The empirical evidence of the voluntary information disclosure in the annual reports of banking companies: The case of Bangladesh

This study reports the results of an empirical study of the effect of firm- specific characteristics on the voluntary disclosure in the 2000/2001 annual reports of 20 commercial banks in Bangladesh. The conceptual model underlying the study is based on economic and political incentives for providing greater detail in the annual reports and accounts. Three hypotheses have been developed and also a regression has been run to investigate the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The results indicate that size and audit firm variables to be significant in determining the disclosure Thus, the study contributes to the enhancement of knowledge regarding financial reporting and disclosure practices of financial companies under the developing countries context, and provides a basis for the conduct of future research in this area. Keyword: voluntary disclosure, financial institutions, bangladesh