Corporate disclosure differences around the world: International evidence

We examine whether and how variations in country-level institutional factors explain the intensity, diversity and informativeness of corporate disclosures around the world. Using a comprehensive corporate disclosure dataset containing more than 100 types of disclosures from firms domiciled in 35 countries, we examine the effect of four core country-level institutional factors—legal system, creditor/investor rights, political process and societal characteristics—on corporate disclosures. Our results suggest that the country-level institutional factor, which is likely to capture the legal system of a country, is negatively associated with the intensity, diversity and informativeness of disclosure. Moreover, our results suggest that the level of creditor/investor rights protection, political process and societal characteristics can also consistently affect the production, diversity and informativeness of disclosures. Overall, our evidence broadens our collective understanding of how core institutional factors at the society and country levels systematically explain corporate disclosures and their associated informativeness.