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What drives mandatory and voluntary risk reporting variations across Germany, UK and US?

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  • Elshandidy, Tamer
  • Fraser, Ian
  • Hussainey, Khaled

Abstract

This paper utilises computerised textual analysis to explore the extent to which both firm and country characteristics influence mandatory and voluntary risk reporting (MRR and VRR) variations both within and between non-financial firms across Germany, the UK and the US, over the period from 2005 to 2010. We find significant variations in MRR and VRR between firms across the three countries. Further, we find, on average, that German firms tend to disclose significantly higher (lower) levels of risk information mandatorily than UK (US) firms. German firms, on average, tend to reveal considerably higher (lower) levels of VRR than US (UK) firms. Our results document that MRR and VRR variations are significantly influenced by systematic risk, the legal system and cultural values. We also find that country and firm characteristics have higher explanatory power over the observed variations in MRR than over those in VRR.

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  • Elshandidy, Tamer & Fraser, Ian & Hussainey, Khaled, 2015. "What drives mandatory and voluntary risk reporting variations across Germany, UK and US?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 376-394.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:47:y:2015:i:4:p:376-394
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2014.06.001
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    Cited by:

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    8. Kang, Helen & Gray, Sidney J., 2019. "Country-specific risks and geographic disclosure aggregation: Voluntary disclosure behaviour by British multinationals," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 259-276.
    9. Acheampong, Albert & Elshandidy, Tamer, 2021. "Does soft information determine credit risk? Text-based evidence from European banks," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Bassyouny, Hesham & Abdelfattah, Tarek & Tao, Lei, 2022. "Narrative disclosure tone: A review and areas for future research," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    11. Elshandidy, Tamer & Ahmed, Yousry, 2023. "Stock price informativeness of risk disclosure: Does time orientation matter?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 149-162.
    12. Ott, Christian, 2020. "The risks of mergers and acquisitions—Analyzing the incentives for risk reporting in Item 1A of 10-K filings," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 158-181.
    13. Elshandidy, Tamer & Shrives, Philip J., 2016. "Environmental Incentives for and Usefulness of Textual Risk Reporting: Evidence from Germany," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 464-486.
    14. Shivaani, M.V. & Agarwal, Nishant, 2020. "Does competitive position of a firm affect the quality of risk disclosure?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    15. Khaldoon Albitar & Tony Abdoush & Khaled Hussainey, 2023. "Do corporate governance mechanisms and ESG disclosure drive CSR narrative tones?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 3876-3890, October.
    16. Sofka, Wolfgang & de Faria, Pedro & Shehu, Edlira, 2018. "Protecting knowledge: How legal requirements to reveal information affect the importance of secrecy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 558-572.
    17. Ibrahim, Awad Elsayed Awad & Hussainey, Khaled, 2019. "Developing the narrative risk disclosure measurement," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 126-144.
    18. Lyndie Bayne & Juliana Ng & Marvin Wee, 2022. "Supply chain disclosure: stakeholder preferences versus current practice in Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3875-3911, September.
    19. Abdelrehim, Neveen & Linsley, Philip & Verma, Shraddha, 2017. "Understanding risk disclosures as a function of social organisation: A neo-Durkheimian institutional theory-based study of Burmah Oil Company 1971–1976," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 103-116.
    20. Yasean A. Tahat & Ahmed H. Ahmed & David Power, 2022. "Earnings quality and investment efficiency: the role of the institutional settings," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1277-1306, April.
    21. Tan, Youchao & Zeng, Cheng Colin & Elshandidy, Tamer, 2017. "Risk disclosures, international orientation, and share price informativeness: Evidence from China," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 81-102.
    22. Ritika Gupta & Jacqueline Symss, 2023. "Does Corporate Governance Impact Risk Disclosure? An Empirical Analysis in the Indian Context," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 16(1), pages 9-27, June.
    23. Düsterhöft, Maximilian & Schiemann, Frank & Walther, Thomas, 2023. "Let’s talk about risk! Stock market effects of risk disclosure for European energy utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).

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