiency of econometric estimates by capturing unobservable heterogeneity (Baltagi, 2014;Wooldridge, 2010).…”

Estrategia de gestión y divulgación del capital intelectual: influencia del gobierno corporativo

“…En este contexto, la falta de consenso teórico de principios generalmente aceptados o de modelos generales de medición, validados en su aplicación por la comunidad científica y profesional, ha provocado ciertas desviaciones interpretativas sobre la valoración de las empresas (Bueno Campos, 2002, p. 159;Tejedo-Romero & Araujo, 2015), originando, en algunos casos, diferencias entre el valor de mercado y el que figura en las cuentas anuales. Algunos autores (Alcaniz, Gomez-Bezares & Ugarte, 2015;Brooking, 1997;Edvinsson & Malone, 1999) justifican dichas diferencias, entre otras cosas, al escaso reconocimiento del capital intelectual (en adelante CI) en la valoración de las empresas, a pesar de haberse convertido en un recurso económico clave (Hidalgo & García-Meca, 2009;Spagnol, Moraes & Piqueira, 2015;Villegas, Hernández & Salazar, 2017;Zerenler, Hasiloglu & Sezgin, 2008), cuyos orígenes se encuentran en: las personas (Capital Humano, en adelante CH), el entorno socioeconómico (Capital Relacional, en adelante CR) y la organización (Capital Estructural, en adelante CE), cobrando un papel crítico en la creación de valor (de Cássia Fucci-Amato & Amato-Neto, 2010; Herrera & Macagnan, 2016;Villegas et al, 2017). Y, aunque el sistema de información contable juega un papel fundamental como generadora y suministradora de información, en la actualidad, no resulta de total utilidad para las empresas intensivas en CI-Conocimiento (An, Davey, Eggleton & Wang, 2015;Brooking, 1997;Edvinsson & Malone, 1999).…”