Corporate governance and voluntary disclosure in corporate annual reports of Malaysian listed firms

Abstract

This study investigates empirically the extent of corporate governance and voluntary disclosure by listed firms in Malaysia. The governance factors examined are Board size, proportion of independent non-executive directors (INDs) on board, outside share ownership, family control, and percentage of audit committee members to total members on the board. Our results suggest a positive association between Board size and voluntary disclosures and between proportion of INDs and voluntary information. However, the extent of voluntary disclosure is negatively related to family control, and the ratio of audit committee members to total members on the board is not related to voluntary disclosures. The findings of our study have policy implications for Malaysia as well as for other East Asian countries because of the similarities in the socio-cultural environment and ownership structure of firms in these countries.